Bloomberg:  Nevada Claims Settling for About $200,000 Apiece

August 21, 2012 – Early this morning, reports surfaced citing unnamed sources about Johnson & Johnson’s agreement to resolve three DePuy artificial hip lawsuits.  If confirmed, these will be the first known DePuy settlements to occur.

This news comes less than a week shy of the two-year anniversary of the voluntary worldwide recall of certain artificial hips manufactured by DePuy Orthopedics, a division of Johnson & Johnson.

Allegations of elevated chromium in patients’ blood, exceedingly high implant failure rates and intense pain and suffering are among the charges levied against the defendants.

For an excellent summary of the History of the DePuy ASR Case from the law firm that filed the first product liability lawsuit in the country against DePuy, we highly recommend following the posts from noted San Francisco personal injury law firm Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger.

For more information on how some of the more than 8,000 plaintiffs involved in various lawsuits around the globe are expected to resolve their anticipated settlements against J&J, visit ASRHipSettlement.com to see how structured settlements can help them.

While there, we invite you to watch a video on our firm’s YouTube Channel, currently viewed by over 2,900 people, to understand why this litigation is so personal at our firm and why we care.

We continue to monitor developments on this matter closely.  Please contact us if there’s anything we can do to  help you.

Tax Advantage Still Favors Structured Settlement

(Maybe)

August 16, 2012 – Two days ago, with a headline that couldn’t have been more blunt, Bloomberg News reported that the 5-Year CD fell below 1% for the first time ever.

While you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone championing this sobering report, it’s important to keep this news in its proper perspective.  If you believe economist Gary Shilling, author of “The Age of Deleveraging,” our economy is in for another five-to-seven years of malaise at best.

What’s a person to do?

For those who accept our current economic reality and simply want to “park” their settlement proceeds in a safe place until things turn around, structured settlement deserve a second look.  Consider:

• The national average for 5-Year CD rates is currently 0.99%

• The current best structured settlement payout that mimics a 5-Year CD (i.e. Return of principal plus interest over five years) is 0.78%

• Ergo, depending on one’s tax bracket the structure payout may be better/worse/the same as a CD:

• If Marginal Tax Bracket > 21%; Then, Advantage = Structure
• If Marginal Tax Bracket < 21%; Then, Advantage = CD

Since most people generally estimate a 33% marginal tax bracket, the Structured Settlement would seem the most logical choice for those seeking safety, security and return of principal.

Bottom Line:  Our advice to you is the same today as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow.  Know your tax position, compare and make an informed decision about how to arrange for your post-settlement affairs.

Please call anytime we can help you make the choice that’s right for YOU!

PS  I would be remiss if I failed to emphasize this analysis is just for the short-term.  Much goes into determining whether or not a structured settlement is an appropriate choice for you.  But even in this low-interest climate, when compared to “what else” you can do with your money, the structured settlement still merits your consideration.  Thank you!

New FREE Webinar Series Announced

As part of our firm’s ongoing commitment to helping clients meet their long-term financial security needs, we are beginning to convert many of the popular lectures and seminars we’ve given over the years into a format that will make them more accessible to all.

Keep your eye on the Finn Financial Group YouTube Channel where we will add sessions from time to time.  In fact, we have already uploaded two of them:

• Structured Settlements v Blocked Accounts – For those seeking to compare and contrast the two most common methods of compensation for a minor’s personal physical injury claim; and,
• Structuring Your Taxable Settlements – For those who want to save money when they settle their personal, non-physical injury claims

We hope you like our “News You Can Use” series and find the educational content helpful.  Check back often!  And if you have a suggestion for a topic you’d like to hear more about, please let us hear from you.

We’re committed to helping clients achieve maximum financial security through the effective use of structured settlements and related financial products and services.

Whether you’re interested in evaluating your personal injury settlement options, protecting your life’s savings or maximizing the sale of your family business, chances are good we can help.  Call anytime for a free, confidential consultation.

We take great pride in helping people secure their financial futures!

And we look forward to helping YOU next time you have a need.

Annuities

Sometimes it’s just fun to find new ways to talk about annuities.  (Get it? A-new-at-ease?)

A few days ago, MONEY senior editor Walter Updegrave dispensed some helpful advice to a 55-year old woman worried about protecting her nest egg now that she’s ten years away from retirement in his column “55 and scared: ‘How do I protect my nest egg’.”

Among the passages that caught our eye was one that we’ve been emphasizing for years:

“And once you’ve actually retired and security becomes an even more pressing issue, you might want to consider other moves, such as investing a portion of your savings in an immediate annuity that can provide an assured level of income beyond what Social Security can provide.“

Annuities aren’t right for everyone, but for safety, security and “longevity insurance,” it’s hard to beat a fixed income annuity in our view.  They’re low cost, easy to understand and you always know exactly what you’re going to receive.

If you are in the midst of settling a personal, physical injury claim, structured settlement annuities are even better because they are 100% income tax-free.

We help clients every day with structured settlements, structured attorney fees, roll-over 401(k) annuities and a variety of other applications.

