Why Structured Settlements? Because Certain Sells®

Structured settlements provide secure customized income streams to address what most people worry about the most

• "63% of Americans are more afraid of running out of money than death". The worry of running out of money has increased in recent years, up from 57% in 2022. Gen Xers are the most likely to say this with 71% more worried about running out of money than death, compared to 64% of millennials and 53% of boomers".- 2024 Annual Retirement Study from Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America (Allianz Life)  April 6, 2024
• According to a survey conducted by Harris Poll for the American Psychological Association, "money is the top source of stress in our lives, beating out work, family responsibilities, and health concerns"
• Additionally, a ProfoundQa article states that "money and the future are the number one most common worry".
• "More than two-thirds of Americans consistently agree that pensions are better than 401(k)s for achieving retirement security -Employee Benefits Research Institute, Greenwald Research 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey
• "46% of Retirees said that spending their savings creates anxiety"  Protected Retirement and Income Planning survey 2024 Chapter 4  November 2024
• "41% of Retirees don't know how to stage withdrawals from their accounts" Ibid.
• "The vast majority of Americans say all workers should have a pension so they are independent and self-reliant in retirement"  Employee Benefits Research Institute, Greenwald Research 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey,

$Money$

What does money mean to you? For many it means having enough money to keep paying your bills, medical bills, insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays, to maintain or improve your standard of living, especially amplified for injured people and their families, or those that have lost a breadwinner through disability, job layoffs, business closures or death and they seek certainty.  But it also could be a personal injury lawyer or law firm looking to defer legal fees with the goal of stabilizing income to expenses or keeping their retirement plans on track.

Structured settlements are a core personal injury settlement planning option that addresses this very real primary need 

"At your greatest time of need, not only if you’re the one who has suffered and you’re the one who is injured, and obviously you need help and the one to be taken care of with your family, and the emotional toll it takes on your family, if you think that when you’re at the most emotional low and physical low of your life and if you think you have what it takes to handle that which can literally keep you going for the rest of your lives, I’m here to tell you YOU DO NOT. So let somebody help you. Let us help you. Let us protect you. And let us make sure that everything works, financially speaking simply by doing that which would protect you which is a structured settlement".  Suze Orman, former financial advisor, author and podcast host October 2021

 Having a large lump sum doesn't solve the biggest worry

Long lifer and Nobel laureate William Sharpe, 91, has called "decumulation," or the use of savings in retirement, “the nastiest, hardest problem in finance.”   If that's nasty, making a lump sum settlement last might be a nastier problem. 

"Future retirees are going to need retirement income solutions that can provide spending confidence—for both essential spending needs and more discretionary “wants”—and insurance solutions can play an important role within an integrated retirement income and investment strategy"-Blackrock 2024

A whopping 84 percent of Americans say that recent market volatility has made it all the more important to have guaranteed income in retirement  Greenwald Research 2024 Retirement Confidence Survey  Figure 9

A similar need for a certain amount of income guarantees holds true for injury victims and others who cannot put all their money at risk. 

During the Pandemic era, a wave of "guaranteed income” programs emerged that experimented with providing people no-strings-attached cash every month. The general goal is to lift people out of poverty. [see Bloomberg City Lab by Sarah Holder and Brentin Mock July 8, 2021].

 READ   Sequencing and Decumulation Risk | The Structured Settlements Fix

Structured Settlements Yields Are Competitive

Structured settlement yields remain competitive at all durations and continue to represent a safe allocation in your personal injury settlement plan, structured installment sale, employment settlement or commercial claim for providing streams of guaranteed income that you need.  If you haven't given structured settlements a look in a few years, it's worth giving structured settlements a fresh look now. Life insurance companies that issue structured settlement annuities, funding agreements and are highly regulated in each of the states that they do business. Multiple insurance companies issuing structured settlement annuities have been in business since the 19th Century.

In addition to traditional fixed income structured settlements, there are interest rate linked structured settlements, indexed linked structured settlements  (both capped and uncapped) and market based structured settlement solutions.

4structures.com® LLC is an AM Best Client Recommended Structured Settlements Expert for 2025, Settlement Adviser and a provider of a wide range of settlement planning and financial planning products and services. 4structures® brings Sudden Money® expertise, protocols and tools to parties in all types of claims and litigation that take away the complexity, improve engagement and help facilitate case resolution.  John Darer, 4structures.com President, is one of only two Certified Financial Transitionists in the structured settlement and settlement planning space, in the United States.

What We Do

4structures.com LLC provides innovative customized tax-free and tax deferred fixed and market based periodic payment settlement solutions for personal injury, wrongful death, wrongful incarceration, aviation, medical malpractice, auto, construction, employment and workers compensation claims, via structured settlements, periodic payment reinsurance, funding agreements, terminal funding contracts, disability policy buyouts, life care funding and other customized financial planning solutions, such as special needs trusts, settlement management trusts,  medicare set aside arrangements and qualified settlement funds as well as a variety of insurance services

We're here to help, to patiently listen to the needs of our clients, be an objective settlement adviser, help to facilitate a smooth integration of settlement tools and give the personal attention that our clients deserve. 

Last updated April 12, 2025