by John Darer® CLU ChFC MSSC RSP CLTC
Vacuous regulation of the structured settlement secondary market has and will continue to threaten and potentially harm structured settlement annuitants targeted by reckless structured settlement buyers.
The possibility of negative short term rates could lead to a cataclysmic explosion in bad business practices as desperate investors scramble for the yield created, in some cases, by the screwing of structured settlement sellers for the benefit of many "cloven footed snouts" feeding on the slurry at the trough.
The inexplicable dichotomy in how structured settlement annuitants can be solicited by the porcine feeding frenzy, is outrageous and could lead to a future public relations disaster for politicians if it's not dealt with soon. Current structured settlement protection reforms in Maryland, Virginia, DC, Illinois, Wisconsin and those pending in Florida are good but incomplete. Many structured settlement recipients fall into the same demographic as that covered by the proposed FINRA Regulations in Regulatory Notice 15-37 and yet they are not adequately protected to a degree that FINRA proposes or with respect to seniors, how state insurance laws protect seniors. Why the effing heck not?
State insurance laws prohibiting the use of state guaranty funds are being used to solicit investors in products labeled annuities that are not annuities.
I've said it before and I will say it again…