Thing is, I need some help understanding what is going on with insurance companies all of a sudden dumping (or being solicited to dump) their money into hedge funds, or with sharks like the Blackstone Group, JP Morgan, etc. A bunch of liars and cheats who make their money on other people's misfortune or loss (that they create). Like destroying half the world’s economies. Or the sale of America’s infrastructure to the Saud Family.

Blackstone's new insurance unit targets $100 billion in assets

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Blackstone recruited Chris Blunt, the former president of New York Life's [NYLIN.UL] investments group, to run Blackstone Insurance Solutions, a new business formed late last year when Blackstone agreed to oversee $22 billion from Fidelity & Guaranty Life [FGLH.UL].

"The target (for assets under management) is $100 billion," Blunt told Reuters in a telephone interview. Blackstone declined to give a time frame for the target.

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Insurance companies invest the bulk of their premiums in low-risk investments and set aside a smaller portion for higher-return and higher-risk strategies, such as hedge funds and private equity.

Blackstone Insurance Solutions has a dual purpose, firstly giving insurance clients a more dedicated focus to direct their investments across Blackstone's existing businesses, which include leveraged buyouts, real estate, credit and infrastructure.

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"We're in an environment where insurers are finding it incredibly hard to get quality investments into their portfolio," Blunt said.

https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1EX2ES

Insurance Is the Hot New Way to Avoid Taxes

*. Insurance dedicated funds gaining popularity among wealthy
*. JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs touting tax-free investments

How it works: The client buys a private-placement life-insurance policy. The insurance company invests in alternative assets such as hedge funds. Profits, if any, would ordinarily be taxed as capital gains, but because it involves an insurance company, which must abide by certain restrictions, the money can grow tax-free. Beneficiaries get their money when the insured person dies. For products structured correctly, there aren’t any levies on death benefits.

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Billionaire John Paulson offered an IDF in 2013 for his merger arbitrage fund, through an insurer called Philadelphia Financial. Blackstone Group LP made a bet on the business by agreeing to buy Philadelphia Financial a year later. It’s now Lombard International. It sells Goldman Sachs and Millennium funds, according to a marketing document that says the offering is not intended for retail investors. Lombard also works with several JPMorgan hedge funds, and Morgan Stanley markets the products. Blackstone, Morgan Stanley and Lombard all declined to comment.

Blackstone has spent more than $600 million over the past few years through its Tactical Opportunities unit to acquire businesses that offer private-placement insurance.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-28/hot-tax-avoidance-pla...

What money and how much are insurers investing? What kind of bonds are they actually actually acquiring? They (insurers) can’t touch money held in reserve accounts, right? Has there been a major decrease in the purchase of low-risk/low-interest investments investments and a.noticable increase in the high-risk/high-yield type or is that what hedge funders are going for? What happens to policy claimants when the next big OOOPS! happens and the bastids selling this crap (again) tank the economy? Or better yet, what happens when Americans can’t afford insurance and there’s nothing to invest?

Am i simply paranoid? Or is there a problem here??