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A tontine () is an investment linked to a living person which provides an income for as long as that person is alive. Such schemes originated as plans for governments to raise capital in the 17th century and became relatively widespread in the 18th and 19th centuries. Tontines enable subscribers to share the risk of living a long life by combining features of a group
annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals based on a contract with a lump sum of money. Insurance companies are common annuity providers and are used by clients for things like retirement or death benefits. Examples ...
with a kind of mortality
lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...
. Each subscriber pays a sum into a trust and thereafter receives a periodical payout. As members die, their payout entitlements devolve to the other participants, and so the value of each continuing payout increases. On the death of the final member, the trust scheme is usually wound up. Tontines are still common in France. They can be issued by European insurers under the Directive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament. The Pan-European Pension Regulation passed by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
in 2019 also contains provisions that specifically permit next-generation pension products that abide by the "tontine principle" to be offered in the 27 EU member states. Questionable practices by U.S. life insurers in 1906 led to the Armstrong Investigation in the United States restricting some forms of tontines. Nevertheless, in March 2017, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reported that tontines were getting fresh consideration as a way for people to get steady retirement income.


History

The investment plan is named after Neapolitan banker Lorenzo de Tonti, who is popularly credited with inventing it in France in 1653. He more probably merely modified existing Italian investment schemes; while another precursor was a proposal put to the Senate of
Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
by Nicolas Bourey in 1641. Tonti put his proposal to the French royal government, but after consideration it was rejected by the
Parlement de Paris The ''Parlement'' of Paris () was the oldest ''parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. Parlements were judicial, rather than legislative, bodies and were composed of magistrates. Though not representative bodies in the p ...
. The first true tontine was therefore organised in the city of Kampen in the Netherlands in October 1670, and was soon followed by three other cities. The French finally established a state tontine in 1689 (though it was not described by that name because Tonti had died in disgrace, about five years earlier). The English government organised a tontine in 1693.Milevsky 2015. Nine further government tontines were organised in France down to 1759; four more in Britain down to 1789; and others in the Netherlands and some of the German states. Those in Britain were not fully subscribed, and in general the British schemes tended to be less popular and successful than their continental counterparts. By the end of the 18th century, the tontine had fallen out of favour as a revenue-raising instrument with governments, but smaller-scale and less formal tontines continued to be arranged between individuals or to raise funds for specific projects throughout the 19th century, and, in modified form, to the present day.


Concept

Each investor pays a sum into the tontine. Each investor then receives annual interest on the capital invested. As each investor dies, their share is reallocated among the surviving investors. This process continues until the death of the final investor, when the trust scheme is wound up. Each subscriber receives only interest; the capital is never paid back.Weir 1989, pp. 103–04 Strictly speaking, the transaction involves four different roles: # the government or corporate body that organizes the scheme, receives the contributions and manages the capital # the subscribers who provide the capital # the shareholders who receive the annual interest # the nominees on whose lives the contracts are contingent In most 18th- and 19th-century schemes, parties 2 to 4 were the same individuals; but in a significant minority of schemes each initial subscriber–shareholder was permitted to invest in the name of another party (generally one of his or her own children), who would inherit that share on the subscriber's death. Because younger nominees clearly had a longer life expectancy, the 17th- and 18th-century tontines were normally divided into several "classes" by age (typically in bands of 5, 7 or 10 years): each class effectively formed a separate tontine, with the shares of deceased members devolving to fellow-nominees within the same class. Works of fiction (see In popular culture below) often feature a variant model of the tontine in which the capital devolves upon the last surviving nominee, thereby dissolving the trust and potentially making the survivor very wealthy. It is unclear whether this model ever existed in the real world.


Patent

Financial inventions were patentable under French law from January 1791 until September 1792. In June 1792 a patent was issued to inventor F. P. Dousset for a new type of tontine in combination with a
lottery A lottery (or lotto) is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find som ...
.


Uses and abuses

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
first made use of tontines in 1689 to fund military operations when he could not otherwise raise the money. The initial subscribers each put in 300 livres and, unlike many later schemes, this one was run honestly; the last survivor, a widow named Charlotte Barbier, who died in 1726 at the age of 96, received 73,000 livres in her last payment.Weir 1989. The English government first issued tontines in 1693 to fund a war against France, part of the
Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between Kingdom of France, France and the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), Grand Alliance. Although largely concentrated in Europe, fighting spread to colonial poss ...
. Tontines soon caused financial problems for their issuing governments, as the organisers tended to underestimate the
longevity Longevity may refer to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is defined Statistics, statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth ...
of the population. At first, tontine holders included men and women of all ages. However, by the mid-18th century, investors were beginning to understand how to game the system, and it became increasingly common to buy tontine shares for young children, especially for girls around the age of 5 (since girls lived longer than boys, and by which age they were less at risk of infant mortality). This created the possibility of significant returns for the shareholders, but significant losses for the organizers. As a result, tontine schemes were eventually abandoned, and by the mid-1850s tontines had been replaced by other investment vehicles, such as " penny policies", a predecessor of the 20th-century pension scheme. A property development tontine, The Victoria Park Company, was at the heart of the notable case of '' Foss v Harbottle'' in mid-19th-century England.


