Purchase Structured Settlements - Advantages For the Personal Injury Victim

If you are a personal injury victim, here are three good reasons why you purchase structured settlements instead of getting a lump sum settlement.

Specifically, when you buy structured annuities, you avail yourself to considerable tax advantages; protect yourself from having funds dissipated; and, if you are disabled, the periodic payments, combined with other estate planning options, can increase your likelihood of Medicaid eligibility.

Take a look at this article to determine whether or not you should purchase structured settlement payments instead of a lump sum settlement.

Purchase Settlement Annuities For Their Tax Advantages

Many companies that sell these types of annuities tout the advantages of tax avoidance.

While you should not base your decision to buy structured settlements solely on tax consequences, it is certainly a consideration. Specifically, personal injury payments are exempt from federal income tax under federal law. However, settlements for lost wages are subject to taxation. When you settle your claim, you may avail yourself of other tax advantages under the Federal Structured Settlement Protection Act.

With appropriate tax planning, such a settlement may provide favorable tax treatment, and may in some cases be tax exempt.

Buy Annuities To Prevent Waste Of Funds

Companies that sell annuities correctly advise that they are intended to compensate the plaintiff for injuries and provide for future lost wages and medical care. But, oftentimes, structuring a settlement can protect minors, incompetent persons and financially unsophisticated plaintiffs.

Unsophisticated Plaintiffs. Face it, some people just aren't good at handling their finances. In my experience, all sorts of "shady" friends and relatives come "out of the woodwork" encouraging the plaintiff to "share the wealth." Within a sort period of time, the plaintiff is penniless. Encouraging the plaintiff to purchase an annuity settlement keeps the money from being squandered; and, more importantly, gives the plaintiff an "excuse" to refuse unscrupulous friends and relatives' requests for money.Incompetents And Minor Children. The legal representatives or guardians of minors should consider buying annuities in lieu of cash. Many of the same benefits to unsophisticated plaintiffs also apply to minors as well. Sometimes, the parents of minor personal injury plaintiffs are unsophisticated and could waste the funds instead of saving them for the child's benefit. Instead, a guardian who decides to purchase structured annuities, can set up such annuities so that the child receives periodic lump sum payments for college expenses, the purchase of a house and possibly a business.

Purchase Settlement Annuities To Pay For Future Medical Care

Most personal injury plaintiffs look to buy structured settlements to provide for future medical care. Structured settlement calculators can be used to predict cash needs to prepare for future medical needs.

Notwithstanding the benefits of periodic payments, in some cases, severely injured payment would obtain better benefits from a special needs trust. This is because of the possibility that the plaintiff could be eligible for Medicaid because of the severity of his or her injuries.

A special needs trust can be structured so that the plaintiff can receive the benefits of a settlement without being disqualified from receiving Medicaid. Consult with an estate planning attorney or disability needs planner for more information on this particular situation.

Substantial Benefits To Plaintiffs When They Buy Structured Annuities

As a plaintiff, now that you know a bit more about the benefits obtained when you purchase settlement payments, you can decide what is right for you.

Specifically, you need to consider the potential tax advantages when you buy structured settlements. Many companies that sell structured annuities will advise that their annuities will protect the plaintiffs against waste, fraud and mismanagement.

Companies can use structured settlement calculators and actuaries to develop a plan to meet the needs of a minor child. Finally, although the benefits of buying settlement annuities are plentiful, there are times where a special needs trust might be a better alternative to a plan to purchase structured settlement payments.

In the end, you need to consult with your attorney, tax advisor and financial planners to determine whether the decision to purchase structured settlements is one that you should consider.

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How to Purchase Structured Settlement to Prevent Being Cheated

When you are planning to purchase structured settlements, care should be taken so as to avoid being swindled. You will find that there have been known cases where people who purchase are conned by unscrupulous dealers. This is because of the fact that many of the people who buy these are not able to differentiate a fake document from an original one. Care should be taken when you want to purchase structured settlements. There is an incidence of some con men who tricked a buyer into paying them the lump sum that they had. They forged documents saying that a colleague of theirs, had won over five million dollars in the lottery.

These people were so professional that they set up offices and even had the use of a court room. The process they used was that they made an office that looked like a branch of the said lottery company. This was to confirm that the lottery company had indeed given the prize to the person who wanted to sell his structured settlement. From this point, they managed to set up a court setting next to the local court house. They got people to act as judge, attorneys, bailiffs etc. Now the purchaser had all the assurance he needed that the structured settlement was indeed genuine. He did not need to search further or make any inquiries as the person he was dealing with seemed to know little about it.

Furthermore, the so called "colleague" of the owner had told him that the person who had won the lottery would be happy with a settlement of only 3.5 million. This meant that he had over 1.5 million shillings on that particular settlement only. This greed blinded him and he ended up purchasing it. To make matters worse, he paid it in cash. By the time he realized, there was no such thing and all the buildings and offices that he entered were gone. To make matters worse, the names the con artists used were of people who had died in the previous month. Next time you want to purchase structured settlements, be sure to make thorough and verifiable inquiries. This would help you avoid such cons and scams.

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Purchase Structured Settlement Annuities For the Right Price

If you are looking to open up a business or to do a private business in relation to buying up structured settlements annuities, there are some things you will likely encounter that will give you some unforeseen challenges and hardships. Knowing what these things are ahead of time will give you an upper hand in the business and will ensure your business or personal business will do well. You do not want to go into this area of marketing without a clear mind and a good set of rules for your business so check out these few ideas before you get started on your company. These ideas may just save you a few bucks, give you a head start in dealing with customers and prepare you for success in the future of this industry.

Be sure you do not get greedy with your prices. If you want to succeed, having high prices is not the way to go. Customers know they must pay for services but they often get fed up with greedy businesses who jack up prices so that customers who are hurting have to pay them. That is simply unethical and frustrates customers in many ways. Keep your prices reasonable and even have deal and packages available for customers with special needs financially. Always be available to price match as this draws much business. Even giving an extra 10% discount to those who find prices lower than yours is not a bad idea.
Know that most of your customers will have high emotions flying around due to court orders, deaths and hardships within their personal lives. Such things will bring about emotions of hurt, betrayal, anger, frustration, surprise and last straw mentality. You want to make sure you and all your employees are well trained in customer service and have a good background in the psychology of hurting and angry people. Be prepared not only to help these people in a financial way, but also be available to be a listening ear as much as you can within your business. If a consultation may take 15 to 20 minutes to go over, schedule your client for a half hour meeting in order to properly hear their story. This will show them the amount of care you have for them and keep them coming back and passing the word around about how great your business' customer service is.
Give yourself plenty of time to write up your charter and work things out. When starting your business, you probably do not want to take loans from a bank that is too hasty to get the loan paid back. Get a loan that will allow you time to work out your business charter, set up your office and build your clientele base in a reasonable amount of time. Trying to get things done super fast will make room for many errors and ultimately will not help your company be successful.
With these few tips in mind, building your business and making it successful as you had hoped should be a lot easier. Take you time, treat customers with the same respect you would desire and offer fair prices. These things will help your business and give you that extra edge in the business!

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