The Insider's Guide To Structured Settlements, Part II
by James Lokey

The seller is in a financial crisis and is unable to access traditional credit sources. He has a structured settlement with guaranteed future payments, but he has no credit, or poor credit. He may have called his insurance company who told him that it is not only "illegal" but also the ultimate tax sin to sell his payments. So, when he answers your ad, he is pre-conditioned to doubt your credibility and ability to do the deal.

The sooner you determine the seller's circumstances, the better off everyone will be. It is important to know that none of the funding companies will buy payments under the wrong circumstances. Such circumstances include payments to minors or their guardians, payments intended for medical necessities, payments to the unemployable where the structure is their sole source of income, among others. If you feel uncomfortablenegotiating with the seller, you may want to just agree on a fee with your funder and let it handle the entire transaction.

Who are the sellers?

They are people who usually have a financial emergency but do not have access to traditional credit sources. Sometimes their financial problems stem from the very event that resulted in the settlement.  Since we look only to the annuity and not to the seller's credit, we are able to provide funds to the seller that no one else will.

How do you find them?

Anywhere you currently advertise. Structured settlement annuitants are as diverse as the population. Their most common attributes are poor credit combined with a financial emergency.

Should I become specialized in this area?

We would not recommend that you specialize in this area to the exclusion of all others. We, instead, recommend that you gain enough knowledge about structures to be of assistance and value to anyone needing our service. Never attempt to "wing it" through a deal. If you are new to the business, you would be much better off and close more deals by letting your funder carry the ball for you.

How can I price with confidence?

Learn the underwriting criteria of the funders and their rates for various deals. One funder, for example, will not buy final lump payments while others will, but at higher rates. Some funders will not buy payments from companies rated less than "A" while others will, but for smaller amounts and at higher discount rates. No funders will buy all of the payments of a disabled person unable to work or payments needed for medical necessities. In general, every opportunity will require knowledge of the sellers' needs, their personal situations and the funders' underwriting criteria. Never rely on published rates to price your deals.

How much will I have to spend in advertising?

If you are advertising only for structured settlements, it can cost you up to $250 in direct advertising just to get the phone to ring. You can further expect to talk to seven or more people before you find a qualified seller. So, you may be looking in the neighborhood of $1500 in direct costs to get a structured settlement closed. Of course, spreading your ad dollars among other products will leverage their return.

What do the sellers usually want?

They will often say it is to get as much cash as possible. Sometimes it is to get just enough money to buy a car so they can get to work or put a down payment on a home. Whatever the reason, it is incumbent on you to understand their financial objectives so that you can best serve their needs.

What if they say they want to sell their entire settlement?

Tell them that while it may be possible to buy all of their payments, it is unlikely to be in their best interest. Make several offers to them that reflect a more conservative approach to the deal that meets their specific needs.

How can I compete with the funders who are advertising directly on TV and in newspapers and competing for the same deals?

Wholesale rates to brokers allow them to produce about 50 percent of all settlements purchased. Most funders need to produce some deals at retail rates to balance their portfolios. You will find, however, that your wholesale rates will allow you to compete directly with a funder and still get the transaction.

Jim Lokey is considered the founder of the secondary market for structured settlements, having started the first company to specialize in this investment.

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American Capitalism Gone With A Whimper
by Stansilav Mishin

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breathtaking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists. (It is now well-established that Lenin and his Soviet Revolution was financed by Wall Street and City of London financial interests who, along with the duped American taxpayers, propped it up for decades. See, for example, Wall Street & The Bolshevik Revolution by Dr. Antony Sutton. -- WJM)

Those lessons were taken and used to properly prepare the American populace for the surrender of their freedoms and souls, to the whims of their elites and "betters."

First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather than the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas than the drama in DC that directly affects their lives. They care more for their "right" to choke down a McDonalds burger or a BurgerKing burger than for their constitutional rights. Then they turn around and lecture us about our rights and about our "democracy." Pride blinds the foolish.

Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different "branches and denominations" were for the most part little more than Sunday circuses, and their televangelists and top Protestant mega-preachers were more than happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the "winning" side of one pseudo-Marxist politician or another. Their flocks may complain, but when explained that they would be on the "winning" side, their flocks were ever so quick to reject Christ in hopes for earthly power.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been record-setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more than another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst
Zimbabwe.

These past few weeks have been the most breath-taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, losses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more than ordinary street thugs in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the sheer volumes. Should we congratulate them?

These men, of course, are not an elected panel but made up of appointees picked from the very financial oligarchs and their henchmen who are now gorging themselves on trillions of American dollars, in one bailout after another. They are also usurping the rights, duties and powers of the American Congress. Again, Congress has put up little more than a whimper to their masters.

Then came Barack Obama's command that General Motors' president step down from leadership of his company. That is correct, dear reader, in the land of "pure" free markets, the American president now has the power to fire CEOs and we can assume other employees of private companies, at will. Come hither, go dither, the centurion commands his minions.

So it should be no surprise that the American president has followed this up with a "bold" move of declaring that he and another group of unelected, chosen stooges will now redesign the entire automotive industry and will even be the guarantee of automobile warranties. I am sure that if given the chance, they would happily try and redesign it for the whole of the world, too.

Prime Minister Putin, less than two months ago, warned Obama and UK's Brown not to follow the path to Marxism, it only leads to disaster. Apparently, even though we suffered 70 years of this Western-sponsored horror show, we know nothing, as foolish, drunken Russians, so let
our "wise" Anglo-Saxon fools find out the folly of their own pride.  Again, the American public has taken this with barely a whimper...but a "freeman" whimper.

So, should it be any surprise to discover that the Democratic-controlled Congress of America is working on passing a new regulation that would give the American Treasury department the power to set "fair" maximum salaries, evaluate performance and control how private companies give out pay raises and bonuses? Congressman Barney Frank, a social pervert basking in his homosexuality (of course, amongst the modern, enlightened American societal norm, as well as that of the general West, homosexuality is not only not a looked down upon life choice, but is often praised as a virtue) and his Marxist enlightenment, has led this effort. He stresses that this only affects companies that receive government monies, but it is retroactive and taken to a logical extreme, this would include any company or industry that has ever received a tax break or incentive.

The Russian owners of American companies and industries should look thoughtfully at this and the option of closing their facilities down and fleeing the land of the Red (that's now the U.S.) as fast as possible. In other words, divest while there is still value left.

The proud American will go down into his slavery without a fight, beating his chest and proclaiming to the world how free he really is. The world will only snicker. --Stanislav Mishin
(for more of Mr. Mishkin's writings, see mat-rodina.blogspot.com)

Recommended reading:

The Naked Capitalist, by Cleon Skousen

Fourth Reich of the Rich, by Des Griffin

The Creature From Jekyll Island, by G. Edward Griffin

911: Synthetic Terror, by Webster Tarpley