What is a Structured Settlement

A 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 periodicpayments 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.

If you just been injured and need help and advice on how to file a claim, what are the exact forms you need to fill out and how to go about it without it costing you an arm and a leg in legal fees,Let a very experienced paralegal specializing in personal injury claims, guide you with a step by step process and save a bundle of money. Hear what she has to say at: Settle-Your-Own-Injury-Claim.

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 much 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.

MBA - International Trade & Finance - Heriot-Watt University. Bsc. Computers and Information Systems - Long Island University - C.W Post Campus. Married with two Children.

http://annuity-structured-settlements.blogspot.com/

Structured Settlement as an Investment Vehicle

You always hear people talking about the latest investment vehicle they're using. It's water cooler talk, dinner table talk, phone talk, it's everywhere talk. People are always looking for a way to invest their money that might be a little 'different' from what others are doing. Buying a structured settlement is one of those options.

A structured settlement is where one party is awarded an amount of money that is to be paid out over a certain period of time. It is commonly the result of an insurance settlement or a life settlement where the insurance company is required by a judge to pay the victims an amount of money over time. The person who is awarded the settlement then knows they can count on $X.XX per month over the next Y years.

However, often people who are awarded structured settlements don't want to receive the money over Y period of time. They want the money NOW. And why not? Often they can make better use of the money now than they could over 30 years, or sometimes they could better their personal finances right now and forever if they had a lump sum of cash right now for their structured settlement payments.

In comes the investor. As an investor, an alternative vehicle would be to buy someones structured settlement payments. That's right, pay cash for structured settlement payments. For example, Joe is awarded a $500,000 settlement from the insurance company for an auto accident he was involved in. The company is going to pay the $500,000 over the next 10 years, $50,000 each year. However, Joe would be better off if he could just get $150,000 now and let someone else receive the payments over the next 10 years. As an investor, you could do this. Of course, in this case you would have to have $150,000 in cash to buy the payments, but then over the next 10 years you would make 333% return on your initial investment of $150,000. Not bad!

I'm not saying it is an easy process to buy someone's structured settlement payments. The process involves lawyers, insurance companies, and judges, three things people tend to dislike. However, there are companies that can help you. They'll help you find all the resources you need to make a successful investment.