Where to find a buyer for structured settlements?

Structured settlements are payments made to your person over a period of time. The amount is guaranteed, and the amortized amount is based on a total lump sum payment owed to you. Structured settlements are often taken in the context of litigation; wherein a large civil damage owed to your person is broken up over several years so that the other party can afford to pay the amount due.  Since payments are often made annually, these are called annuities. Other types of annuities are pension plans, lottery payments, etc.  Hence, think of annuities as a form of debt that is owed to you.  

While the beauty of annuities is that you have a guaranteed income for the future (and in fact most retirees base their capability to retire on annual collections), occasions do arise when cash is immediately needed. Such instances are pressing debt, immediate and attractive investment opportunities, or perhaps unforeseen and substantial emergency expenses. In such cases, you may want to sell your annuities for cash. 

The next big question is “Where can I find buyers for my annuities?”

Today one can find buyers almost everywhere. Simple searches online on words such as “annuities”, “sell my annuities”, “buy annuities” and any other possible permutation will lead you to dozens upon dozens of sources. Examples of reputable buyers of annuities that advertise themselves online are MetLife, JGWentWorth, Genex Capital, and so on. These firms offer fast turn-around of transactions such that you may get cash for your annuity in six to eight weeks time.    

If you’ve found your buyer online, you may decide to sell your annuity online as well. A typical procedure would be for you to first input your particulars online. Make sure you are on a secure connection and using your own computer before inputting sensitive information, especially regarding your finances. Depending on where you are located, your buyer then assigns an agent to contact with you. To avoid unnecessary complications, look for companies that already do business in your locality.

That is easy enough. Now the question that you should ask therefore is not “where can I find a buyer?”, but “where can I find a reliable buyer who will offer me the most hassle free transaction, at the best value for my annuity package?” There are no easy guides on this one, as the rate of return of your annuity will be evaluated differently per party, each one claiming to give you the best value for your buck. Trying to educate yourself by reading up on the matter (either online, or via published personal finance management books) is inefficient plus you still won’t get the peace of mind you want.

The best thing for you to do is to get a dedicated personal asset manager or financial advisor, who will look at your entire financial needs on a holistic basis (not just a  specific question such as ‘how to sell annuities.’ The asset manager can determine your financial needs/goals, and based on this provide you with several funding/investment actions, of which selling an annuity may be just a small part of.

If indeed the only option is to sell an annuity, request your asset manager to provide an objective third party evaluation of your settlement so that when you talk to buyers, you will have a benchmark to compare their quotes as well. Have your asset manager also recommend you to credible buyers to eliminate some of the hassles of selection.

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