Structured Settlements 4Real®Blog 2026

Structured settlements expert John Darer reviews the latest structured settlements and settlement planning information and news, and provides expert opinion and highly regarded commentary. that is spicy, Informative, irreverent and effective for over 20 years.

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The STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTS 4REAL® Blog is a highly regarded source for structured settlement news, information, and commentary, led by structured settlement and settlement planning subect mater expert John Darer CLU ChFC MSSC CeFT RSP CLTC. With two decades of operation, the blog and 4structures.com are recognized as comprehensive resources, offering detailed guides and specialized insights. Established in 2005, the blog caters to a broad audience, including legal professionals, injured individuals, families, and various stakeholders, providing reviews and opinions on settlement planning. John Darer, President of 4structures.com LLC, is a seasoned structured settlement expert with over 40 years of financial services experience and 31 years specializing in structured settlements. Based in Stamford, CT, he is a Certified Financial Transitionist and Registered Settlement Planner, holding insurance licenses in 45 states and the District of Columbia. John Darer is dedicated to transparency and advocacy, he emphasizes the importance of engaging trained and licensed professionals for settlement planning, offering valuable insights through his investigative journalism and professional commentary.

Category: Society of Settlement Planners (SSP)

  • Professional Designations: SFSP Publishes White Paper on Credentials

    The growing concern on the part of regulatory agencies – the SEC, FINRA and the Senate Committee on Aging – that unscrupulous advisors use their credentials to take advantage of consumers. Should this apply to solicitation of tort victims and their families?

  • Ethical Obligations for Lawyers in Factoring Cases

    Ethical Obligations for Lawyers in Factoring Cases

    Factoring companies depend on a steady supply of structured settlements to survive. Factoring companies acquired by hedge funds and other entities have bloated cash reserves to tempt the wills of settlement brokers and settlement planners, lower their acquisition costs and satisfy their investors.

  • What Does IRC 5891 Do? IRC 5891 Did Not Make Factoring Legal or Illegal

    Anyone who can read IRC 5891 can see for themselves that code section 5891 is all about the imposition of an excise tax on structured settlement factoring transactions and the exemptions to the excise tax, not to make factoring legal, or illegal

  • Hindert Lauds Opening of Secondary (Factoring) Market For Executive Life annuities

    It seems that author and "factoring promoter" Patrick J. Hindert lauds the the December announcement of a solution to the Executive Life of New York shortfall as the impetus for the "reopening of the secondary (read factoring) market in Executive Life annuities".  Source: DealFlow Media's  02/06/2008 Structured Settlement Report (page 7 bottom right corner).  During…

  • NSSTA and SSP Member Profiting From Factoring Advertisement?

    Click the link below to be taken to Patrick Hindert’s S2Km resources Wiki which is peppered with Google AdSense "pay per click" ads promoting "Cash Now Pushers" Peachtree and Novation Capital. Download hindert_s2kms2resource1_home_factoring_ads_galore.pdfDownload It’s factoring ad palooza on another of Hindert’s Wikis "Structured Settlement Law" Download s2km_wiki_structuredsettlementlaw_home_factoring_ad_palooza.pdf Not only has Patrick Hindert not taken a…

  • J.G. Wentworth CEO: “I would love to be in the [primary structured settlement] business”!

    Patrick Hindert's latest post about the so-called "Structured Settlement Thought Leadership Conference" (a/k/a The JG Wentworth conference) should raise an alarm bell.    Hindert attempted to position this as some kind of independent conference when it was a JG Wentworth conference (DealFlow Media reference from June 11, 2008 "Two noteworthy representatives of the structured settlements…

  • Patrick Hindert Called Out On The Carpet For Specifics

    Planners (SSP). He wants to debate. Game on. Hindert says he’s interested in “growing” the “structured settlement industry” yet he continues to display factoring plumage. Who hasn’t been subject to “factoring promotion” from Hindert? A survey of Hindert’s writings in the last 4 years shows virtually no criticism or opinion of such companies’ business practices…

  • Settlement Planner’s “Board Certified” Credential Hype is Misleading

    A lawyer and settlement planner has advertised legal and insurance services, claiming to be “board certified” by the NSSTA and to have earned both “board certification” and the designation of Certified Structured Settlement Consultant (CSSC) from the University of Notre Dame. Is this accurate?

  • Misinformed “Edyfication” from Fort Myers

    Today’s Fort Myers News Press includes an interesting article by Fort Myers, FL elder law attorney William T. Edy, CELA, concerning Special Needs Trusts inspired by his attendance at the Academy of Special Needs Planners meeting in March. While the article is of interest concerning special needs trusts it contains certain points that are grossly…

  • Jack Meligan “Plaintiff Loyal” Structured Settlements? “Plaintiff Loyal” Settlement Planning?

    We all make mistakes and I’m no exception. But some of us are mature enough once we know we’ve made a mistake, to correct that mistake. Fair is fair and on more than one occasion when shown that I have been wrong on something I have corrected what I have written. Several months ago Jack…