Projects funded by tontines

Tontines were often used to raise funds for private or
public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...
projects. These sometimes contained the word "tontine" in their name. Some notable tontine-funded projects included: * The Assembly Rooms,
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
, were built between 1769 and 1771, funded by a tontine. * Richmond Bridge, across the
River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...
west of London, was financed through a tontine authorised by the Richmond Bridge Act 1773 ( 13 Geo. 3. c. 83). Once the bridge was completed in 1777, it was the toll charged to cross the bridge that was shared between the investors, each receiving a larger share as the others died. The last survivor received the entire toll income until his death when the toll booth on the south bank was demolished, and the bridge became free to cross. Although the bridge was widened on the upstream side in 1938 using the original facing stones, the bridge remains the oldest bridge crossing the Thames. * The Tontine Hotel in Ironbridge, Shropshire, stands prominently at one end of the Iron Bridge from which the town takes its name: it was built in 1780–84 by the proprietors of the bridge to accommodate tourists who came to view this wonder of the industrial age. * The Tontine Hotel and Assembly Rooms, Glasgow, were funded through two tontines of 1781 and 1796. * The
Tontine Coffee House The Tontine Coffee House was a coffeehouse in Manhattan, New York City, established in early 1793. Situated at 82 Wall Street, on the north-west corner of Water Street,Nathans, p. 133 it was built by a group of stockbrokers to serve as a meetin ...
on
Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
in New York City, built in 1792, was the first home of the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
. * The first Freemasons' Hall, London. Subscribers were able to nominate someone other than themselves as the person on whose life the share was staked. On the subscriber's death they could leave their share to that person, or to anyone else. The scheme raised £5,000, but cost £21,750 in interest over its 87-year life. * The Tontine Hotel,
Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...
, Inverclyde,
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
, was built in 1803. * The Cleveland Tontine hotel, near Ingleby Arncliffe, North Yorkshire, originally a
coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of t ...
on the
Yarm Yarm-on-Tees, or simply Yarm, is a market town in North Yorkshire, England. It lies on a meander of the River Tees, extending south-east to the River Leven, North Yorkshire, River Leven and south to the village of Kirklevington. A civil parish i ...
to Thirsk turnpike road, was financed using a tontine in 1804. * The Theatre Royal, Bath, was erected in 1805, funded through a tontine, with the
Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or ab ...
and his brother Prince Frederick among the subscribers.


Tontine pensions in the US: 1868–1906

Tontines became associated with
life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...
in the United States in 1868 when Henry Baldwin Hyde of the Equitable Life Assurance Society introduced them as a means of selling more life insurance and meeting the demands of competition. Over the next four decades, the Equitable and its imitators sold approximately 9 million policies – two-thirds of the nation's outstanding insurance contracts. During the
Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "L ...
many life insurance companies went out of business as deteriorating financial conditions created solvency problems: those that survived had all offered tontines. However, the contracts included an obligation to maintain monthly payments, and as a result spawned large numbers of policy owners whose life savings were wiped out by a single missed payment. The profits produced by the tontines' deferred payout structures proved tempting for the issuers – especially the profligate James Hyde. As the funds in the investment account accumulated, they found their way into directors' and agents' pockets, and also into the hands of judges and legislators, who reciprocated with prejudicial judgments and laws. Finally, in 1905, the Armstrong Investigation was set up to enquire into the selling of tontines. It resulted in the banning of the continued sale of any tontines which contained toxic clauses for consumers. In essence, these toxic versions of tontine pensions were effectively (though not literally) outlawed in response to corrupt insurance company management. When Equitable Life Assurance was establishing its business in Australia in the 1880s, an actuary of the Australian Mutual Provident Society criticised tontine insurance, calling it "an immoral contract" which "put a premium on murder". In New Zealand at the time, another of the chief critics of tontines had been the government, which also issued its own insurance.