Got a question?  Call us!  We’re here to help if you’re looking for guaranteed future financial security.  This is our firm’s specialty and we’re eager to be of service to you.

Dog Bite Claims Costs Increase 16% in 2011 to $479 Million

Despite the best intentions of National Dog Bite Prevention Week which occurs the third week of May every year, statistics reveal that the cost of claims for dog bites increased from a year earlier according to estimates from the Insurance Information Institute.

The average cost of a dog bite claim now stands at $29,396, up more than 50% since 2004.

And lest you think there’s no corollary between this trend and your insurance premiums, think again.  Dog bites now account for more than one-third of ALL homeowners liability claims filed.  State Farm, one of America’s largest home insurers, accounted for approximately 23% of all claims dollars spent on dog bites in 2011.  (USAToday)

Among several interesting observations in these articles:

• In the United States, there is one dog for every four people
• Half of ALL children will be bitten by a dog before the age of 12, usually by a family pet or that of a friend or neighbor
• A child is 900 times more likely than a letter carrier to be attacked by a dog
• Dog attacks resulting in death are extremely rare

When insurance claims are filed on behalf of minors bitten by dogs, structured settlements are frequently implemented to aid in the settlement and court approval process.  Settlement proceeds can be set aside to help meet a child’s future education needs and/or scar revision surgery which may be necessary as a result of disfiguring bites.

In support of Dog Bite Prevention Week, we are pleased to share this video of Dr. Stacey Wallach, a veterinarian who offers tips for parents on how to avoid dog bites.

This, according to Motley Fool contributor Sarah E. Wright in her column today entitled “4 Stocks Proving That Regulation Matters.”

Ms. Wright goes on to describe the 501(k) process which enables medical device manufacturers like DePuy to win approval for new products by simply claiming they are not materially different from existing approved devices.

As a result of the plethora of problems stemming from devices not properly tested, Congress has initiated work on a national surveillance strategy in an effort to protect consumers from defective products.

According to Forbes, the costs of claims associated with faulty hips like those produced by DePuy and other manufacturers is expected to top $5.0 billion.

Clients who are involved in the DePuy hip recall claim process are encouraged to visit our dedicated website, ASRHipSettlement.com, to understand how they may be able to benefit from a structured settlement should their claim against DePuy result in any monetary compensation.

Are Your Eyes Open About Your Retirement?

Expanding on the theme of yesterday’s newsletter, “The Secret to Living Well at 100,”  which we sent our clients so they can properly plan for their financial futures, here’s some supplemental information you’re sure to find helpful.

And probably more than a little disconcerting.

Simply put, we all need to take off the retirement goggles and face some cold, hard facts:

• Most of us DO NOT have enough savings to live the rocking chair retirement we once imagined.
• Many of us WILL live a whole lot longer than we ever believed possible.
• Annuities and pensions are among THE BEST options to protect yourself from the possibility you will become someone else’s financial responsibility later in life.  Yet too few people take full advantage of these attractive alternatives.

People anticipating personal injury settlements and the attorneys who represent them are uniquely positioned to fill this retirement reality void by accepting  structured settlements and structured attorney fees when their cases settle.  Both offer so much potential to lay a strong foundation for a very secure future.

While the appeal of cash when a case settles is understandably very strong, large sums of cash have been known to cause as many problems as they solve.  Ask anyone who’s gone through an inheritance dispute.  Or many lottery winners.

By contrast, safe, secure, tax-advantaged future cash flows that are GUARANTEED make life so much easier.  It may not produce the same “thrill of being rich” (if only for a while) but it gets to the foundation of an injury settlement.  Structured settlements address real needs.

Retirement gap bridging is a very real need for almost everybody.

Some excellent recommended further reading from DailyFinance that highlights our concerns for our clients and some of our favorite quotes the articles contain:

“Should You Accept a Pension Buyout Offer?”

” . . . taking the lump sum puts the responsibility of investing on your shoulders.”

”  . . . if you make a bad investment, you’ll never get your lost money back.”

“Sometimes, the best answer will be to turn that money down and keep collecting safe, stable monthly checks for the rest of your life.”

“Prepare for a Scary Income Gap in Retirement”

” . . .38% of current retirees don’t generate enough income to cover their expenses and are thus already living on borrowed time.”

“When it comes to retirement funding, ‘hope’ is not a successful strategy.”

Whether you are a soon-to-be retiree considering your options, a personal injury claimant contemplating a settlement offer or a plaintiff attorney looking to solidify your post-legal career financial position, call us to let us help you evaluate your options.  We’re committed to helping you meet your long-term financial needs in the safest way possible.

OK, so it’s not really a “secret” that being healthy and having money are essentials to a comfortable retirement.  Pretty obvious actually.

But how prepared are you for the possibility that you just might be a healthy centenarian some day?

What if you live “too long”?

