Ralph Jones "The Structured Settlement Bazaar" is more like "The Structured Settlement Bizarre". The factual inaccuracies are embarassment for him in what is clearly unresearched "dreck" that he’s sought to syndicate worldwide. Before I traced its origin I encountered the post through a Google alert pointing toward a site registered to an individual with an address in Dubai (called "Arabia On line").
The article in a blogpost from a blog called "Selling Structured Settlements For Personal Injury Claims" has the traditional gratutious, in this case inaccurate, sentence or two about structured settlements.
Too Small Jones: "A structured settlement is an agreement by which a party that loses a personal injury lawsuit (the actual payor is usually an insurance company) agrees to pay the judgment to the winner using payments over a period of time rather than payment in lump sum."
Structured Settlements 4Real: " Most judgments are cash. The New York Civil Practice Law Rules (CPLR) has periodic payment of judgment statutes, Articles 50A and 50B which, on applicable cases, provide that certain elements of future damages be paid periodically, However, that process leads to a "structured judgment" NOT a "structured settlement". A structured settlement is the result of a compromise. Parties may compromise before or after a verdict, while there are still apealable issues, BEFORE the final judgment.
The purpose of "Too Small Jones" blog post is clearly to induce the reader to sell structured settlement payment (rights). Yet he even gets this wrong too
Too Small Jones: The entire process normally takes a few weeks.
Structured Settlements 4Real: How do you describe a few? One or two?-two or three? My sources tell me 6-8 weeks is typical!
Then Ralphie boy makes a feeble attempt to give the reader a lesson in finance…
Too Small Jones: "An important point to keep in mind is that the price of a structured settlement is always less than the total value of the payments received. Time is money, and a lump sum payment is always worth more than payments over time because a dollar today is almost always worth more than a dollar tomorrow. Therefore it is important to accurately calculate what is called the ?time value of money? in order to arrive at a fair price."
Structured Settlements 4Real:
- What leads "Too Small" to the conclusion that it is important to accurately calculate what is called the question mark, in order to arrive at a fair price?
- Time IS Money (i.e. the time you’re wasting reading "Too Small"), but somehow I get the feeling that’s not what "Too Small" intended in using the phrase.
- Is it the question mark or the time value of money? Even "Too Small" appears confused!
- If a lump sum payment is always worth more than a dollar tomorrow then why is a dollar today almost always worth more than a dollar tomorrow?
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