hat Are Structured Settlements?

I’m sure you’ve seen the advertisements on TV. People opening windows and shouting “It’s my money and I need it now!” They’re advertisements for JG Wentworth, a company that specializes in paying out lump sums for people who are collecting regular checks from some sort of settlement. On a recent visit home to New York, I saw a lot of these advertisements on TV (my parents don’t have DVR). Then, recently, my friend invited me to a business networking event where I met someone who worked at a financial services company. His area of expertise was buying things like structured settlements and lottery winnings, a future stream of income, and then selling them to institutional investors. He was looking to meet with institutional investors, of which there were several at the event, to sell these instruments to.

It got me thinking… what’s the deal with these structured settlements?