| Description | Annual Return |
|---|---|
| If you stayed invested in the S&P 500 index for all trading days from January 2, 2006 – December 31, 2025 | 11.0% |
| If you missed the 10 best trading days from 2005–2024 | 6.6% |
| If you missed the 20 best trading days from 2005–2024 | 3.8% |
| If you missed the 30 best trading days from 2005–2024 | 1.6% |
| If you missed the 40 best trading days from 2005–2024 | -0.3% |
| If you missed the 50 best trading days from 2005–2024 | -1.9% |
| If you missed the 60 best trading days from 2005–2024 | -3.4% |
| State | Earnings | Average Tax Rate |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $1,000,000 | 42.7% |
| New York | $750,000 | 41.6% |
| California | $1,000,000 | 46.8% |
| California | $750,000 | 45.2% |
| California | $250,000 | 36.4% |
| Connecticut | $500,000 | 38.9% |
| Connecticut | $250,000 | 33.8% |
| Hawaii | $750,000 | 45.1% |
| Oregon | $750,000 | 44.5% |
| Texas | $750,000 | 34.9% |
| Washington | $750,000 | 34.9% |
Some New York municipalities, such as the the City of New York and City of Yonkers, charge income taxes, Certain cities in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania states charge income tax on their residents. For more details see What Is Local Tax? States with Local Income Taxes in 2024 (mosey.com)
Hindsight is 20/20. But just the same, the 10 Year Treasury yield ranged, in 2006, from 4.57% to open January 2006 to about 4.56% on December 1, 2006. The 20-year Treasury ranged from 4.62% January 2006 to 4.88%% in Decmber2006.
Source : fred.stlouisfed.com on structured settlement annuities was higher than those range numbers.
Unlike many bonds, structured settlements are not callable and can therefore be designed for reliable longer payouts. Structured settlements are not only for long term payouts. See Tangible Benefits of Structured Settlements Part 1 | Short Term Structured Settlements
In its Statutory Issue Paper 160, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), which includes every state insurance commissioner in the United States, expressly stated in
Footnote 1: “This guidance is specific to acquired structured settlement income streams (legal right to receive future payments from a structured settlement) and does not capture accounting and reporting guidance for the acquisition of any insurance product (e.g., life settlement, annuities, etc.)” and
Footnote 2: “Reporting entities that hold qualifying structured settlement payment rights shall report the security on Schedule BA either as an “any other class of asset”. In some case insurance companies are institutional buyers of factored structured settlement payment streams.
What investors are sold does not qualify under the definition of annuity that can be found under the insurance laws of many states. An investor is not paying a premium.
In Western United Life Assurance Company v. Hayden, 64 F.3d 833 (3rd Cir. 1995), then-Judge (later U.S. Supreme Court Justice) Samuel Alito, on behalf of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, repeatedly pointed to the difference between rights that a payee has to future payments under a settlement agreement and the lack of rights of a payee under an annuity purchased by the obligor to fund such payments.
When structured settlement receivables are sold to investors, they are no longer an insurance product. It is not issued by an insurance company. It is an instrument that comes about in a structured settlement factoring transaction. It carries transactional risks that are much greater than a legitimate annuity.
80% of US states have amended statutory protections that expressly exclude investors in acquired structured settlement payment rights (structured settlement receivables), regardless of whether the structured settlement payment rights were acquired before or after the State adoped the 2017 Revisions to the Life & Health Guaranty Associations Model Act (#520).
It would not be unreasonable to seriously question why a settlement planner or financial planner is not being truthful with you and represents the product they are selling to you as an annuity, when it is not an annuity.
Structured settlement annuities are regulated insurance products sold by licensed and appointed insurance agents, or brokers. Structured settlement payments are contractually guaranteed through customized (bespoke) structured settlement annuities that we place with a multi-billion dollar life insurance company (or companies). If you have any doubts and think you can do better with your investments while minimizing risk, consider “Monte Carlo simulation” as an effective means to illustrate (to attorneys or plaintiffs) the volatility of investment returns with certain hypothetical investment mixes (on settlement proceeds) against the amount and timing of the plaintiff’s absolute needs. It may be helpful to you.
Last updated February 24, 2026
*S&P 500 data is unmanaged, reflects the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, bears no management fees or operating expenses and is not available for direct investment.
