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November 19, 2012

Sell Structured Settlement Two Months After Creation | Would You Pay to Get a Bad Haircut?

by John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC RSP

The first call she thought she had the wrong number

The second call she asked if we handled structured settlements and said she was seeking "a loan" from her structured settlement.

So I asked a few screening questions:

Q. Was this a personal injury or liability settlement?  A. Personal Injury

Q. What company is the annuity with?  A. I don't know?

Q. When was the structured settlement set up? A. Two months ago

Q. Two months ago?  Are you aware that if you sell you will take a big hit?  Why are you selling? A. Don't worry about it

Snip Snip Snipped Off as You Get It Rip Rip Ripped Off

Tragically, based on the following assumptions, this person will end up with 45% less than the cost of funding the structure 2 months earlier if she sells it with a 9.8% discount rate. Even with a 5% discount rate it would be about a 21% haircut off the cost of the annuity.

Assumptions: $1,000 per month for 240 months starting January 1, 2013, Annuity issuer is one of the leading A+ rated companies and for illustrative purposes it is priced out with all payments being sold. Prices will vary by settlement purchaser and the haircuts could even be larger with some purchasers.

One factoring company executive aptly observed that a sale shortly after creation of the structured settlement "would be tantamount to being underwater in a car lease if you chose to trade cars after two months of taking possession.  It simply does not work".

Plaintiff lawyers and settlement consultants should be diligent about asking questions and probing for a plaintiff's immediate cash needs prior to the creation of a structured settlement, taking care to scratch below the surface.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted at 06:17 PM in Plaintiff Attorney Settlement Issues, Settlement Planner Malpractice Issues, Settlement Planning Issues, Structured Settlement Factoring |

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Guide to Structured Settlements 2025

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    How structured settlements work, including 4structures.com LLC's super helpful structured settlement flow chart/diagram showing how structured settlements fit in on the spectrum of settlement planning solutions.
  • Rated Ages and Structured Settlement Cost
    Rated Ages for Structured Settlement Annuities present advantages to all parties. Shift the mortality risk to a life insurance company which specializes in assessing mortality risk to price its life insurance and annuity products. Rated ages boost your structured settlement annuity benefit per premium dollar, or your yield on lifetime payments. Rated ages help to reduce the cost of funding a Medicare Set Aside arrangement where a Structured MSA, is being used [WCMSA, LMSA or NFMSA].
  • 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.
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    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.
  • Structured Settlement Quote Lock-Ins | What You Need To Know
    What does a Structured Settlement Lock-In Mean? How do plaintiffs, defendants and insurers benefit from a structured settlement quote lock in when finalizing a settlement? How does the defendant/insurer/court benefit from using a structured settlement lock-in? Where to be careful when using structured settlement lock ins.
  • 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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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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