What is Settlement Planning?
Settlement Planning is the modern day wholistic approach to assisting personal injury (and other types of) claimants with the personal, and highly unique, financial planning decisions surrounding the settlement of their claim.
Settlement Planning starts from the premise that structured settlements are not the answer to everything that everyone needs or wants to do with their settlement dollars.
Using that as a starting point, the first in a long line of questions for any personal injury claimant to answer is:
“What do you want this settlement to accomplish for you? What is the most important thing? Then, what is the, second most important, third most important, etc”.
Only after you, as the claimant, answer the question above should you really begin to craft a plan to help you reach those goals.
What Do You Want Your Settlement To Do For You?
“You Didn’t Plan the Accident, but At Least You Can Plan Your Settlement.”
This might be the first time, since the date of your accident, or the accident that hurt or killed a loved one, that amongst all the lawyers, adjusters, judges, mediators, defense brokers, and other experts… that any one has asked you that important question.
What do you want your settlement to do for you?
It is critical, through this line of questioning, to establish the your needs, goals, desires, concerns and considerations before recommending products and strategies.
This approach is the critical difference between our normal practice, and most other firms in this industry. We believe in establishing what it is you need and want to do, before we make a recommendation as to what you should do.
Any defense-retained structured settlement broker, or other purported expert, who first tries to force a structured settlement annuity on a personal injury victim, without an in depth personal interview to determine your individual needs should be avoided like the plague.
In fact, it is quite common for claimants at some point in the traditional case settlement process to feel both powerless and simultaneously pressured, with regard to all of these decisions.
Is this how you currently feel? If so, you should not have to.
We understand that this long course of getting your claim settled or getting to a verdict can be described as feeling like you were tossed about at sea, without sail or rudder, subject to the whim and winds of the civil justice system.
At some point during this journey, you have likely been told that the reason things are moving so slowly was that the mediator was not available on certain dates, the defendant’s attorney is in a long trial, the casualty company’s adjuster is on vacation, etc., etc., ad nauseum.
Now, comes the good news.
As you reach or enter the “financial aspects” portion of your settlement, all power over your destiny is placed back into your hands. You are once again made Captain of your ship, as all decisions about whether to settle, settlement planning and all of your various choices are put into your control. You now have the ultimate power; the power to say “yes” or “no”.
Contact us for an informal, confidential discussion
of your situation at 800-666-5584.
Or
If you would feel more comfortable,
request that your attorney call and
conduct an initial interview about our services.
You will be glad you did.
After an in-depth discussion of your needs and concerns, information is gathered about all of your potential sources of income and benefits, including your pending settlement, if appropriate.
Then the pros and cons of your settlement options, as well as various products and strategies are discussed, including a discussion of your investment experience and tolerance for financial risk, wills and estate planning, and proper liability insurance coverages.
After all of the above, we create a custom written settlement plan, just for you.
This custom Settlement Plan Letter will include everything you listed as answers to the question of, “What do you want this settlement to do for you?“, as well as our recommendations and your decisions, on how to meet your needs.
To have a custom Settlement Plan created for your unique situation, contact me anytime.
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