Modern regulation

In France and Belgium, tontines clauses are inserted into contracts such as ownership deeds for property as a means to potentially reduce inheritance tax. The First Life Directive of the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
includes tontines as a permitted class of business for insurers. However, this does not mean that tontines should be considered insurance contracts universally. According to the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
the nature of "insurance" involves some investment risk-taking on the part of the company. Tontines replace idiosyncratic longevity risk with systemic longevity risk and therefore have aspects of insurance; however, unless the issuer of a tontine provides a fixed return, the issuer assumes no true risk in the insurance sense. The new Pan-European Pension legislation which came into effect in March 2022 specifically paves the way for other types of financial service providers to create new pension products that abide by the "tontine principle" which tontine PEPP (pan-European Personal Pension Product) products can be offered throughout Europe once approved in a single member state. In most places in the United States using tontines to raise capital or obtain lifetime income is consistently upheld as being legal; however, legislation in two states has fostered the false perception that selling tontines in the broader U.S. is not legal. Several new pension architectures have been designed or deployed which partially or fully utilise the tontine risk-sharing structure including: *
Collective Defined Contribution Collective Defined Contribution pension schemes (CDCs) enable savers to pool their money into a single fund to share investment risk and longevity risk. Such schemes became popular in the Netherlands in the early 2000s. CDCs tend to have lower ope ...
(CDC) pensions which will soon be offered in the UK, * Pan-European Pensions which can be offered in 27 EU member countries plus Switzerland, Canada, Norway Iceland & Liechtenstein, * Pooled Annuity Funds * Group Self-Annuitization Schemes.


Variant uses of the term

In French-speaking cultures, particularly in
developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...
, the meaning of the term "tontine" has broadened to encompass a wider range of semi-formal group savings and
microcredit Microcredit is the extension of very small loans (microloans) to impoverished borrowers who typically do not have access to traditional banking services due to a lack of collateral (finance), collateral, steady employment, and a verifiable credi ...
schemes. The crucial difference between these and tontines in the traditional sense is that benefits do not depend on the deaths of other members. As a type of rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA), tontines are well established as a savings instrument in central Africa, and in this case function as savings clubs in which each member makes regular payments and is lent the kitty in turn. They are wound up after each cycle of loans. In West Africa, "tontines" – often consisting of mainly women – are an example of economic, social and cultural solidarity. Informal group savings and loan associations are also traditional in many east Asian societies, and under the name of tontines are found in
Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
, and among emigrant Cambodian communities. In Singapore, the Chit Funds Act of 1971 defines the application of legislation to the operation of chit funds, which were also known colloquially as tontines (although more properly a variant type of ROSCA). In
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
, chit funds are primarily known as "kootu funds", which again are ROSCAs and which are defined under the ''Kootu Funds (Prohibition) Act 1971'' as "...a scheme or arrangement variously known as a kootu, cheetu, chit fund, hwei, tontine or otherwise whereby the participants subscribe periodically or otherwise to a common fund and such common fund is put up for sale or payment to the participants by auction, tender, bid, ballot or otherwise...". In the UK during the mid-20th century, the term "tontine" was applied to communal Christmas saving schemes, with participants making regular payments of an agreed sum through the year, which would be withdrawn shortly before Christmas to fund gifts and festivities.


