May 2, 2013 – When HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical debuted at The Public Theater in 1967 as the venue’s first-ever production, our country’s social fabric was in the midst of a rinse cycle involving some pretty harsh chemicals.

Literally and figuratively.

Just twelve years earlier, the most popular album of the time was Frank Sinatra’s In The Wee Small Hours.

By 1967, it was Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Yes, the world was changing.  People were rejecting the values of those who preceded them.  Sacred cows were no longer sacrosanct and established norms were feeling nearly as faded as Bobby McGee’s lover’s jeans.

This was the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius we would soon learn.

Annuities/(Let The Sunshine In)

Fast forward forty-six years and a similar rejection of what’s always passed as conventional wisdom is afoot when it comes to retirement planning.

More specifically, as Sheyna Steiner, writing for bankrate.com asks rhetorically in her weblog “Retiring on CDs Not Viable,”

“Is this (the dawning of) the age of annuities?”

And she’s not talking about compact discs, by the way.

The old rule of thumb that any retiree could choose a sensible mix of stocks and bonds and/or other securities, “draw down” their retirement nest egg 4% each year and have enough money to live on for the rest of their life no longer holds up to scrutiny in a post-Great Recession world.

Side Bar:  We were ahead of this trend!  For a link to one of our earlier posts on this very same topic, be sure to check out: 

July 4, 2011:  A Paycheck for Life

In fact, sticking with this previous generation’s establish formula could easily lead to financial ruin and even poverty tarnishing those Golden Years you worked so hard to achieve.

The failure rate for this draw down approach, or the probability of running completely out of money while you’re still alive, is estimated to be as high as 57%.

Life annuities, on the other hand, solve this problem for retirees and soon-to-be-retirees.

As we’ve advocated for years, annuities help people sleep better at night since they know the annuity will keep paying as long as they live.  The highs and lows of market conditions do not impact guaranteed cash flows offered by annuities.  Like a pension, you know exactly what you’re going to receive each month for as long as you live.

Structured settlement annuities, for those who are able to take advantage of them, can be even better and offer unique advantages unavailable to the general public.

But for the vast majority of Americans with 401(k) balances or other savings looking to secure their future as sensibly and cost effectively as possible, nothing can replace the peace of mind that comes with knowing that periodic payments, guaranteed by a highly rated life insurance carrier, will be there whether you live to age 75, 85, 95 or beyond.

If you were lucky enough to dodge the 2008-2009 stock market bullet, don’t take chances this time around.  Convert a portion of your nest egg to a life annuity to secure your future.  We have lots of choices available to you.

So call us TODAY for a quote so we can help you align your retirement Jupiter with your life expectancy Mars.

Then, all you gotta do is let the sunshine in!

April 22, 2013 – With all apologies to Dean Martin, Tony Bennett and anyone else who ever crooned the old Hague/Horwit standard, it turns out “young” folks aren’t so foolish after all.

At least not when it comes to making financial decisions if you believe two recent articles published in InvestmentNews.

The first article, “Throw caution to the wind? Not young boomers,” features a study by Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America which concludes that younger baby boomers are significantly more willing to accept lower returns in exchange for reduction or elimination of downside market risk.

Among the highlights of this study:

87% of respondents would prefer a 4% return with zero chance of loss to something offering an 8% return with a possibility of market loss

Among women, the preference for risk aversion was even higher with 91% preferring the 4%/no loss combination

It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that indexed and income annuity sales hit record levels last year topping $43.4 billion.

The second InvestmentNews article goes even younger.  “NY Life cuts initial deposit for annuity to attract youth” announces the life company’s decision to cultivate clients from among the sub-boomer population by reducing its minimum initial deposit to $5,000 from $10,000.

New York Life is one of the most admired companies in the world and is also very active in the structured settlement and structured attorney fee market: two of our firm’s core specialties.

Neither of these trends surprise us.

If you’ve been a regular subscriber, you may recall an article we published in our newsletter two years ago this month entitled “Young Workers: Make Mine Guaranteed.”

That piece highlighted a Towers Watson survey of younger employees and the value they placed on guaranteed income.

We’re proud to have been a few years ahead of the trend on that one.

Bottom Lining It For You: 

People generally want safety and security.  Even if it means forfeiting higher potential returns, people across all age and income brackets are choosing the tortoise over the hare to meet basic retirement needs.

