January 8, 2014 – Most people who accept structured settlements when settling their personal, physical injury claims are not repeat customers.

After all, most people never file significant injury claims in the first place let alone doing so on multiple occasions.

And since our involvement with a client typically ends once a policy is issued (we don’t go around stalking them after the fact to try to undo their contract), we rarely ever even hear from those we’ve helped along the way.

But on a semi-regular basis we do receive calls from people who have misplaced their policies or have moved and simply need to alert the life company of their new address.

Today was one of those days.

“Gena” (not her real name) was 18 years old in 2001 when her mom insisted she structure her settlement following an automobile accident.

She had previously settled with the at-fault party for cash and was getting ready to settle her under-insured motorists claim with her own carrier.

Gena’s mom told her she had received enough money from the first settlement and didn’t need any more money at her age so was thrilled when the claims representative offered her daughter a structured settlement.

Court approval was not required since Gena was already 18 but the mom thought it was a good idea anyway.

I took this opportunity to ask Gena how she felt, all these years later, about structuring her settlement.

Almost as if scripted by the National Structured Settlements Trade Association (which it wasn’t), Gena showed no hesitation in telling me how glad she was that her mom “encouraged” her to structure her settlement.

She proudly told me how she had used the structured settlement proceeds to help pay off her college loans and now, at age 32, was going to use some of her money to help furnish a house she had recently purchased.

“I was very irresponsible at that age. 18-year olds don’t need that kind of money.  I would have just spent it all anyway on vacations or whatever. I was much better off waiting.”

That settlement occurred half my career ago and hearing this personal account of a structured settlement having such a positive impact on a young person’s life reinforced why I am so proud of what I do for a living.

And for all those insurance carriers and claims representatives who ever doubted the ancillary benefits of offering structured settlements, it turns out Gena had such a favorable impression of her mom’s auto insurer that she now chooses to insure her own car with the same company.

Tough to beat that kind of PR.

Although most of the industry statistics about people spending their money too rapidly as a reason for structuring are only anecdotal, calls like today’s only make such claims easier to believe.

For the record, I have yet to have anyone ever call me to say they regretted structuring their settlement.

So maybe the commercial got it wrong.  Maybe not everybody wants their money and wants it now.

Waiting seemed to work out just fine for Gena.

January 7, 2014 – Some seemingly sensible retirement planning ideas just don’t hold water when scrutinized.

Take Jane Bryant Quinn’s article, “Don’t Be Too Cautious,” appearing in this month’s AARP Bulletin for instance.

While the underlying premise of her article – allocating one’s retirement funds into a series of “buckets” designed to maximize retirement cash flow while protecting against loss – is well-intentioned, it leaves the reader with a false sense of the very security retirement is supposed to provide in the first place.

The web version of the article even carries the unfortunate and misleading headline “Securing Income for Life.”

In other words, her bucket has a hole in it.

Stocks and Risk

While stocks historically increase the value of one’s portfolio over long periods of time, they cannot be relied upon to deliver certainty, especially when it comes to timing their conversion to cash flow.

One of the more irresponsible passages surfaces in paragraph eight:

“By the time your bond bucket runs low, your bucket of stocks will have grown in value, maybe by a lot.”

Or, maybe not at all.

Maybe your bucket of stocks will contain shares of companies managed by the same guys who ran Enron into the ground.

Maybe you won’t mind eating at soup kitchens or moving in with your kids if your stock bucket leaks.

Besides, how does Ms. Quinn know what stocks will or won’t do?  Or when?

The article is filled with similar assumptions that stocks “will” increase at just the right time and this recommended bucket approach “could” make your retirement “potentially” greener “if” certain things come to pass.

But words like could, potentially and if are not synonyms for security.

Ms. Quinn knows this and should have done the 50-plus crowd a better service by apprising them of the inherent risks of her strategy.

Sure, it might work out but who wants to take chances with money they can ill afford to lose?

Just add a fourth bucket

Perhaps if she simply added a fourth bucket to the mix, one for annuities, she could legitimately classify this as a true “Securing Income for Life” strategy.

