S2KM's continuing commentary about traditional structured settlement industry credo.
Good People and Bad People - We (the traditional structured settlement industry) believe the structured settlement world consists of Good People and Bad People.
Good People
- We are the Good People - the men and women of the traditional structured settlement industry.
- We are the professionals who understand, produce, sell and service structured settlement annuities.
- How do we know we are the Good People?
- Because many important people tell us we are Good People:
- U.S. Congressmen, plaintiff attorneys and injury victims regularly, historically and continually attend our meetings to tell us we are Good People.
- Their message: we (Good People) "protect the needy from the greedy".
- People who endorse or praise our credo are Good People.
- People who don't endorse our credo are either:
- Bad People; or
- Misinformed People; or
- Misquided People.
- Injury victims and their attorneys may or may not be Good People - depending upon whether they support traditional structured settlement credo.
- Our surveys confirm
- Plaintiff attorneys strongly "support" structured settlements;
- Substantially fewer plaintiff attorneys, however, recommend us to their injury victim clients as financial advisers.
Original Sin
- The concept of "original sin" is fundamental to traditional structured settlement credo.
- We believe injury victims are unreliable - Bad People but potentially Good People.
- Why? Because, without us (Good People), injury victims "squander" their personal injury settlements.
- Even some of our strongest critics (Bad People) agree with this fundamental (Good People) structured settlement credo (i.e. the "squandering" injury victim).
- Example: Richard Halpern - no friend of structured settlement annuities.
Richard Halpern
- Based upon his public statements, Halpern supports and promotes important structured settlement credo.
- In his December 2008 article for the North Carolin Lawyers Weekly:
- Titled "Protecting Plaintiffs from the Squandered Settlement",
- Halpern writes: "90 percent of plaintiffs will squander their financial recovery within five years of settlement".
- Halpern also announces that he has located the study confirming this fundamental structured settlement credo (90% lump sum dissipation within 5 years) - source: The Rutter Group (TRG).
More structured settlement credo to follow.
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