Cash For Structured Settlements - The Smart Way
Structured Settlement is an agreement between a personal injury
victim ( a Plaintiff ) and an Insurance company ( the Defendant
)to compensate the Plaintiff by the defendant with long term
periodic payments instead of a single cash lump sum.
Payments can be tailored to each individual plaintiffs needs, to
help meet expenses such as on-going medical and living expenses,
education, children needs & support etc' The fixed annuity
payments are tax-free to the claimant, a cost-of-living
adjustment (COLA) feature is available, that can help offset the
effects of inflation over time, payments can continue as long as
the claimant lives thus providing him the maximum benefits.
Structured settlements are encouraged by plaintiffs lawyers,
Courts, Insurance companies and the legislators alike as they
all agree it is the best solution to all parties involved
especially for the claimant.
The annuity can be transformed in part or in full to a cash lump
sum via private funds and should be approved by the Court. The
funds are most interested to make these deals as they are very
profitable to them because they take the long term tax free
payments and in exchange pay the annuity holder less than the
face value but in cash.
These same funds are handling Lottery winners long term payments
into one single lump sum as well as all kinds services of cash
against future payments.
For most people when they buy a house it is considered their
life's largest deal. In some cases of structured settlements the
compensation and financial considerations for a persons life
duration and the total present value of the settlement can reach
few millions of dollars. Therefore it is strongly advised to use
professional services like annuity consultant and a lawyer
specialized in this field in order for you to avoid painful
costly mistakes. Here are some tips:
- Think twice before you make a decision. Do you really need
that money or you want to feel rich, secure, powerful etc'
- Take only part of the money not all of it, in case of an
injury claim the Court needs to approve your request, the judge
will want to know what do you need the money for.
- Some Funds will try to convince you that due to Inflation and
rising cost of living your annuity payments have less and less
buying power over time. Remember that if the Structured
settlement was done properly it has a cost-of-living adjustment
(COLA) feature build into it in order to offset the effects of
inflation over time. So the funds claim on this issue is only
partially true as the cost of living index is an artificial and
biased measure of the actual inflation over time. Still even 70%
protection is reasonable.
- When you get a large sum of money take into account that each
bank is F.D.I.C. insured for up to $ 100,000 only! That means
that if your sum of money is bigger than that you will need to
open additional Account/s in a different bank/s in order to be
covered.
In addition take into account that as long as you deposit your
money in C.D's (e.g. Certificate of Deposit) you are covered,
but if you invest your money In fixed income, stocks, bonds, and
mutual funds. These securities are NOT F.D.I.C. insured!
- In case you transform Lottery winnings payments or a large sum
of money from structured settlement, keep it as discrete as you
can, It is not recommended to go and buy a Rolls-Roys or any
other flashy car, that will bring the criminals and the charity
people to chase you. That might even cause your children start
to ask for money. Try to keep it a secret.
- It is a good Idea to get more than one or two offers from
various private funds before making a decision, remember you are
a very lucrative customer, the funds should fight over you!
Don't be timid to negotiate and manipulate them to maximize your
money.