After all, outside of pensions and Social Security, life annuities are the only way to guarantee you will never run out of money.

Even the wisdom of the long-touted 4% draw down strategy she hangs her hat on throughout the article is being called into question as this Wall Street Journal article, “Say Goodbye to the 4% rule,” from last March illustrates.

We don’t disagree that Ms. Quinn’s suggestion has some potential.

We aren’t against incorporating stocks into one’s overall retirement strategy.

We just firmly believe that annuities have earned the right to be included in ANY conversation about assuring lifetime security in retirement and were disappointed such a respected author would omit them from an article in a periodical wielding such powerful influence.

January 6, 2014 – Structured settlements were created to specifically help address the long term financial needs of those settling personal, physical  injury claims.

Because injury settlement proceeds represent neither savings nor investment dollars, comparing their returns to other “investments” can be a dangerous method of evaluating their imporatance to someone who can’t risk losing money.

This helps explain why structured settlements have remained an extremely popular cash settlement alternative for decades even though rates fluctuate.

After all, what’s not to like about something that is:

100% income tax-free (principal and interest);

tailored to one’s unique set of circumstances;

safe, secure and guaranteed by highly rated companies?

Yet, even though they are not investments per se, like the kids in the AT&T commercial who intuitively understand that “more is better,” everybody prefers higher payouts to lower ones, everything else being equal.

For this reason, we’re happy to report that a recent financial barrier was eclipsed as America was gearing up to change calendars in late December.

The 10-years Treasury closed above the psychologically important 3.0% threshold for the first time in more than two-and-a-half years.

While investors don’t cheer when bond rates rise, those looking for long-term financial security do.

What’s this got to do with structured settlements?

As one of our life company partners communicated on Friday:

“Higher rates will make our structured settlement products even more attractive as we begin the new year.”

So if you’ve been on the sidelines for the past few years assuming that “structured settlement rates are too low,” make this the year you resolve to jump back in.

Whether you are a claims representative or plaintiff attorney negotiating an injury settlement, DON’T ASSUME rates are “too low” for you to consider.

Incorporating a structured settlement into an overall claim resolution is a proven strategy that can add much value to the settlement process and much security to the injured person.

Best wishes for a healthful and prosperous 2014!

December 31, 2013 –  According to the recently published Fidelity 2014 New Year Financial Resolutions Study, 54% of you are making financial resolutions for the coming year.

While we can’t help you save more, spend less or pay down debt – the top three financial resolutions cited in the study – there are two specific areas where we CAN help you take command of your own financial future.

Retirement Annuities

Retirement account balances have rebounded, America is getting older and nobody wants to risk losing money again as happened to many during the Great Recession.

Add to this the fact that people are happier and feel more secure when they know they are receiving guaranteed lifetime income and the stage is perfectly set for a conversion of some of those ear-marked funds to a lifetime annuity.

Through the first nine months of 2013, $167.6 billion worth of annuities were purchased according to Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association (LIMRA).

While every annuity channel experienced increased activity, we concentrate on helping clients with low-to-moderate risk tolerance with their Fixed Annuity and Indexed Annuity choices to meet their retirement planning needs.

Structured Attorney Fees

Contingency fee-based attorneys have a unique opportunity to defer recognition of earned fees into a future year for a distinct tax advantage.

So strongly do we believe in this popular money-saving strategy which accounts for about 25% or more of our business in any given year that we maintain a companion website dedicated to the topic:

MyStructuredFee.com

And even though she wasn’t specifically talking about structured attorney fees, InvestmentNews columnist Darla Mercado helps illustrate the case for this option in today’s article “Getting a jumpstart on 2014 tax planning” by urging . . .

” . . . certain high earners might want to manage their income stream in order to keep themselves from drifting into higher tax brackets.”

So if your New Year’s resolution involves securing your financial future, we hope you’ll give us an opportunity to show you how we may be able to help you achieve your goals.