In popular culture

Tontines (or schemes described as tontines) have been featured as plot devices in many stories, movies and television programs, including: * ''La Tontine'' (1708), a comic play by Alain-René Lesage. A physician, hoping to raise the funds to give his daughter a
dowry A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...
, buys a tontine on the life of an elderly peasant, whom he then strives to keep alive. * ''The Great Tontine'' (1881), a novel by Hawley Smart * '' The Wrong Box'' (1889), a comic novel by
Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...
and Lloyd Osbourne. The plot revolves around a tontine originally taken out for some wealthy English children, and the resulting shenanigans as younger family members of the two final elderly survivors vie to secure the final payout. The book was adapted as a film, '' The Wrong Box'', produced and directed by
Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes Order of the British Empire, CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2 ...
, in 1966. * ''The Secret Tontine'' (1912), an atmospheric faux-gothic novel by Robert Murray Gilchrist, set in the
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...
during a snowy winter in the late 19th century. The plot involves the potential beneficiaries of a covert tontine, and their scheme to murder their ignorant rivals. * Lillian de la Torre's short story "The Tontine Curse" (1948) features mysterious deaths related to a tontine in 1779, being investigated by
Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
. * ''The Tontine'' (1955), a novel by Thomas B. Costain, illustrated by
Herbert Ryman Herbert Dickens Ryman Jr. (June 28, 1910 – February 10, 1989) was an American artist and Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney Imagineer. Ryman worked in watercolor, oils, and pen & ink sketches. In 1953 Ryman drew the first illustrations of Walt Di ...
, is set in nineteenth-century England and tells a story centered around the fictional "Waterloo Tontine", established to benefit veterans of the Napoleonic wars. Among other plot twists, shareholders hire an actor to impersonate a dead nominee, and conspire to murder another member. * In '' 4.50 from Paddington'' (1957), a
Miss Marple Miss Jane Marple is a fictional character in Agatha Christie's crime novels and short stories. Miss Marple lives in the village of St Mary Mead and acts as an amateur consulting detective. Often characterised as an elderly spinster, she is one ...
murder mystery by
Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
, the plot revolves around the will of a wealthy industrialist, which establishes a settlement under which his estate is divided in trust among his grandchildren, the final survivor to inherit the whole. The settlement is described, inaccurately, as a tontine. K. Tombs uses the term in the same (inaccurate) way in a more recent murder mystery, ''The Malvern Murders''.Kerry Tombs (2019). ''The Malvern Murders''. London: Joffe Books, revised edition ("It's a financial agreement drawn up by a number of parties, the chief clause of which is that all the investment or funds, will all eventually go to the surviving member", p. 191) * '' Something Fishy'' (1957), a novel by
P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse ( ; 15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English writer and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Je ...
, features a so-called tontine under which the investors' sons stand to gain from marrying late. * In the U.S. television series ''
The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western (genre), Western, spy film, spy, and science fiction on television, science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 19 ...
'', Episode 16 of Season Two (1966–67) – "The Night of the Tottering Tontine" – finds James West and Artemus Gordon protecting a man who is a member of a tontine whose members are being murdered one by another. * "Old Soldiers", an eighth-season episode of the television series '' M*A*S*H'', focuses on a tontine set up among Colonel Potter and several of his Army buddies from
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. While taking shelter in a château during an artillery barrage, they had found a cache of
brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...
and drank all but one bottle, which they set aside for the last survivor. After the only other surviving member dies, Potter receives the bottle in the mail and shares it with his staff, drinking first to his departed friends and then to the new ones he has made at the 4077th. * In the ''
Barney Miller ''Barney Miller'' is an American sitcom television series set in a New York City Police Department police station on East 6th Street in Greenwich Village (Lower Manhattan). The series was broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from Janu ...
'' episode "The Tontine" (1982), one of the last two surviving family members who invested in the tontine attempts to kill himself so that the other can have the money before growing too old to enjoy it. * In ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...
'' episode " Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in 'The Curse of the Flying Hellfish' (1996), Grampa Simpson and Mr. Burns are the final survivors of a tontine to determine ownership of art looted during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Grampa eventually kicks Burns out of the tontine for trying to kill him, but before he and Bart can do anything with the art, agents of the US State Department arrive to return the paintings to a descendant of the original owner. * ''The Mystery of Men'' (1999), a TV film starring Warren Clarke, Neil Pearson and
Nick Berry Nicholas Berry (born 16 April 1963) is a retired English actor and pop singer. He is best known for his roles as Simon Wicks in ''EastEnders'' from 1985 to 1990, and as Constable, PC Nick Rowan in ''Heartbeat (British TV series), Heartbeat'' f ...
, deals with four friends in a tontine scheme suddenly realising they will benefit from each other's deaths. * In S. L. Viehl's science fiction multi-volume novel ''Stardoc'' (2000), the title character is accused of spreading a plague to several colony worlds, on one of which the colonists had established a tontine. The sole survivor, a little girl, consequently becomes so wealthy that in the second book of the series – ''Beyond Varallan'' (2000) – she buys the bank behind the colonies to free the Stardoc from the debt she now owes. * The 2001 comedy film '' Tomcats'' features a variation on a tontine where the last investor to get married gets the full amount of the invested funds. * The '' Diagnosis: Murder'' episode "Being of Sound Mind" (2001) features a tontine as a motive for murder. * In the '' Archer'' episode "The Double Deuce" (2011), Archer's
valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, ''valet de chambre'' was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "va ...
Woodhouse is revealed as one of three final survivors of a group of World War I
Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...
squadron mates who each put £50 into an interest-bearing account, now worth nearly a million dollars. The office workers at ISIS HQ, realizing that a new tontine could capitalize on the high mortality rate of field agents, begin persuading people to join. * The '' Brokenwood Mysteries'' episode "Tontine" (2018) centers on a tontine.


See also

*
Life estate In common law and statutory law, a life estate (or life tenancy) is the ownership of immovable property for the duration of a person's life. In legal terms, it is an estate in real property that ends at death, when the property rights may rever ...
* Dead pool


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

{{Wiktionary, tontine * "The Great Tontine Gamble", one of a series of articles by Burton J. Hendrick appearing in ''
McClure's Magazine ''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of muckraking journalism ( investigative, wat ...
'' in 1906
''The Straight Dope'': "What's with tontines, the odd annuities in which you benefit when others die?"

Baker et al. (Winter 2009–2010) "Tontines for the Young Invincibles", ''Regulation''

"Forbes Pensions Research Council (Jan 18, 2018) "Fintech's Answer To The Global Retirement Crisis"
Investment Informal finance 1653 establishments in France 17th-century introductions Economic history of the Netherlands