You’re never too young or too old to be smart with your money.  After all, it’s yours.  Why not hold onto it and put it to work for you.

Dan Finn joins CCFOC Board of Directors

March 29, 2013 – The Collaborative Courts Foundation of Orange County (CCFOC) recently invited me to join its distinguished Board of Directors.

I was only too honored to enthusiastically accept the opportunity to become part of an organization that positively impacts the lives of so many people while playing such a vital role in Orange County’s civil justice system.

Last week, at its monthly meeting, the CCFOC Board made it official by voting me in as its newest member.

It’s a great honor to continue my commitment to community service in this capacity.

As if to prove that “when one (board) door closes, another opens,” this invitation comes just as my four year commitment as a board member of the National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA) draws to a close.

My term as NSSTA’s Immediate Past President officially ends April 19.

CCFOC exists to support the efforts of the Superior Court of California, County of Orange’s Collaborative Court initiative. As described on Orange County Superior Court’s website:

“Collaborative or “problem solving” Courts are specialized court tracks that address underlying issues that may be present in the lives of persons who come before the court on criminal, juvenile, or dependency matters. These life-changing programs involve active judicial monitoring and a team approach to decision making, and include the participation of a variety of different agencies, such as Probation and health treatment providers.”

Committed to fostering “therapeutic justice,” the foundation’s mission is to provide support & services to participants in the Orange County Collaborative Court programs, so they will overcome obstacles and become productive members of society.

Please visit CCFOC’s website for a description of the programs and services we provide.

If you, your companies or law firms are interested in helping to support our efforts, we welcome your assistance as a donor, sponsor or supporter. Since CCFOC is a 503(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, your contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

And if you live in Orange County, mark your calendars for Saturday, September 7 and plan to join us for our third annual fundraiser dinner being held at Seven Degrees in Laguna Beach.

Thank you to my fellow board members for your vote of confidence in me. I look forward to serving with you and want to again publicly profess how honored I am to be part of the Collaborative Courts Foundation of Orange County.

Let’s do some good!

March 7, 2013 – Shortly after posting an earlier blog on annuities today, I ran across an article I missed earlier in the week that reinforces the value of annuities in retirement planning.

Titled “Say Goodbye to the 4% Rule,” this Wall Street Journal column analyses a conventional retirement “draw down” strategy and comes to the conclusion that the rule is outdated.  Instead, the author offers three alternatives.

The first alternative was music to our ears:

“Use annuities instead of bonds“

If you don’t want to read the entire piece, here’s an excerpt showing how annuities can hold the key to unlocking your retirement anxiety:

Pairing the most plain-vanilla type of annuity—called a single-premium immediate annuity—with stocks, retirees can generate income more safely and reliably than if they use bonds for that piece of their portfolio, says Wade Pfau, a professor who researches retirement income at the American College of Financial Services in Bryn Mawr, Pa

Did you catch that “more safely and reliably” part?

Safety and reliability is what we’re all about.  So if you’re retired or soon to be retired and worried about securing your future, call us.

We can help.

We have access to a wide variety of the best single premium immediate annuities on the planet, along with other types to suit your risk tolerance, all certain to help you sleep better at night.

So call us.  Buy an annuity that suits your needs.  Then throw away the key!

March 7, 2013 – All it takes is 2:20 to learn what questions you should ask before purchasing an annuity.

And that even includes the three seconds it takes to click on the video we posted here for you, produced by the Insurance Information Institute:  “Buying an Annuity: 6 Questions to Ask”

While there, spend some time learning about the powerful benefits of annuities.

We talk a lot about annuities because we believe in them.

We believe in them because they offer certainty that is difficult to replicate elsewhere without incurring additional risk.

If you do your own Google research on annuities, you’re likely to find conflicting recommendations about their usefulness in an overall financial or retirement plan.

“Financial advisers not associated with insurance companies will generally argue for putting little in annuities: they feel they can get better returns through a diversified portfolio of securities.

That’s a harder sell, though, after two rounds of huge losses in the stock market in one decade.”

Paul Sullivan, New York Times “Wealth Matters” Columnist

Investment losses later in life are even harder to make up because of the shorter time horizon.

Annuities Work

When you spend your adult life helping people secure their futures with annuities as I have, without a single complaint, you can’t possibly deny their value in one’s overall retirement strategy.