December 23, 2013 – It’s always nice to read something that gives you reason for optimism as you prepare to change calendars and head into a new year.

An article in today’s InvestmentNews caught our eye because it predicts 2014 could “be a big one” for a certain financial option near and dear to our firm’s heart.

“New year could bring a boon for annuities,” points toward a growing appreciation for this powerful, if historically under-appreciated, financial security solution.

If you’ve felt completely clueless about what an annuity is or how you can benefit from owning one up to this point in your life, fear not.

You are not alone.

Because 70% of the public cannot correctly define an annuity, the Insurance Information Institute produced this 2-minute video as a public service to help fill the educational void:

“What is an Annuity?”

All this lack of knowledge is changing, though, as built up demand for safe, secure cash flow options increases.

People want safety and security and many are more than a little risk averse.

As specialty annuity specialists (say that three times fast!), we are focused on helping people secure their financial futures through the effective use of specialty annuity products and services tailored to their unique needs.

While structured settlements remain the foundation of our business, we have experienced a major increase in requests from long term clients seeking assistance in converting their retirement savings into a “personal pension” so they never have to worry about outliving their money.

Part and parcel to this long-term retirement planning focus has been the significant increase in requests from plaintiff attorneys desiring to structure their fees.  In fact, 2013 was our best year ever in this area as tax brackets have risen.

So if one of your New Year’s resolutions is to take charge of your own retirement, let us show you how we have helped so many others.

2014 may be the Year of the Horse according to Chinese zodiac, but right here we’ll also be celebrating the Year of the Annuity.

You are most welcome to join the celebration with us!  Call anytime we can help.

Best wishes for a very, Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

December 5, 2013 – If you’re among the lucky ones, you had some retirement money saved up in your 401(k) or IRA in 2008, lost a bunch of it in the ensuing Great Recession years, gutted it out through 2013 and now have recovered most, if not all, of the wealth you originally watched evaporate.

If you were even luckier, you stayed invested and maybe even continued to make contributions to the market and are now comfortably ahead of where you were back then.

So now  what?

My choice of gambling oriented words like “lucky” and “luckier” in the first two paragraphs is not accidental.  The market is, after all, a crap shoot which goes up some years and goes down others even if the longer term direction trends positive.

But nobody, and I mean NOBODY, really knows what the market will do in the future despite the availability of exhaustive data and the existence of many sound strategies designed to help “hedge your bets” if you do choose to stay in the market.

Because negative years in the stock market, when experienced closer to retirement, can disproportionately and detrimentally impact one’s chances for retirement security and happiness, many people look for safer alternatives to simplify their golden years.

Enter deferred-income annuities

Earlier this week, under the broad heading of “Best New Money Ideas,” CNNMoney featured six “Best new ways to make money” as we head into 2014.

According to the authors, one the “Best new investment ideas” is also the “Best new retirement tool . . . ”

We haven’t seen the word “Best” featured so prominently in an article since the August 23, 1962 issue of Mersey Beat when The Beatles announced Ringo was joining the band as its new drummer.

And NEVER In a financial column.

(Emphasis on Best is ours throughout, btw)

The CNNMoney piece describes an excellent retirement strategy, growing exponentially in popularity, designed to ensure you don’t end up broke in your later years.

With life expectancies ever-increasing, designating a portion of your retirement assets NOW to guarantee lifetime income in the FUTURE is one of the Best things you can do to secure your future.

And it’s not just easy, it makes financial sense:

“lifetime annuities are . . . the most cost effective and least risky asset class for generating guaranteed retirement income for life.”

– Economists David F. Babbell and Craig B. Merril –

I hope you’ll take a few moments to read the helpful CNNMoney column.

Then give us a call.  We’ll provide you with several preliminary quotes and we’ll walk you through the rest if you decide this option makes sense for you.

We like helping make people happy and helping them secure their financial futures.

You might even say it’s what we do Best.

November 20, 2013 – It’s too bad Las Vegas isn’t taking bets on this hypothetical match-up:  Structured settlements vs. stocks.

