December 31, 2015 – As 2015 draws to a close, we thought we’d take a moment to give you an inside look at what kind of year it’s been here at Finn Financial Group.

Finn Financial Group: 2014 Versus 2015

2014 was a very good year.

But 2015 was a SENSATIONAL year!

By every possible measure, 2015 was our firm’s most successful year since its inception almost six years ago.

Just compare the stack of successfully concluded files on the left (2014) to the one on the right (2015) in the photo above to get a sense of how many more people we were able to help this year.

By The Numbers

Requests for New Quotes – 144 calls/emails for assistance with new case referrals this year versus 111 last  year (30% increase)

Of these, 61 were successfully concluded with annuities, 32 were closed without an annuity (in some cases because our evaluation determined the client would be better off with cash) and 51 remain open pending further consideration as the case develops.

Individual Annuities Placed – 93 successfully concluded annuities this year versus 70 last year (33% increase)

Not counting the pending client referrals we will be finalizing in 2016, we were busy helping someone finalize their claim or lawsuit nearly every other day of the work week.

By The Immeasureables

The most gratifying part about having a boutique structured settlement and specialty annuity income planning firm is knowing that we are small enough to remain personally engaged in helping people put their financial lives in order every time they reach out to us.

And we just love rising to the occasion to help people when they need us.

Whether we’re helping somebody whose life has been turned upside down due to a catastrophic injury or the death of a loved one or whether someone is reaching that point in their life when they need to make that difficult, emotional transition from life in the workforce to life in retirement, we are extremely honored they continue to seek us out for our professional guidance and expertise.

What’s Next?

As we trade one calendar for another, looking ahead to 2016 we’re eager to continue making good on our pledge to always serve as a reliable advocate to you for all your structured settlement and specialty annuity needs.

Sometime in 2016, our firm will cross the lofty $100,000,000 threshold of total annuity dollars placed. Because we understand that clients would never place those kinds of dollars with companies they don’t trust, we never lose sight of the fact that it is YOUR trust in us that enables us to continue our mission of helping secure people’s futures. Thank you for your ongoing vote of confidence.

So here’s to YOU!

And here’s to Us being able to help YOU in 2016 and beyond.

Thank you again for the continued opportunity to be of service to you and best wishes for good health, much happiness and unending success however you choose to measure it in 2016 and beyond.

Happy New Year!

Image courtesy of Anoop Krishnan at FreeDigitalPhoto.net

December 17, 2015 – As children, our sense of holiday cheer is often limited due to a preoccupation with how we can personally and materially benefit from the season of goodwill.

Case in point: I never once sat on Santa’s lap to talk about what my brothers wanted for Christmas.

But sometimes children witness such simple expressions of thoughtfulness that so perfectly embody the spirit of the season that their lessons linger years after the wrapping paper is tossed into the fireplace and Glass Wax stencils become passe.

One cold, wintry morning when I was in elementary school, I remember eating breakfast in our kitchen that my mom always complained was too small for our family. Despite its small size, none of us ever woke up when breakfast wasn’t already underway and she wasn’t helping everyone get their day off to a good start.

My mom was a prototypical, vastly under-appreciated, mid-1960’s stay-at-home mom who took care of her family so well we didn’t even realize just how good our lives were. She made everything seem effortless. Worried about us incessantly but always made sure all her kids were well fed, groomed and properly clothed before each school day began.

Winters could be especially numbing in Canton, Ohio and on days when the gas forced air furnace didn’t seem to put out quite enough BTUs, an open oven door made the otherwise periodically drafty house more comfortable. My flannel pajamas helped but couldn’t fend off all the wintry chill that managed to make its way through the single pane windows of a solid brick house built long before the era of advanced energy efficiency.

On this particular December morning as I shivered my way through my bacon and eggs or oatmeal or whatever hot breakfast she thoughtfully made that morning, my mom suddenly looked out the back window having heard something that startled her.

“Oh no,” she gasped half to herself and half out loud. “Oh no!”

