Structured Settlements as Investment Vehicles

I read this week about a lady who lost 180 lbs in ten months by eating backwards. She had breakfast for dinner and dinner for breakfast. The article didn't say what she did for lunch! She lost the weight without having to rely on a typical diet plan. Her result, losing 180lbs, has lasted nine years. It's not so much the weight loss that grabbed my attention, but the fact that she took responsibility for making a change in her life.

This now size 2 woman didn't just go on a run of the mill diet, she committed to making a lifestyle change. Diet is an inaccurate and bad term. It represents a temporary nutritional change that requires sacrifice and results that are often unsatisfactory and short lived. She made up her own solution, and that's why it worked for her. Copying someone else's ideas is rarely effective. We are more likely to be successful when it is our own plan.

What are your plans and goals? What do you want to change? If you have been craving something new, different, better, but find yourself mired in the same spot you started in, maybe you would consider making some backwards choices? Identify a few areas in your life you expect something greater that what is right now.

One of the most important places to make changes in your life is in the area of your finances. Are you paying yourself first? Preparing for your future? Spending within your means? Our typical mindset is to spend what we have, or more likely, spend more than we have through loans and credit cards. We live paycheck to paycheck because that is the choice we have made.

I encourage us to make some new choices. Take responsibility for where we are, and decide where we want to be. Then all it takes is a plan, a few backwards choices, and watch how quickly we find ourselves in a new and better place.

If you are a structured settlement recipient, you can make some backwards choices by cashing out your annuity. Instead of waiting for the settlement to pay out over time, you can get the money you want and need sooner. Consider carefully any financial choice you make, and seek expert advice. If you want the best, you have to seek it out. Whether you are trying to lose weight, or regain control of your finances, sometimes making backwards choices can get you going in the right direction.

Copyright 2007 Mark Schwartz - All Rights Reserved

Annuities: The Shocking Secrets Revealed.

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A Twist On Guaranteed Income - Financial Advisor Magazine

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Variable-annuity sales were up 8 percent to $1 billion. Life insurance sales nearly tripled to $17 million. Golden Valley-based Allianz Life North America, which employs about 1700, is part of Germany's huge Allianz SE; it sells annuities whose returns .

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The following table presents the market values of assets under AFP management: (in thousands) Market Value as of Annuities Brokerage Total Assets Under Management 3/31/2012 $ 165216 $ 333583 $ 498799 12/31/2011 $ 149906 $ 351275 $ 501181 9/30/2011 .

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How do they find adequate risk-adjusted yield and earn a profit and maintain guarantees and minimum performance levels of those life insurance policies or annuities? And I think that is a trend that is going to continue for a while based on what they .

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GILMAN CIOCIA, INC. - 10-Q - MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL . - Insurance News Net (press release)

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The following table presents the market values of assets under AFP management: (in thousands) Market Value as of Annuities Brokerage Total Assets Under Management 3/31/2012 $ 165216 $ 333583 $ 498799 12/31/2011 $ 149906 $ 351275 $ 501181 9/30/2011 .

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In the company's first quarter under new president and CEO Walter White , Allianz Life reported $2.7 billion in premium, even with the same quarter a year ago. A 6 percent decline in fixed annuities, to $1.5 billion , was offset by an 8 percent .

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