by John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC RSP CLTC
In a scene from the latest installment of "Night At The Museum", "Teddy Roosevelt" introduces himself to "Sir Lancelot" at the British Museum in London as "Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America" to which Lancelot replies " I have no idea what that means!", drawing titters from the audience.
" Sir" Lancelot Tucker's waxing on structured settlements published on Guru Focus.com is no better than his celluloid namesake who was "brought to life" by the "tablet of Akmenrah".
Lancelot's article draws another parallel from Night At The Museum. Ben Stiller's character is introduced to the Pharaoh Ramses as "Larry, Guardian of Brooklyn", half Jewish half Irish, to which the reply is " I like Jews, I have 40,000 of them". To which "Larry" replies "yeah well they weren't happy, they left, and we sit down for dinner and talk about it every year. [cue Jeopardy question: What is Passover?]
In Lancelot's case he lists the 4 top insurance companies that offer structured settlements as MetLife Inc., ING Groep NV, Prudential Financial Inc. and Genworth Financial Inc. Yeah, well ING left the business maybe 15 years ago and is now known as Voya Financial. Genworth left the market maybe 9 or 10 years ago. While we don't drink 4 cups of Manischewitz Concord Grape and lean to the left to celebrate their exit, we now ponder the assertions of Lancelot over the "Tablet of Afikoman"(below)
"To Get A Structured Settlement One has To Go By The First Come First Served Rule"
Utter rubbish. To get a structured settlement, generally one need only be a party to a legal claim or a lawsuit, and/or be eligible to receive damages derived from the claims and come to a compromise with the paying party that includes the structured settlement as part of the consideration for a release of claims against released parties. The structured settlement market can absorb cases large or small. There is no first come first serve when it comes to get a structured settlement. There is only first come first serve when it comes to structured settlement payment rights [see below]
"Structured Settlement Payment Rights Are Annuities"
" these wealth yielding annuities often appear in online promotions, newspapers or magazines and promoters usually use words such as 'It's your money' or 'why wait to be paid' to promote them"
Utter rubbish. Annuities can only be placed by licensed and appointed agents or brokers of insurance companies. Structured settlement payment rights are not annuities, the sale practices are unregulated, they are sold by companies and individuals who may not be registered to do business in your state, may not hold an insurance license in your state, may not hold any licensed to give financial advice and investors in structured settlement payment rights may not receive the same statutory protections available to annuitants.
A comment appearing in the Guru Focus .com forum under Lancelot Tucker's article says it all
"I read your article three times and I'm still not clear on what point you're trying to get across. Most of the deals to buy settlements for lump sums are huge rip-offs targeting unsophisticated people desperate for lump sums right away. Don't sell your settlement if you can afford to simply wait for the gradual payoff. You'll be far better off. That is the real bottom line"
Who is The Nonsense Linked To?
The Tucker article includes a contextual advertising link to Getastructuredsettlement(dot)com, another website full of misleading inaccuracies* which, according to whois records is tied to Richart Ruddie, who is one of the people behind JRR Funding LLC, Einstein Structured Settlements. The whois records show an email address at fatlossbands(dot)com and the same mailing address for the Florida records for JRR Funding. Ruddie is VP of Fat Loss Bands Inc. according to Sunzbiz.org. Ringler Associates should also note that it has a contextual link promoting their site from the Lancelot nonsense.
*Getastructuredsettlement(dot)com intentionally misleads people by implying that structured settlement payments are/were issued by Zurich American Life Insurance Company, William Penn Life Insurance Company of New York, Western Southern Life Assurance Co., Western Reserve Life Assurance Co., Well Point Inc. Wellmark of South Dakota Inc. dba Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Dakota.
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