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September 29, 2008

Is Being Financially Literate in Your Profession Too Much To Ask?

by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Frank ReCouper, Sr. head of "cash now pusher" factoring company, FDR Resources and purportedly "Joe Pep's" partner (in R&P Capital),  embarrasses himself in  "Are Structured Settlements Affected By The Bailout"?  One wonders what someone who advertises that he has been in financial services for over 45 years  has been doing to get it all so wrong on the fundamentals.

Misinformation from Frank ReCouper, Sr.

ReCouper Misinforms:
1.Says annuities and structured settlements are regulated by a State Insurance Commissioner.

  • FACT: Insurance companies, agents, brokers and the sale of insurance products (including annuties) are regulated by the state insurance commissioners in the states in which those subject are domiciled and/or products sold.

2. Says "State Law states all annuities an structured settlements have separate reserve accounts". 

  • FACT: Annuities and structured settlements are insurance products. Products do not have reserve accounts.

3. Says  the individual state insurance laws covers all annuities and/or structured settlements and have a reserve set aside to cover all the responsibilities of that annuity and/or structured settlement. 

  • FACTS: Insurance laws do not have reserves, insurance companies do.
  • Annuities and/or structured settlements do not have responsibilities. When it comes to structured settlements there are multiple options of responsibility depending on the facts of the case: the responsibility is that of the defendant or its insurer if there is no qualified assignment; the assignee if there is a qualified assignment; the annuity issuer if the assignee fails to pay and there is a wrap around guarantee; an upstream holding company in the case of American General Life or Pacific Life and annuity structured settlements.
  • State insurance laws do not apply to treasury bond funded structured settlements.

4. Says "The State of Texas (which oversees the AIG life insurance department that guarantees these annuities and/or settlements) supervises and monitors each of these reserve accounts".

  • FACTS: The state of Texas DOES NOT oversee the affairs of American International Life Insurance Company of New York.
  • Insurance companies are regulated by state insurance departments in each of the states they do business.
  • The AIG life insurance department DOES NOT guarantee any annuity or structured settlement.
  • Annuities are backed by the full faith and credit of the insurance company which writes the annuity contract or policy.
  • As stated in 3 above, an upstream holding company of Houston based American General,  AGC Life Insurance Company, guarantees periodic payment obligations assigned to American General Annuity Service Corporation, when a qualified assignment is used in conjunction with an American General Life Insurance annuity.

The misinformation Frank ReCouper's provides is, with few exceptions,typical of "cash now pushers" whose members writes about structured settlements in attempt to gain shelf space to set consumers up for "the main event". Much of what I've explained should be basic knowledge for every licensed insurance agent. Poorly researched digitial diarrhea is not useful to consumers.

If you are going to write about structured settlements, is being financially literate AND articulate too much to ask?

Posted at 08:18 PM in Cash Now Pushers | The "Cash Now Fix", Factoring Industry AIG Response, FDR Resources, Financial Literacy, Misinformation About Structured Settlements, Settlement Advertising Wall of Shame, Social Media "Road Kill", Structured Settlement Factoring News, Structured Settlement Watchdog® |

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Guide to Structured Settlements 2025