I’m not much of a gambler myself but if I were and they were, I’d put a whole lot of money on structured settlements coming out on top.

And if yesterday’s CNNMoney article, “Welcome to the 4% return market” is any indication, I wouldn’t be alone since “among a growing group of forecasters, 4% is becoming something of a consensus.”

If you don’t want to read the short article yourself, here’s one of the major take aways:

Since The Great Depression, stocks have risen just 4% a year in the decade following a market where P/E ratios have traded where they are now.

But we’d like to remind you:  When stocks are cashed out, taxes are due on the gain whereas structured settlement payouts stemming from a personal, physical injury claim are paid 100% income tax-free.

In other words, the experts are predicting that the best case scenario for stocks is right about where tax equivalent yields for structured settlements are right now.

So we can’t help wondering:

Who would willingly risk being on the losing end of a bet whose best case scenario equals the guaranteed sure thing?

The worst case scenario for stocks, of course, is something like 2009 all over again even if that scenario seems unlikely.  In poker, they’d call that hand a bust.

So even though nobody’s actually taking bets on the imaginary structured settlement vs. stocks card, we’ve got our phantom money riding on structured settlements all the way.

Every situation is unique, of course, but those who choose the tried and true method of resolving their personal injury claim with a structured settlement always leave the tables with money in their pockets.

And that’s the closest thing to a sure bet as you’re ever likely to see.

Click on the Smiley Face . . .

. . . to be transferred to our November 15, 2013 newsletter where you can learn about two choices you can make that are scientifically proven to make you happier.

November 13, 2013 – Rumors began circulating this afternoon that Johnson & Johnson has agreed to a $4.0 billion products liability settlement to end the litigation of more than 7,500 pending lawsuits in state and federal courts, alleging metal-on-metal artificial hips, manufactured be subsidiary DePuy Orthopaedics, were defective.

If this turns out to be true then we weren’t far off on our prediction a few days ago that such a settlement was nigh.  In a game of horseshoes, this would have been called a “leaner” worth two points.

We’ll remained focused on the details of this settlement with great interest (assuming it pans out) as it unfolds over the course of the coming weeks and months and stand ready to assist anyone who can benefit from the unique advantages structured settlements afford them in this type of litigation.

NOTE:  It’s important to stress at this time that the terms of any settlement are said to be confidential so any reports, including this one, should be considered unofficial.

For additional information on how you can benefit from structuring your DePuy hip settlement, please visit our companion website dedicated to this unique class of plaintiffs to learn how we can help and why we feel so strongly about this particular group of lawsuits.

Visit:  ASRHipSettlement.com

Thank you for the opportunity to be of service!

October 25, 2013 – In just about eight more weeks, the 2013 calendar will be ready for the recycle bin.

For contingency fee-based plaintiff attorneys who’ve had a successful year, recycling one of the best-ever tax deferral strategies is also on their minds as 2013 winds down:  Structured Attorney Fees.

Since the passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, our firm has experienced an EXPLOSION of requests from attorneys inquiring about structuring their fees.

Add to that the impact of Proposition 30 in California and similar tax increases in other states across the nation and the importance of effective tax planning for successful plaintiff attorneys becomes clearer.

These various tax hikes have combined to affect so many practitioners this year that structured attorney fees account for approximately 36% OF ALL OUR FIRM’S ACTIVITY so far in 2013.

Structuring fees just makes so much sense for those who qualify.

Yet surprisingly, attorneys who would never dream of leaving money on the table during a negotiation for one of their clients do it all the time when it comes to their own finances.

That’s where we can help.

With the right amount of analysis and planning, attorneys can arrange to structure their fee so that they credit the income in a future year (often, when an anticipated tax bracket will be lower) to maximize tax efficiency.

Add some pre-tax interest earned and most conclude that they simply cannot pass up such a money saving strategy.

So don’t leave YOUR money on the tax table.  Put it in your own pocket instead.  Call us for an analysis BEFORE you finalize your client’s settlement.