Best Financial Security through Structured Settlements

Structured settlements have become a natural part of personal injury and worker's compensation claims in the United States, according to the National Structured Settlements Trade Association (NSSTA). In 2001, life insurance members of NSSTA wrote more than $6.05 billion of issued annuities as settlement for physical injury claims. This represents a 19 percent increase over 2000.

A structured bp settlement is the dispersement of money for a legal claim where all or part of the arrangement calls for future periodic payments. The money is paid in regular installments--annually, semi-annually or quarterly--either for a fixed period or for the lifetime of the claimant. Depending on the needs of the individual involved, the structure may also include some immediate payment to cover special damages. The payment is usually made through the purchase of an annuity from a Life Insurance Company.

A structured settlement structure can provide long-term financial security to injury victims and their families through a stream of tax-free payments tailored to their needs. Historically, they were first utilized in Canada and the United States during the 1970s as an alternative to lump-sum payments for injured parties. A structured settlement can also be used in situations involving lottery winnings and other substantial funds.

How a Structured Settlement Works
When a plaintiff settles a case for a large sum of money, the defendant, the plaintiff's attorney, or a financial planner may propose paying the settlement in installments over time rather than in a single lump sum.

A structured settlement is actually a tradeoff. The individuals who were injured and/or their parents or guardians work with their lawyer and an outside broker to determine future medical and living needs. This includes all upcoming operations, therapy, medical devices and other health care needs. Then, an annuity is purchased and held by an independent third party that makes payments to the person who has been injured. Unlike stock dividends or bank interest, these structured settlement payments are completely tax-free. What's more, the individual's annuity grows tax-free.

Pros and Cons

As with anything, there's a positive and negative side to structure settlements. One significant advantage is tax avoidance. When appropriately set up, a structured settlement may significantly reduce the plaintiff's tax obligations (as a result of the settlement). Another benefit is that a structured settlement can help ensure a plaintiff has the funds to pay for future care or needs. In other words, a structured settlement can help protect a plaintiff from himself.

Let's face it: Some people have a hard time managing money, or saying no to friends and family wanting to "share the wealth." Receiving money in installment can make it last longer.

A downside to structure settlements is the built-in structure (no pun intended). Some people may feel restricted by periodic payments. For example, they may want to buy a new home or other expensive item, yet lack the funds to do so. They can't borrow against future payments under their settlement, so they're stuck until their next installment payment arrives.
And from an investment perspective, a structured settlement may not make the most sense for everyone. Many standard investments can provide a greater long-term return than the annuities used in structured settlements. So some people may be better off accepting a lump sum settlement and then investing it for themselves.

Here are some other important points to keep in mind about structured settlements: An injured person with long-term special needs may benefit from having periodic lump sums to purchase medical equipment. Minors may benefit from a structured settlement that provides for certain costs when they're young--such as educational expenses--instead of during adulthood.

Special Considerations

- Injured parties should be wary of potential exploitation or hazards related to structured settlements. They should carefully consider:

- High Commissions - Annuities can be highly profitable for insurance companies, and they often carry very large commissions. It is important to ensure that the commissions charged in setting up a structured settlement don't eat up too much of its principal.

- Inflated Value - Sometimes, the defense will overstate the value of a negotiated structured settlement. As a result, the plaintiff winds up with much less than was agreed upon. Plaintiffs should compare the fees and commissions charged for similar settlement packages by a variety of insurance companies to make sure that they're getting full value.

- Conflict of Interest - There have been situations where the plaintiff's attorney has referred the client to a particular financial planner to set up a structured settlement, without disclosing he would receive a referral fee. In other cases, the plaintiff's lawyer has set up a structured settlement on behalf of a client without revealing the annuities are being purchased from his own insurance business. Plaintiffs should know what financial interest their lawyer may have in relation to any financial services being provided or recommended.

- Using Multiple Insurance Companies - It's advisable to purchase annuities for a structured settlement from several different companies. This offers protection in the event a company that issued annuities for a settlement package goes into bankruptcy and defaults.

Benefits of Selling A Settlement

A structured settlement is specifically designed to meet the needs of the plaintiff at the time it's created. But what happens if the installment arrangement no longer works for the individual? If you need cash for a large purchase or other expenses, consider selling your structured settlement. Many companies can purchase all or part of your remaining periodic settlement payments for one lump sum. This can boost your cash flow by providing funds you can use immediately to buy a home, pay college tuition, invest in a business or pay off debt.

If you're considering cashing out your structured settlement, contact your attorney first. Depending on the state you live in, you may have to go to court to get approval for the buyout. About two thirds of states have laws that limit the sale of structured settlements, according to the NSSTA. Tax-free structured settlements are also subject to federal restrictions on their sale to a third party, and some insurance companies won't assign or transfer annuities to third parties.

