Beyond Structured Settlements

Secondary Life and Annuity Markets - 1

Recent developments related to the secondary life insurance and annuity markets should encourage several professional associations to learn more about these markets - and to provide improved education in 2008 for their members about these markets.

Responsible professional associations include:

• The National Structured Settlement Trade Association (NSSTA)
• The Society of Settlement Planners (SSP)
• The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA)
• The American Association for Justice (AAJ)
• The Academy of Special Needs Planners (ASNP)
• The Special Needs Alliance (SNA)

Recent secondary market developments include:

• Mealey's Conference: "Life Insurance in the Secondary Market" - Mealey's in-person conference, developed in collaboration with Drinker Biddle, is occuring December 11-12, 2007 at the Harvard Club of New York City.
• Deal Flow Media (DFM) - DFM, a publisher and educator focusing on specialty financial markets including life settlements, has announced it will enter the structured settlement market in 2008.
• A.M. Best - A.M. Best recently introduced "Best's Structured Finance Center", a web portal for the insurance-linked securities market.
• NCOIL - The National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) adopted a Model Life Settlements Act at its most recent meeting.
  

For additional information about life settlements, see:

• Wikipedia's "life settlement" entry
  
• New York Insurance Department's "Life Settlements: Top Ten Questions".
• Deal Flow Media's "The Life Settlements Report"

For additional and related S2KM commentary, see:

• Structured Settlement Secondary Market
  • Structured Settlement Transfers
  • Settlement Transfer Update
  • Settlement Transfers - Release 39
  • How the Primary Market Views Factoring
  • NSSTA Bylaw Amendments
  • J.G. Wentworth v. Peachtree Settlement Funding
  • Settlement Transfers: Wentworth and Symetra
  • Rapid v. Symetra
  • Review of Robert Wood's article: "Structured Settlements: Factor vs.Commute".
  • See also: Chapter 16 in hardcopy "Structured Settlements and Periodic Payment Judgments" written by Daniel Hindert, Joseph Dehner and Patrick Hindert.
• National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP)
  
  • 2007 Annual Meeting
  • 2006 Annual Meeting
  • NASP Wiki
• Deal Flow Media
  • Deal Flow Media structured settlement webinar
• Drinker Biddle
  • Drinker Biddle's "Structured Settlement Update"

Deal Flow Media Webinar

Deal Flow Media publishes reports, and also sponsors webinars and conferences, about specialized financial markets.

Deal Flow Media's markets include:

• Life Settlements
• Private Investments in Public Equity (PIPEs)
• Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
• Reverse Mortgages
• Distressed Debt

On November 29, 2007, Deal Flow Media will enter the structured settlement market by sponsoring its first structured settlement webinar.  Please note the Postcript at the end of this post. Deal Flow Media will be rescheduling and expanding this structured settlement webinar.

In addition to Brett Goetschius, Karen Meyers and Dan Finn, this author will be one of the featured speakers. My topic will be "The Structured Settlement Secondary Market".  Some of the questions my presentation will address:

• What is a structured settlement?   
• What is a structured settlement factoring transaction?
• What are structured settlement payment rights?
• What is the secondary structured settlement market?
• How do the primary and secondary markets interact?
• Why do payees sell structured settlement payment rights?
• What definitions and legal rules apply to this secondary market?
• How large is the structured settlement secondary market?
• Who are the leading secondary market participants - and why are they successful?
• What does an investor in structured settlement payment rights actually purchase?
• What are the business and investment risks?

Additional S2KM online resources about the structured settlement primary and secondary markets:

• Structured Settlements
  • Overview of the Structured Settlement Market
  • History of Structured Settlements
  • Future of Structured Settlements
  • Structured Settlement Transaction Diagram
  • Structured Settlement Public Policy Wiki
  • Structured Settlements and Government Benefits
  • Blog posts featuring Robert Wood's podcasts
    • Structured Attorney Fees
    • Single Claimant 468B Funds
• Structured Settlement Secondary Market
  • Structured Settlement Transfers
  • Settlement Transfer Update
  • Settlement Transfers - Release 39
  • How the Primary Market Views Factoring
  • NSSTA Bylaw Amendments
  • J.G. Wentworth v. Peachtree Settlement Funding
  • Settlement Transfers: Wentworth and Symetra
  • Rapid v. Symetra
  • Review of Robert Wood's article: "Structured Settlements: Factor vs.Commute".
• National Association of Settlement Purchasers (NASP)
  
  • 2007 Annual Meeting
  • 2006 Annual Meeting
  • NASP Wiki

Postcript - added November 28, 2007

• Deal Flow Media has decided to reschedule and expand its structured structured webinar.  Deal Flow Media will announce new dates and details for its expanded webinar on Deal Flow Media's website.   This author will appear as a participant in Deal Flow Media's structured settlement webinars- and will also provide continuing S2KM blog coverage of Deal Flow Media's structured settlement publications.
• S2KM has added corrected links for the following concept maps developed by Dr. Barbara Bowen of Sound Knowledge Strategies.  Each concept map includes embedded submaps and links.
  • Overview of Structured Settlement Markets
• How the Primary Market Views Factoring

For additional information about S2KM's collaboration with Barbara Bowen, see "Web 2.0 for Lawyers Concept Map".