Something was wrong. I didn’t know what it was but it must have been something serious to cause her such distress. I knew that much.

Without warning, she made a mad dash to the closet, deftly grabbing her coat and her plaid scarf which she loosely tied around her head as fast as she could. She kicked off her slippers and plopped her bare feet into her faux fur-trimmed rubber boots and, grabbing something off the draining board as she left, bolted out of the back door with such abandon I thought maybe the garage was on fire.

As she ran down the driveway through snow that must have been a foot deep, arms flailing about and frantically shouting as if hailing a cab during a New York City rush hour and late for an appointment, I did my best to follow her movements to see if I could find out what was causing her such consternation. Making my way around to the dining room toward the front of the house, as I watched through the bay window, I sensed her anxiety abating once it became clear to me what all the commotion had been about.

She almost missed the garbage man.

She smiled and waved as she just barely managed to grab the attention of the bundled-up guy riding on the back of the truck before it moved on to the next house.

But she wasn’t trying to flag them down so desperately because she needed to pass along another bag of egg shells and coffee grounds.

She was afraid she’d miss giving the workers their Christmas gift, a personalized card into which she had placed a few dollars as a token of her appreciation for the dedicated work they performed all year long.

The garbage man.

Sadly, it never occurred to me that someone whose job it was to haul our garbage every week deserved a present. After all, Christmas was supposed to be about me getting presents.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a more genuine smile than the one that grew on that man’s face once he realized why my mom was waving so desperately to stop the truck. I couldn’t tell if he teared up or not but it was obvious this unexpected gift warmed his heart greatly as he joyfully waved back on behalf of the crew in reciprocal appreciation of her thoughtfulness.

When our lives get busy we often forget to thank those who matter and who make our lives so much better.

At our firm, we ALWAYS focus on our mission of helping those who need our help, ALWAYS pledge to do what’s right for the client and strive to ALWAYS express our appreciation for the opportunities they give us to be of service.

So to all the friends, claimants, attorneys, claims professionals, retirees-to-be, industry peers and business partners who continue to place their confidence in us and make our existence possible:

THANK YOU

for the Opportunity to Be of Service

and

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to You and Yours

We are humbled by your trust and forever grateful to you for reminding us why we’re here.

Have a terrific holiday and all best wishes for a prosperous 2016.

PS Even though I now live in Southern California where it doesn’t snow and garbage men are now called sanitation workers who pick up trash without leaving their vehicles, I always remember to pass along a token of appreciation to these and the other dedicated professionals who service our home in honor of my late mom and the lesson she didn’t even realize she taught me so many years ago.

December 8, 2015 – In both the Retirement and Structured Settlements sections of The Finn Blog, we strive to keep our clients updated on current research and statistics relevant to their retirement and post-injury settlement decision making.

Because we believe people like to make their own decisions about their own lives based on facts, not conjecture, we’re partial to citing verifiable statistics in our posts while steering them away from those with an axe to grind or who otherwise have their own agenda.

Take fixed-indexed annuities (FIAs) for instance, the pros and cons of which are often hotly debated.

Despite attempts by many in the financial planning community-at-large to discredit them completely as unsuitable retirement options “pushed” by licensed agents, FIAs just seem to keep sustaining their popularity according to a recent article appearing in InvestmentNews.

For the statistically oriented among you, you might appreciate knowing FIAs are up 7 percent YTD according to LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. Here’s a quote from the article:

“Indexed annuity [sic] reached record-breaking levels. Total sales were $14.3 billion, up 22 percent and 10 percent higher than the previous best quarterly results. This growth was driven by many companies, rather than just the top players as we have seen in the past.”

With 179.3 billion dollars worth of annuities changing hands in nine months so far this year, you’d think someone other than those losing market share would be complaining.

What makes these things so popular?

While the intricacies of FIAs can admittedly seem challenging to wrap your arms around, at the end of the day we find a few irrefutable truths about people and retirement which help explain their continued popularity.

