Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Disability Law Blogs -> Beyond Structured Settlements

Disability Law

: Beyond Structured Settlements

J.G. Wentworth Survey - 5

By Patrick Hindert

Four prior S2KM blog posts:

• Introduced the J.G. Wentworth (JGW) 2008 structured settlement survey;
• Summarized other related and recent structured settlement reports and surveys; and
• Identified the nine (9) JGW survey questions JGW has given S2KM permission to publish.
• Published responses to five JGW survey questions directly related to the primary structured settlement market.

This S2KM blog post publishes responses to four JGW survey questions about the secondary structured settlement market. In reporting these questions and responses, S2KM has altered both the numbering system and the related response sequence (but not the questions or response results) to better present the survey results to structured settlement stakeholders.

S2KM's blog posts about the JGW survey are also featured on S2KM's structured settlement wiki.

JGW Secondary Market Survey Questions

• Question 6: Why did you sell all or part of your structured settlement?
• Question 7: Did selling your structured settlement help solve your financial problem?
• Question 8: Would you sell payments again?
• Question 9: If you sold only part of your settlement, do you plan to keep the rest of your payments as a structured settlement?

Question 6: Why did you sell all or part of your structured settlement?

Responses:

• Pay bills - 60.2%
• Start a business - 8.3%
• Home improvement - 8.3%
• Pay for education - 5.6%
• Cash made more sense than waiting - 5.6%
• Buy a house - 4.6%

S2KM comments

• Both the AIG survey and the JGW survey highlight paying bills as the primary reasons for settlement planning decisions.
  
• In the AIG survey, 71% of respondents who said they favored a structured settlement did so "to provide a regimented stream of income designed to cover expenses".
• In the JGW survey, 60.2% of the respondents stated paying bills was the reason they sold all or part of their structured settlement.
• Questions: what happened? How and when do settlement plans featuring structured settlements fail? What is more fundemental and periodic than paying bills? Were the original settlement plans flawed? What were the settlement planning objectives and alternatives? What financial education did these structured settlement recipients receive? What educational services, if any, did the structured settlement agent provide? Why and when did the respondents whose structured settlements originated when they were minors (approximately 25% of the survey respondents) sell their structured settlement payment rights?
  
• NSSTA's survey of injury victims determined that most respondents were uncertain whether a structured settlement consultant was involved with their case.
• NSSTA attorney survey results include the following responses to the question: "Whom do you prefer to use for purposes of financial planning for your clients?" The results: Trust company/department - 30%; Financial planner - 28%; Structured settlement consultant - 23%; No response - 19%.

Question 7: Did selling your structured settlement help solve your financial problem?

Responses:

• Mostly - 40.7%
• Yes - 32.4%
• Only helped a little - 21.3%
• No, it did not help - 5.6%

S2KM comments

• 94.4% of the respondents to JGW's survey said selling their structured settlement helped to solve their financial problem - 32.4% without qualification; 40.7% "mostly"; and 21.3% "a little".
• If the 21.3% "helped a little" response is interpreted as "no", then 73.1% of the respondents said selling their structured settlement helped to solve their financial problem.

Question 8: Would you sell payments again?

Responses:

• Maybe - 36.3%
• No - 30.1%
• Yes - 18.6%
• Probably - 8.0%
• I have already sold all of my payments - 7.1%

S2KM comments

• 62.9% of JGW's survey respondents appear to be candidates for future sales of structured settlement payment rights (18.6% + 8.0% + 36.3%)
• The 30.1% who said they would not sell payments again could change their minds. Alternatively, they could also be saying they are satisfied with their remaining structured settlement payments and/or their prior sale(s) of structured settlement payment rights accomplished its intended financial purpose.

Question 9: If you sold only part of your settlement, do you plan to keep the rest of your payments as a structured settlement?

Responses:

• Yes - 42.3%
• I don't know - 35.1%
• No, I plan on selling all of my payments - 9.0%
• I already sold all of my payments - 8.1%
• No, I plan on selling some of my payments - 5.4%

S2KM comments

• The 42.3% "yes" response represents a strong endorsement for structured settlements.
• Responses from the other 57.7% of JGW survey respondents raise questions and issues that settlement planners should identify and address. These questions and issues include how best to integrate structured settlements with other government benefits.

Full post as published by Beyond Structured Settlements on December 01, 2008 (boomark / email).