And when you add the tax benefits they afford, particularly on structured settlement annuities, you’d be hard pressed to find anything comparable.

We don’t say and will never say that annuities (at least the ones we offer) are the be-all and end-all of retirement choices.  We believe in financial planners and managed funds and investment portfolios.  Always have.  Always will.

But as part of one’s overall retirement strategy, we can’t deny the value of adding a sure thing – annuities – to one’s future security.

Pensions, which have gone the way of the 8-track tape player, were good enough for previous generations.

Pension substitutes (aka annuities) are sensible replacements for this one.

With great pride we announce today our firm’s inclusion in Best’s Directory of Recommended Expert Service Providers in its Structured Settlement listing.

America’s premier independent insurance rating organization, A.M. Best Company, Inc. is  designated as a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization (NRSRO) by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).

Directory listing eligibility is based upon an applicant’s “reputation, character and industry experience” and requires endorsements from past clients and peers familiar with the candidate’s credentials.

We are honored to be acknowledged as one of the nation’s only Structured Settlement Experts recognized by A.M. Best and are humbled by the outpouring of support received from the many attorneys, claims professionals and insurance industry veterans who gave so willingly of their time to validate our candidacy when contacted by this respected organization.

We share this distinction with all of you who make our success possible by trusting us with all your structured settlement and specialty annuity planning needs.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the vetting process and thank you all for continuing to believe in us.  We appreciate the opportunity to be of service to YOU.

Best wishes for continued Struccess!

 “We like annuities!”

March 3, 2013 – And by “we,” we mean YOU!

This according to a recent study conducted by Life Insurance and Market Research Association (LIMRA).

Reinforcing a theme we’re quite familiar with at our firm, the study overwhelmingly concludes:

People who choose annuities are glad they did.

Among the LIMRA study findings, published about seven months ago:

• 86% of fixed annuity buyers were satisfied with their purchases
• 83% of indexed annuity buyers were satisfied with theirs
• More than half of all respondents owned two or more annuities
• 80% of those surveyed would recommend annuities to friends and family
• Financial strength of annuity issuer was an important consideration

Money for Life

Perhaps not surprisingly, supplementing Social Security or a pension was given as the most popular reason for purchasing annuities.

And in what might have been a page taken from our own play book:

“Annuity buyers’ single most important financial objective is to have enough money to last their and/or their spouse’s lifetime.”

The results of this LIMRA study contrast somewhat sharply with another recent survey – this one conducted by Spectrem Group – which found declining levels of satisfaction by wealthy investors with their own financial advisor.

In that survey, no category of investor was more than 73% satisfied with their financial advisor.

73% chance of satisfaction or 86% chance of same?  (Hmmmmm . . . )

Annuities have played vital roles in shaping the lives of the countless people we’ve had the privilege of helping for more than two decades.

We don’t specialize in everything.

We are not financial advisors.

But we are experts in the niche specialty annuity business helping people when they need trusted, professional advice with their:

Structured Settlements

Taxable Structured Settlements

Structured Attorney Fees

401(k) and SEP Conversions

And since some 80%+ of the annuity buying public is happy when they choose annuities, that pretty much makes us happiness experts too.

We’re here for YOU and always happy to help.  Call today!

February 28, 2013 – Professional sports and big money go hand in hand.  One is not possible without the other.

Contracts are signed, big money changes hands and athletes and team owners smile for the cameras.

For the lucky ones, this cycle repeats itself a few times as the prospects of ongoing riches loom ever larger.

But sooner or later, things change.

The athlete’s shelf life expires and there are no more contracts forthcoming.

The owners and the public find a new flavor-of-the-week star to admire and shower with affection.

And money.

The Mighty Casey strikes out.

Now what?

This week’s Business Insider features a revealing article about the inverse relationship between professional athletes and post-career financial prosperity.

“This Is Why So Many Professional Athletes Are Going Broke” offers some unhappy statistics about this segment of the population.

In addition to a very short average career life, among the reasons offered for so many professional athletes going “from stoked to broke” are:

• Overspending
• Poor investment choices
• Entrusting their money to the wrong people

Too bad more of them don’t come to us.

We’d talk to them about the value of using some of their money to purchase a lifetime annuity.

True, lifetime annuities don’t turn heads quite the same way Lamborghinis do.  But for safety, security and long-term happiness, they really can’t be beat.