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  • Top Structured Settlement Annuity Companies 2025
    Which life insurance companies issue structured settlement annuities in 2025? A list of current structured annuity issuers, the location of their home offices and their financial ratings from A.M. Best, Moodys, Fitch, Standard & Poors and/or other Tier1 NAIC ratings, with links to their websites and other useful information. Last updated November 3, 2024
  • Treasury Funded Structured Settlements
    Treasury Funded Structured Settlements are a settlement option for the most conservative using the OTHER permissible qualified funding asset under IRC 130(d), United States Treasury Bonds in addition to, or instead of, structured settlement annuities. Treasury Funded Structured Settlements can also be used to fund installment sales, also known as structured sales and other non qualified structured settlements.
  • Compare Structured Settlement IRR to Other Settlement Alternatives
    Use the Taxable Equivalent Yield chart to help compare the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of a structured settlement to other alternative or complementary investments. Need help with the chart? Call 4structures.com® LLC at 888-325-8640
  • Structured Settlement Payments | Types of Structured Settlements 2025
    In 2025, you can structure your settlement payments in various ways. A structured settlement allows for multiple payment types within one agreement. You can tailor and merge different structured settlement payments to suit your individual needs, either alone or alongside other financial instruments. If desired, diversify your structured settlement by utilizing multiple annuity issuers, treasury-funded structured settlements, index-linked structured settlement payments, and market-based structured options.
  • Structured Attorney Fees for Tax Deferral for Attorney Contingency Fees
    Structured attorney fees offer a financial strategy that provides a unique method for deferring taxes for attorneys and their firms. Attorneys can structure or defer their legal fees independently of whether the plaintiff structures their settlement. There are various ways to structure attorney fees, including capped or uncapped index-linked structured settlement annuities with payments adjusted according to the S&P 500 or another index's positive changes. Trial lawyers might also opt for a special deferred payment/compensation arrangement if they seek market-based returns without a cap. As the year-end approaches, consider adding structured attorney fee specialist John Darer® to your settlement planning team for 2025.
  • Structured Settlement Annuity Company Customer Service Phone Numbers
    Receiving structured settlement payments from your own structured settlement or inherited structured settlement? You'll like this huge time saver. Click the title for a link to a comprehensive list of customer service telephone numbers that includes both current AND former structured settlement annuity issuers and reinsurers. If you have simple bank or beneficiary changes, or if the insurance company that issued the structured annuity has merged, sold or spun off its block of structured annuity business (e.g. Aviva, Allstate, Transamerica, AEGON, GE Capital, Liberty, CNA, Confederation Life), oran annuity issuer has changed its name and you're trying to track them down. Here you go! The list is regularly updated. Last updated December 9, 2024.
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  • What Are Structured Settlement Annuities?
    Structured settlement annuities are annuities that can provide one or more customized annuity payment streams in a single contract. Read about structured settlement annuities here.
  • History of Structured Settlements
    Tracing the roots of structured settlements history from 1918, when Congress exempted damages for personal injury or sickness from income tax, to the establishment of structured settlements as a core personal injury settlement planning tool to the present day.
  • What Are Market Based Structured Settlements?
    Market based structured settlements are an alternative or supplementary structured settlement solution for the plaintiff, attorney or law firm that: 1. Can afford to take some market risk 2. Have discretionary settlement dollars. Claimants and attorneys alike may find that market-based structured settlements provide the opportunity to receive tax-free income, or tax-deferred income, while enjoying growth potential.
  • iStructure |Uncapped Fixed Index Structured Settlement Annuity
    iStructure is an innovative game changing fixed index structured settlement annuity for plaintiffs or attorneys. with an intermediate to long term horizon
  • Structured Settlements and Longevity Risk| What Are the Odds?
    Do your financial resources give you enough road, or will the road run out before you do? A structured settlement annuity helps mitigate the risk of outliving your savings, no matter how long you live. A structured settlement can include one or more customized payment streams and types.
  • Intellectual Property Structured Settlements
    While intellectual property wasn’t a common focus for structured settlements, the growth of IP litigation led to some firms, including 4structures.com, LLC, adapting structured settlements in this context. The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act shifted some Intellectual Property assets (e,g, patents) from capital gains treatment to ordinary income treatment, while increasing tax rates on lump-sum sales from 20% to 37%, increasing the appeal of structured settlement options for tax planning. Click through for more details!

Qualified Settlement Funds

  • What is a Qualified Settlement Fund?
    Qualified Settlement Funds | What You Need to Know
  • Firmwide Qualified Settlement Funds Debunked
    Firmwide qualified settlement funds have been heavily promoted to trial lawyers, but have been debunked in a detailed analysis in a July 2022 legal opinion a tax partner at the law firm of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP. Trial lawyers and firms who have established Firmwide QSFs or coinsidering establishing a Firmwide QSF should read the analysis as part of their evaluation.

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  • New York Insurance Advertising law requires the full name of the Insurer to be listed along with the city and state of the principal office. Stating that you represent these fine companies using Insurance company logos without the preceding information are also illegal
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  • Most states require that Testimonials represent the CURRENT opinion of the person who made the testimonial. Be prepared to back it up.
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Why Take a Structured Settlement?

  • A structured settlement offers guaranteed financial security to personal injury victims, wrongful death survivors and their families. A structured settlement involves a customized stream of payments, provides long-term stable tax-free income, for a period of years or a lifetime. Unlike other income annuities. a structured settlement annuity can have multiple payment streams to address multiple needs in a single contract.

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