Gosling's Grouse: TLPs - not all bad

I do not know what was more surprising - that the FSA has effectively banned the sale of life settlement funds or the language it used in the announcement.

It described them as ‘death bonds’ – a kind of tabloid language of which the Mail on Sunday’s Jeff Prestridge would have been proud. Then the regulator called them “toxic assets”, which is about as alarmist a description of an investment as you can get. I have a very open mind about life settlements or, as some of the groups promoting the funds called them, TLPs – traded life policies. By being open minded I am probably in the minority. In my experience advisers either love the asset or hate it – I suppose you could call it a marmite investment. We now know exactly what the FSA thinks...