by Structured Settlement Watchdog
WARNING! Just because marketers of structured settlement receivables advertise and label them as annuities doesn’t mean they actually are, or that you’re necessarily committing to an investment in an annuity.
SMA misleading Marketing as Annuity Example #1
“In the intricate tapestry of financial investments, secondary market annuities (SMA) represent a distinctive and often 
misunderstood thread. At their core, SMAs are not newly issued financial products but rather existing annuity contracts that have been resold in the secondary market. These annuities originally arise from various sources, most commonly structured settlements from personal injury claims, lottery winnings, or similar circumstances where the annuity is awarded as a long-term income stream.” from “What Are Secondary Market Annuities?” Curt Gibbs Structured Wealth Strategies Manchester TN (retrieved April 18, 2025), which includes an image of a fanned out wad of “marked” $100 bills.
The “intricate tapestry” presentation by Structured Wealth Strategies is fundametally flawed and not be considered reliable for investors evaluating the investment
Behold a “stitch in time” from the Structured Settlement Watchdog®…
- A settlement is a compromise.
- Settlements are negotiated
- A structured settlement can be part of the coinsideration for the settlement of a legal claim or a lawsuit.
- Anyone who understands how structured settlements are established knows that the payee is not the owner of an annuity contract.
- The payee can’t sell what he or she does not own.
- Anyone who understands how structured settlements are established knows that a structured settlement annuity is not awarded.
- While a minor’s settlement will need to be approved by a judge, it’s still not awarded.
- Anyone who understands a structured settlement factoring transaction knows that it it is a transfer of structured settlement payment rights (“structured settlement receivables”)
- Why would anyone who understands structured settlement factoring transactions solicit investors while intentionally labeling structured settlement receivables as an annuity?
What’s an annuity under Tennessee law?
1. RULES OF THE TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND INSURANCE INSURANCE DIVISION CHAPTER 0780-01-86 SUITABILITY IN ANNUITY TRANSACTIONS.
780-01-86-.05 DEFINITIONS
(1) “Annuity” means an annuity that is an insurance product under state law that is individually solicited, whether the product is classified as an individual or group annuity. 0780-01-86.20230417.pdf
2. Structured settlement receivables are not an insurance product see National Association of Insurance Commissioners ( NAIC) Statutory Issue Paper No. 160 (finalized April 6, 2019)
3. Tennessee and 80% of US states have adopted the 2017 Revisions to the Life & Health Guaranty Associations Model Act, which expressly excludes acquired rights to receive payments regardless of when acquired. In plain words no grandfathering.
§ 56-12-204. Scope of coverage; limitations and exclusions, TN ST § 56-12-204
(B) A person who acquires rights to receive payments through a structured settlement factoring transaction as defined in 26
U.S.C. § 5891(c)(3)(A), regardless of whether the transaction occurred before or after that section took effect.
Why would ANY company elect to push structured settlement receivables as annuities when they’re not?
And I haven’t even touched the structured settlement servicing risk For a recent extreme example, see SuttonPark Commentary here Structured Settlements 4Real® Blog: Structured Settlements | Settlement Planning News and John Darer Reviews: Structured Settlement Receivables
Why is Payment Servicing not mentioned in Strategic Wealth’s marketing materials?