Generally

Study after study assures us people generally like the idea of guaranteed income they can never outlive.

Annuities are the only way to contractually guarantee income for life.

People who own annuities tend to live longer on average.

People who own annuities in retirement are happier and show fewer symptoms of depression.

Running out of money, which can’t happen with life annuities, is one of the greatest fears expressed by baby boomers.

Add to all that this truth:

When we compare FIA payout projections to their traditional fixed annuity cousins, we often find the minimum (worst case scenario) guaranteed lifetime benefits from the FIAs are not much different than guaranteed benefits (best-and-only case scenario) of the fixed, non-indexed annuities.

Meaning . . .

Specifically

For about the same amount of money, a FIA offers the potential (emphasis added) for higher payouts than a traditional fixed annuity.

So if you’re looking into the future and want to guarantee your hard earned money will still be there for as long as you will, look into allocating some of your retirement dollars toward the purchase of a life annuity.

If you want the same thing but want to benefit from market increases when they occur, consider a fixed-indexed annuity with a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit rider.

Either way, you’ll be assured that you’ll have cash flow to meet ongoing expenses and won’t have to worry about running out of money.

Let us know if you’d like a Retirement Income Certified Professional® to help you with your retirement analysis.

Image courtesy of bplanet at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

New Brochure Added

Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston’s

Structured Settlements for Employment Disputes

November 4, 2015 – An article published in the National Law Review a little more than a year ago couldn’t be more straightforward:

“Employment Related Lawsuits Are on the Rise. Are You Covered?”

While we strongly encourage all businesses with employees to review their Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) coverage as advocated in the article to ensure they are properly protected should an employment-based lawsuit arise, our firm’s focus lies elsewhere.

We exist to help clients during the claims resolution process when a lawsuit is filed.

That’s when we can help!

While traditional structured settlements are vital in helping resolve a wide variety of claims involving personal, physical injury, the vast majority of employment disputes stem from alleged wrongs that are non-physical in nature.

As such, most employment settlement proceeds are taxable to the litigant.

Fortunately, a structured settlement can still be part of the solution. It’s just a slightly different type of structured settlement. One we’ve worked hard to educate the claims and legal communities on for years:

A Non-Physical Injury Structured Settlement

We believe so strongly in the value of this settlement option, we’ve created a companion Website, MyTaxableSettlement.com, dedicated to helping clients understand how and why this option works so well.

At the time of this writing, Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston is the only life insurance company offering a non-qualified assignment to parties seeking to resolve their employment-based lawsuits. The brochure we’ve included on our Website highlights the tax advantages, its applications and describes the mechanics of the process.

Worth mentioning is the value of this tool for both the plaintiff and defense. Since income spread out over time generally will result in fewer total taxes being paid by the plaintiff, a case whose resolution may otherwise stall during mediation or post-verdict discussions because of adverse tax consequences can more easily resolve to the satisfaction of both sides.

I hope you find this brochure helpful and invite you to call anytime you have questions regarding structured settlements for employment-based litigation.

Image courtesy of iosphere at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

From Our Newsletter:

New Brochure Added

Pacific Life’s Index-Linked Annuity Payment Adjustment Rider

Blending Traditional and Market-Linked
Structured Settlements for the Best of Both Worlds

October 20, 2015 – We’ll keep this newsletter short since we hope you’ll spend most of your time reading the latest brochure we just received from one of our structured settlement life company partners.

You may recall our April, 2014 newsletter telling you about the then-newest entrant into the structured settlement marketplace – a structured settlement featuring a rider that allows the recipient to benefit from some of the market upswings when they occur but, unlike being invested directly in the market itself, guarantees no loss of value when the market falls.

Then, in one of our September, 2014 blog posts, we told you the IRS had weighed in on the subject when it issued a favorable Private Letter Ruling on the idea.

