Keeping Your Money Safe: Don’t Sell that Structured Settlement Annuity
When you sell structured settlement annuity payments you put your financial life in danger. A major positive about structured settlement payments is that they keep your money safe. Safe from theft. Safe from investment loss. Safe from overspending. But let’s answer a few specific questions about keeping your money safe.
Should I Sell my Structured Settlement Payment to Invest?
Many people wonder, “I got a great tip and want to invest, should I sell my structured settlement payments to invest in this?” Yet, other people are involved in purchasing structured settlements as a form of investment. What do you do?
The short answers is that whether or not to sell structured settlement annuity payments is a personal decision, but it is unlikely that a judge will approve such a sale, unless you are planning to “invest” in starting a new business. No investment is a sure thing.
Look at Facebook stock, which everyone thought would be a sure thing, but it wasn’t. Or the fall of the .com stocks in the last couple decades. And the shocking recovery of Ford stock, so quickly after the crash. You just never know what is going to happen. Whether purchasing structured settlements or buying them, there is always some level of risk. So while how you invest your money is a very personal thing, you should seriously think about it before you trade your “sure thing” of settlement payments in on a gamble.
Can I Lose My Payments?
Another thing that many people want to know is, “Can I lose my settlement payments if my wages are being garnished?”
Some people decide to sell their structured settlement payments not because they necessarily need the cash now, but because their wages are about to be garnished, they owe back taxes, they are being sued, or there is some other situation where they feel that someone might get access to their settlement payments and take the money away.
The truth is that every situation is different. In most situations settlement payments from personal injury cases are safe from bankruptcy, garnishment and legal action. However, this is not always the case. You should contact a lawyer, tax consultant or other type of financial advisor if you are worried that someone can gain access to your settlement payments.
Investments are complicated things, do not invest lightly!
Day trading, that is buying stocks with the idea of making a fast profit in a day or few days, is a hobby, not a career, and is one best left to the wealthy. That is not to say that you should never invest, certainly stock investing is a great way to make money. But be careful about taking money out of a structured settlement to put it into something less secure.
Every situation is different
Whether you could lose your structured settlement payments, or a lump sum cash out, varies from situation to situation, and even varies based on local and state laws. It is, for example, possible for a spouse to gain access to a share of settlement payments if the payments originated while the couple were married. But, likely, if you were to sell the payments they would still be entitled to half of the lump sum. Child support is another type of money owed where a structured settlement, payments or a lump sum, might be taken.
As for investing money, this is always something to be done very carefully. If you wonder, “should I sell my structured settlement payment to invest, you are walking on dangerous ground.
To take a “sure thing”, such as structured settlement payments, and gamble with them, even on an investment that you feel extremely confident about, is perhaps not a wise decision. And, most likely, it is not a reason for a judge to approve you to sell structured settlement annuity payments.
The short answer here is to call Strategic Capital to learn about your unique situation and the laws of your state.