In addition to reading Robert Powell’s MarketWatch column “Planning for retirement?  Plan to live to 100,” you may wish to consider these statistics from the Journal of Population Research:

• Life expectancy in classical Greece and Rome was 35 years
• Life expectancy in the Victorian Era was 40 years
• Life expectancy in the 1900s was 73 years
• Life expectancy today is about 84 years

Thanks to improved sanitation, better living conditions, advances in science, not engaging in the carnage of neighboring villages, T-Rex extinction, etc., our life expectancies have improved dramatically over time.  Particularly in the past century.

To the north of us in Canada, the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy published an interesting and fairly extensive Special Report in 2007 entitled “Ontario braces for a grey wave” that is worth a read for anyone who wants a glimpse of what the future may hold as they age.

Boomers’ Biggest Retirement Fears

Last year, US News Money reported the findings of an AARP survey that asked 50-somethings to identify their biggest fears.  Not surprisingly, the top two fears of baby boomers were:

1. Health care; and,
2. Running out of money

Since we’re not experts in offering advice on how to improve your overall physical health, we’ll stick to something we do know a thing or two about:  Improving your financial health.

“Pensionize”

If forced to boil a sensible retirement strategy down to its simplest, easiest to implement solution, we would advise anyone who wants to protect themselves against the possibility of living too long to remember one word:

“Pensionizing” refers to converting a single lump sum via product allocation into a series of future tax-advantaged cash flows one can never outlive.  People, it turns out, like the idea of guaranteed lifetime income as evidenced by the high satisfaction levels of those currently receiving Social Security benefits and traditional pension payments.

And the longer you live, the better the value of your “pensionization” choice and the higher your retirement satisfaction.

Plus, “pensionizing” is a concept that is easy to understand and simple to implement.

The trademarked phrase originated from an excellent book Pensionize Your Nest Egg which analyzes the challenges faced by Canadian retirees and offers some solutions to the population there.  We highly recommend this book and hope the authors some day will write a version applicable to the United States.

In our practice, the categories of clients we most frequently help with “pensionizing”are:

1. Structured Settlements:  Those in the process of settling personal injury claims;
2. Structured Attorney Fees:  Attorneys representing clients who are settling personal injury claims; and,
3. Retirement Fund Roll-Overs:  Clients seeking to convert portions of their eligible 401(k) and IRA balances.

With the checks and balances built into the insurance regulatory system today, the safety and security of guaranteed lifetime income from a highly rated life insurer is difficult to replicate.

Even financial professionals who profess to loathe annuities, will admit that a portion of one’s retirement funds should be allocated to annuities as a hedge against a long life.

The National Structured Settlements Trade Association recently blogged about how nicely structured settlements can complement one’s retirement planning.

So whether you are being offered a structured settlement as an option for a personal injury claim, are an attorney looking to sensibly plan for your future or a current or “soon-to-retire” baby boomer tired of the ups and downs of the stock market, call us to let us help you make an informed decision about your future.

Legislation would provide tax break for the wrongfully convicted

April 19, 2012 – With DNA evidence helping lead the way toward exoneration of those who have been falsely convicted and wrongfully imprisoned, a bill in Congress introduced last month by Congressmen Sam Johnson (R-TX) and John Larson (D-CT), would institute fairness to countless men and women who have suffered indignities.

In short, H.R. 4241 would amend the Tax Code to allow those who win their freedom for crimes they did not commit to receive damage awards on a 100% income tax-free basis.  The bill is currently in committee.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of assisting several exonerated prisoners make structured settlement choices for the civil suits they successfully pursued following their release from prison.  Fortunately, they had expert legal counsel who advocated vigorously on their behalf to win their freedom.

In each case, these men spent more than a decade in prison for crimes they were ultimately vindicated of.  The structured settlements they selected enabled them to lay the foundation for a financially secure future and helped them, to the extent possible, move past their negative experiences of being incarcerated for something they didn’t do.

Financial security after maximum security gave them peace of mind they hadn’t know in years.

So inspired was I by my experience in helping these men, I joined the Board of Directors for Innocence Matters, a California nonprofit dedicated to helping prevent wrongful convictions through education, prevention and reform.

Finn Financial Group resoundingly applauds Reps. Johnson and Larson for their courage in recognizing the disparity that exists in taxation of damages for this important class of Americans whose liberties were denied them and urges the bill’s passage.

For an excellent analysis of this matter, some historical perspective and the existing challenges giving rise to the need for this bill, we recommend the March 30, 2012 edition of Tax Alert by renowned taxation of damages tax attorney Robert W. Wood.

April 10, 2012 – Sometimes, you just need to let the headline do the talking.  Case in point from today’s International Edition of Scandinavia’s largest subscription-based newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat:

“Thousands of Finns may have faulty hip implants”

To view a short video about one particular “Finn” who underwent bilateral hip replacement surgery and understands, go to:

ASRHipSettlement.com

If you think you will receive compensation for injuries stemming from a faulty implant device, you are wise to educate yourself about the benefits of structured settlements well in advance of finalizing any settlement.

Please call to let us know how we can help you.  We look forward to helping you secure a portion of your financial future.