Now, in an effort to advance understanding and appreciation of the concept, the current brochure we’re sharing today takes a look back over the past 30 years to see what might have been in a hypothetical situation. While past performance of the stock market is never a guarantee of future performance, such an exercise is common and can be quite helpful when making decisions today about tomorrow.

Isaac Newton surely would be confused by Pacific Life’s structured settlement offering since, unlike his “what goes up must come down” adage, structured settlements with an ILAPA Rider can only go up.

We’re pretty bullish on this option for our clients, especially those who suffer from FOMO (“Fear Of Missing Out” on market potential) and might otherwise pass on the opportunity to structure their settlement altogether.

So next time you’re in the market for a structured settlement, don’t forget to ask about the one with stock market potential.

BONUS OPPORTUNITY:

This option works great for Structured Attorney Fees also!

I look forward to answering any questions you have on this or any related subject and hope you find the brochure helpful.

Stock market image courtesy of cooldesign at FreeDigitalPhotos.net 

September 28, 2015 – If you’ve been sitting around waiting for interest rates to rise in a meaningful way sometime soon, a recent report from the Executive Office of the President of the United States might give you an unhappy pause.

Not that a reading of “Long-Term Interest Rates: A Survey,” published July, 2015, predicts anything catastrophic. It simply lays bare a few realities that many people have spent a lot of time trying hard not to accept.

Briefly summarized, the survey reveals:

Rates have been on a long, steady decline for more than a generation.

Nobody really saw this coming.

It’s happening everywhere, not just the United States.

This could be permanent (or close to it).

Experts were wrong before and they’re probably going to be wrong again.

Rates probably aren’t heading too far north anytime soon.

Since a projection of long term interest rates is an important component in developing any Administration’s Presidential budget, this sobering news underscores the importance of setting realistic expectations.

Speaking of Realistic Expectations

If you’ve been resisting making long term financial commitments with your money out of fear you’d end up with some kind of buyer’s remorse if rates improve dramatically, maybe this survey will reduce your anxiety.

True, it’s not an ultra-rosy projection; however, maybe by tempering your expectations, you can move forward with confidence that you’ll be locking into something that is as good as you can get in the near term.

Structured settlements, with the added benefit of paying cash flows that are income tax-free (physical injury) or tax-deferred (non-physical injury, including attorney fees), remain a preferred settlement alternative despite the persistent “low” interest rate cautions.

Same with retirement annuities. Once you accept that security backed instruments are likely to remain close to status quo for much of the next generation, your incentive to hoard cash lessens.

Nobody wants to buy a TV set the day before it goes on sale. Maybe knowing there won’t be any “sale” on interest rates in the foreseeable future will allow you to move forward more confidently to secure your own future.

Fortunately, one “band” that calls itself the Society of Actuaries (SOA) thinks about this kind of thing a lot. These studious lads (and lasses) may never have charted any singles but the work they do is as vital to life as music, if not more so.

In its Phase 1 (of a four-phase project) Baseline July, 2015 research newsletter on “Optimal Retirement Income Solutions in DC Plans,” the SOA authors analyze various retirement income generators (RIGs) with the goal of evaluating the pros and cons of each method to find the optimum solution for ensuring steady cash flow for life.

September 10, 2015 – Despite ongoing efforts by many in the financial planning community-at-large to downplay the importance of annuities in helping people address their retirement financing challenges, unbiased research keeps surfacing, leading astute retirees and retirees-to-be to the exact opposite conclusion:

Retirement annuities can be very, very good for you!

Today, I’m pleased to share the following article from the August, 2015 issue of EBRI Notes, a publication of the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI):

“How Much Can Qualifying Longevity Annuity Contracts Improve Retirement Security?”

The article discusses modeling techniques used to assess the retirement readiness and ultimately security for Baby Boomers and Gen Xers.  In light of the ongoing perception that “interest rates are too low” for annuities, we found this particular finding noteworthy:

“. . . even at today’s historically low interest rates, the transfer of longevity risk provides a significant increase in retirement readiness . . .”