“As one goes through life, it is extremely important to conserve funds, and one should never spend money on anything foolish, like pear nectar or a solid-gold hat.”

– From “On Frugality” by Woody Allen –

Don’t let the fact that you’re not a professional athlete stop you from making a smart move with your own financial future.

If you have any savings or 401(k) balances you no longer want to expose to market risk, let us show you how you can convert that lump sum into guaranteed cash flows you can never outlive.

We specialize in helping people find safe, secure, tax-advantaged solutions to their retirement challenges.

We’re not saying you’re destined for bankruptcy court.

But if you’re like most people, you can probably benefit from some guaranteed cash flows you can never outlive.

Call us to schedule your no obligation review today.

Annuities:  Best Choice for Security, Satisfaction and Serenity

February 26, 2013 – We have been advising clients for years about the benefits of lifetime annuities for retirement.

We’ve extolled their virtues and provided empirical evidence about the correlation between retirement and satisfaction in several previous newsletters and blogs about retirement annuities.

Here’s a sampling:

• A Happier Retirement
• The Secret to Living Well at 100
• A Paycheck for Life
• What’s Your Retirement Vulnerability?
• Annuities Are The New Black
• Live Longer . . . Buy Annuities
• Advisors say “Yea” to Annuities
• Retirement Goggles

Annuities Can’t Be Beat

In every one of these and others on our site, we provide links to studies, charts, graphs, quotes from respected professionals and a host of other support detail that helps convince us that annuitizing one’s nest egg is the absolute best path to retirement happiness.

As more and more baby boomers transition to “life after the salt mines,” we’re convinced that those who choose lifetime annuities will simplify their financial lives and sleep better at night.

BONUS:  Here’s a “Retirement checklist for Boomers” from InvestmentNews to help you see if you’re heading in the right retirement direction.

So if you’re tired of watching the stock market go up and down and want to put your mind to rest, call us when thinking about what to do with your next egg.

In addition to our thriving structured settlement practice, we are helping clients secure their retirement futures with lifetime annuities designed to meet their risk tolerance and income goals.

Let us help you.  Call us today for a no obligation consultation.

February 17, 2013 – Before the year gets away from us as years are wont to do, I thought we’d pause for a moment to reflect upon the number of people whose lives have been positively impacted in these first few weeks of 2013 as a result of our firm’s involvement in many changes in our offices like our new call centre furniture and new buildings.

Helped secure the futures of five minor children by aiding their parents and their attorneys with the placement of their structured settlement choices following resolution of their personal, physical injury claims on five separate settlements.Since January 1, 2013 we have:

• Helped a young man who was severely injured on the job with the settlement of his workers’ compensation settlement.  Because his ability to earn a living had been compromised, we helped him secure his financial future with100% income tax-free structured settlement cash flows he can never outlive.  In addition, we helped him find affordable health care since he was denied coverage and otherwise would have been uninsured.
• Helped a baby boomer attorney tired of exposing his life savings to market risk secure his retirement funds by rolling them over to some non-structured settlement annuities which will provide guaranteed future income to meet his anticipated future needs without worry of market volatility.
• Assisted two clients whose situations required the use of Special Needs Trusts in order to protect their public benefits.
• Provided guidance to two clients in the process of of selling their appreciated assets who are seeking to defer capital gains taxes utilizing a Structured Sale.  Sales are pending and they are looking forward to achieving the tax deferral they desire.

• Consulted with two individuals embroiled in employment disputes in helping them analyze the tax savings potentially realized by choosing a Non-Physical Injury Structured Settlement at settlement.
• Attended six mediations or trials at the request of claims professionals or attorneys to aid in the negotiation and resolution process.
• Met with a number of attorneys, financial planners, claims associates, life company partners and others to discuss matters of mutual interest.
• Attended a Board of Directors meeting as an Officer of the National Structured Settlements Trade Association.

And this doesn’t even count responding to the countless calls and emails we receive on a daily basis from those seeking out our expertise on a variety of related issues.

Our firm is committed to helping clients achieve long-term financial security through the effective use of structured settlements and related products and services.

So whether you need assistance with structured settlement choices or are just looking for expert advice on how to arrange your financial affairs, call us.  Chances are good we can help you.  We look forward to being of service to YOU!