The clear choice for most life settlement consumers, but not all.
A life settlement broker works for the seller. Everyone else in the transaction is buying.
A life settlement broker is a state-licensed fiduciary exclusively representing the policyowner in selling an unwanted life insurance policy.
The buyers are called providers. They are licensed to purchase policies, and they buy for their own account or for the funds behind them. Providers owe the seller no fiduciary duty. Dozens of them are buying at any given time.
Broker Fees And Commission
At no time do policyowners pay fees up front for consultations or services. There is no fee to ask what a policy is worth, no fee for underwriting, and no fee if the policy doesn’t sell. Windsor only earns a commission when a case closes.
There are no hidden fees.
Windsor’s commission runs between 1% and 15% of the final sale price. On larger policies, it does not typically exceed 5%. No two commissions are the same, and where a policy lands depends on its size and its complexity. Some cases are more costly to present to buyers than others.
Every commission is negotiable and agreed in writing before the policy goes to market, so a policyowner knows the cost before a single buyer sees the file.
One Windsor case
A single buyer opened at $260,000. The policy closed at $347,000.
Nothing about the policy changed in between. Only the number of buyers looking at it.
+$87,000
what competition added, before commission
26offers received
31days from first offer to close
+33.5%above the opening offer
5offers in a single day
What a single offer looks like
A provider making the only offer on a policy has no reason to bid against itself. The number it opens with is the number it expects to pay. On this file that number was $260,000, which is 26.0% of the policy’s face amount.
Windsor took the same policy to the market instead. Twenty-six offers came back over the following month.
Every offer, in order
| Day | Time | Offer |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | 8:00 a.m. | $260,000 |
| Day 6 | 8:00 a.m. | $261,000 |
| Day 7 | 3:00 p.m. | $263,000 |
| Day 7 | 4:35 p.m. | $264,000 |
| Day 8 | 8:45 a.m. | $266,000 |
| Day 8 | 11:45 a.m. | $267,000 |
| Day 11 | 8:30 a.m. | $271,000 |
| Day 11 | 3:50 p.m. | $286,000 |
| Day 12 | 8:30 a.m. | $289,000 |
| Day 12 | 11:15 a.m. | $291,000 |
| Day 12 | 1:40 p.m. | $293,000 |
| Day 12 | 3:30 p.m. | $295,000 |
| Day 12 | 4:30 p.m. | $297,000 |
| Day 13 | 11:10 a.m. | $300,000 |
| Day 15 | 8:00 a.m. | $314,000 |
| Day 15 | 10:15 a.m. | $316,000 |
| Day 15 | 2:20 p.m. | $329,000 |
| Day 19 | 3:00 p.m. | $330,000 |
| Day 20 | 8:30 a.m. | $331,000 |
| Day 20 | 9:30 a.m. | $336,000 |
| Day 20 | 10:15 a.m. | $338,000 |
| Day 20 | 3:30 p.m. | $339,000 |
| Day 20 | 12:30 p.m. | $341,000 |
| Day 26 | 10:30 a.m. | $343,000 |
| Day 32 | 1:00 p.m. | $344,000 |
| Day 32 | 2:45 p.m. | $347,000 |
Five separate offers landed on day twelve, between 8:30 in the morning and 4:30 in the afternoon. Each one was exactly $2,000 above the last.
That is what a competitive process looks like from the seller’s side. Buyers respond to each other, not to the policyowner, and the number moves on its own.
What the competition cost
A policy of this size carries a Windsor commission of no more than 5%.
- Closing offer
- $347,000
- Commission at 5%
- −$17,350
- Policyowner received
- $329,650
- The single direct offer, no commission
- $260,000
- Better off by
- $69,650
Competition added $87,000. The commission cost $17,350. A commission that buys nothing is expensive at any rate. This one returned five times what it cost.
Windsor averages 9 bidders and 26 offers per case.
This file is not an outlier in the number of bids it drew. It is the average. Windsor is a broker, does not buy policies, and is paid only when a case closes.
What would the market pay for a policy?
No cost, no obligation, and no fee unless a policy sells.
Call 1-888-994-6376
Figures scaled from an actual Windsor transaction to a $1,000,000 policy. All ratios, timings and offer counts are unchanged from the original file. The client name has been changed. Provided as an example only. Every policy prices differently and no outcome is guaranteed.
