Structured Settlement Credo - 3

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.