The market for second-hand life assurance policies, known as traded life policies (TLPs), became important in the 1980s when victims of the AIDS epidemic sold their life policies to help pay for their medical care. Since then, it has continued to grow and is currently worth an estimated $13 billion annually. TLP policies have also gained prominence in other markets, including Germany and Japan. For investors, there are TLP funds, which bundle up large numbers of bought policies. Nowadays, most policies are sold by those over age 65. This is driven in part by TLP funds, which prefer to reduce their overall level of risk by buying policies from those for whom life expectancy forecasts are likely to be more accurate. Given ageing population trends in developed nations, the market for TLP funds will likely grow rapidly in the period ahead.