Question: I’ve been receiving annuity payments that are coming to me as a result of a deadly truck accident where my family members were killed and have received two different policies from Metlife and the other from Pacific Life Insurance company. My settlement attorney believes that I should not sell these payments but I really need these payments and have no idea how long I will live and the payments are only good while I’m alive.
Answer: Selling your structured settlement payments is not something that we advise you to do as the amount of funds that you will lose over your lifetime can be immense. Now if you are using those funds to start a business, invest in the market, or it’s an absolutely needed financial emergency than we can say that it is okay to do so. Life contingent payments mean that the pay outs that you receive periodically or in the future are dependent and paid out only if you are alive and living. No beneficiary or other recipient is able to gain access to those funds if the named policy is in your name and you pass away. So inheritance for your loved ones is not possible with a life contingent structured settlement annuity. Having a check list on what you need to transfer your payment rights is important. It’s a lot of work to transfer payments and is not an over night process. There are always consequences when entering into a transaction but in some cases investments made after the sale or transfer of an annuity have paid off big time. The thing to remember is nobody can predict the future and you shouldn’t put all of your eggs into one basket.
Be patient and make sound financial decisions. If you have a CFA that you work with that is licensed and has an interest in ensuring you make sound financial decisions then we would be glad to help discuss the pros and cons of selling an investment for cash now either to us, a CFA, law firm who specializes in asset transfers, or worst case one of those television commercial companies you see on television.