EBRI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization which exists to provide “credible, reliable, and objective research, data and analysis” and counts among its members a cross section of some of the most recognizable names in the American financial, investment, employment, education, legal, accounting, insurance and labor organization landscape.

One of the worst things that can happen to a person after a lifetime of working and saving for retirement is to find themselves in a position where they run out of money.

It’s an individual problem, to be sure.

But it’s also a problem for society as a whole hence the interest in the subject by EBRI.

Annuities, especially longevity annuities, help offset the risk of running out of money at an advanced age in one of the most cost-efficient manners possible. The mortality risk transfer that occurs when people buy annuities en masse simply cannot be replicated as effectively by individuals following traditional investing strategies.

Traditional investing and annuity ownership need not be mutually exclusive by the way. For most people, an ideal retirement plan would likely include elements of both with the only variable being a matter of percentage allocation to each discipline.

Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

September 3, 2015 – Of the nine categories of fixed annuities tracked by LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute, only one has shown a positive trend over 2014: Structured Settlements.

An estimated 46.2 billion dollars’ worth of fixed annuity contracts were issued through the half-way point of 2015 and the data reveal that structured settlements are up 8% adding $200,000,000 over the previous year’s activity.

LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute estimates place structured settlement activity at $2.8 billion through June of 2015.

While our firm can’t take full responsibility for this improvement (we’re up about 41% YTD over 2014), I’m proud to say the decisions our clients are making have contributed to this positive trend.

Tax-advantaged, guaranteed structured settlement payments exist to help those challenged by the aftereffects of a personal injury settlement.

Many of them can no longer return to their regular careers.

Often they’re dealing with the severe emotional and financial devastation that accompanies the death of a family member.

Others face the uncertainty of ongoing medical and support needs.

Some seek tax efficiency impossible to achieve elsewhere.

In our view, it only makes sense those who require stability choose safety and security over uncertainty and volatility.

While structured settlement annuity activity represents only about 6.1 percent of the total fixed annuity market, it’s perhaps the most essential percentage since these annuities are funded not with disposable income dollars but rather dollars intended restore individuals to their pre-accident condition.

Structured settlements have been helping people for going on half a century and we’re proud to provide such a valuable life stabilizing service to those who need it most.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

August 18, 2015 – In furtherance of our ongoing commitment to do our absolute best to help clients navigate the complex and often daunting personal injury pre-and-post-settlement resolution process, I’m proud to announce today that I am officially among the first in the country who can formally lay claim to the title:

Master’s Certified Structured Settlement Consultant

First Graduating Class

Last fall, I was part of the inaugural class of structured settlement industry professionals who began formal studies on the beautiful campus of The University of Notre Dame as part of the National Structured Settlements Trade Association’s (NSSTA) advanced structured settlement certification offering.

The Master’s Certified Structured Settlement Consultant (MSSC) designation, developed in cooperation with Notre Dame’s prestigious Mendoza College of Business, builds on the Certified Structured Settlement Consultant (CSSC) designation NSSTA initiated more than two decades ago, a designation I earned in 1995.

The MSSC curriculum included a host of topics designed to enhance students’ understanding of the issues facing our industry that we may better serve our clients. I highlighted some of the faculty and subject matter covered in my Master Class Highlights blog post last October.

The capstone of the learning experience was the submission of a peer-reviewed research paper. For my thesis, I chose the wordy yet unambiguously titled . . .

“Non-Physical Injury Structured Settlements:

A Solution To The Fairness Imbalance Created When Taxable Damage Personal Injury Claims Settle For Cash Lump Sums.”

My research paper is currently being considered for publication in an industry periodical so I’m not linking it to my website just yet; however, if you are interested in reading, I’m more than happy to share. Just let me know and I’ll gladly send you a copy.

While the rest of America prepares for the start of another school year, I’m happy to have completed my recent educational undertaking and look forward to sharing and applying what I’ve learned the next time I can help someone.

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net