When selling your structure settlement, check with multiple companies to make sure that you get the highest payoff. Also, be sure the company buying your settlement is reputable and well-established. And keep in mind that if the deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
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The Common Sense of Earning a Passive Income Easily

Most people agree that the key to success is diligence. They are afraid to get behind the race. These proactive people have proven to become stable in their life. On the other hand, the lazy don't have any problem simply because they don't have anything as well. Both types of people have chosen to be so. It sounds fair, doesn't it?

However, this equilibrium is the thing of the past. If this is our mindset, we will surely be surprised at the great fortune of those who have exerted less effort and at the frustration of those who have done their best. It doesn't mean that life is unfair. In fact, we earn not only from what we do but also from what we don't do. The former is known as active income; the latter, passive.

Active income is an income we generate from our hard work. When we work for money, it is active income. But, when it is our own money that works for us, it is passive income. Passive income is an income we generate from our investment. How to generate passive income without active intervention is not a kind of magic that everyone could have.

How to generate passive income? Passive income is generated when our investment earns because of our timely decision. In this type of income, we are paid for the decision we make and for the risk we take. When we become afraid of investing, we tend not to make any decision. Consequently, nothing happens to our money. To generate passive income, we should make the right decision on what and when to invest and not decide about not investing. We must also calculate the risk - the higher the risk, the higher the return. The lower the risk means the longer it takes to get the potential return. It depends on who we are and what investment fits our personality. Proactive people are naturally career oriented so they can successfully generate active income. On the other hand, patient people are wise decision makers and risk takers.

Now, the question is which type of earners we should be. Active earners have full control of how much they could earn, but there is limit in the amount as there is limit in their energy and time. When they stop, so does their income. However, passive earners are more efficient in the sense that they enjoy the unlimited potential of earning high with less energy. Moreover, passive earners can be both active and passive earners. Apparently, passive income is more advantageous.

It is not difficult to know how to generate passive income. There is a lot of available information around us that can help us learn to begin this with. We generally have heard about investing and among the popular are stock market, bonds, mutual funds, insurance, pension plans, and treasury notes. Before investing, it is important to study your choice investment. We don't have to be the jack of all trades. What is important is that we understand the risk and the potential of the market we want to enter and start small just for a try. As time goes by, we will gain experience and will master the market we have chosen. In the advent of technology, it has become easier to get more information about any field of endeavor. The internet offers numerous tools we need to become equipped.

The most crucial part of how to generate passive income is our attitude toward investment. Some people think that investment is done in order to sustain our daily need and this is a wrong notion. If so, it is not any more investment. It is livelihood. Our immediate need can only be sustained by active income. To depend on investment for daily needs is irresponsible. We should work in order to live and we invest because we secure our tomorrow. Real investors are future oriented. They don't exactly make money right away. But their money makes them. That is the reason why we call this condition passive. Everybody's need today is different from our need in the future. Our immediate need is answered by our immediate action and immediate results make us grow. But passive income is not something that should make us grow. This is something that we should grow. So, whatever we earn now is what we need now. Active income is the reflection of we do now. The right attitude toward passive income is to treat it as a separate living entity. Active income is what we need now. And passive income is what our investment need now. It is like a pet that we should raise.

What about business? Is it a kind of active income or passive? Actually, it is the combination of both. A businessman actively controls his cash flows to sustain his daily needs and at the same time spare some bigger portion for his business as a separate entity. However, businesses are complex nowadays depending on their size. Large corporations are mostly owned by a number of people called stockholders. They hire managers and even CEO's to actively control their operations. Sometimes, they intervene in a macro level. But their control and effort are limited compared to the significant income they get every year if their companies continuously grow.

For these people, these large companies are their source of  income passive. For small businessmen, they must exert all their effort for their business. They have trouble making their businesses grow because they also depend on the active income they generate from operating their businesses. Would this mean that in order to generate passive income, we should have had large capital to invest? Not necessarily! We can do so by investing in shares of stocks even in smaller amount of money. This is also true with mutual funds that pool individual investments in small amount to make it one big investment. This means that we generate passive income like big investors.
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Ballet and Sports Routine Fitness - Magnesium For Your Muscle Tone

Magnesium is present in most of your body cells. It plays a starring role as a co-factor, meaning, it assists enzymes in catalysing (a catalyst is a substance that initiates or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected) many necessary chemical reactions.

Magnesium affects many things that your ballet and sports require of you, physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Here's a short list:

- nerve conduction, or the sending and receiving of messages affecting muscle response
- muscular movement affecting fluidity, accuracy and coordination
- bone metabolism, affecting your growth and development, as well as your immune system
- protein manufacture in the body which is extremely complex
- fat and carbohydrate metabolism. A new frontier being researched now is magnesium in relation to insulin resistance, which, once that condition begins, makes it harder to stay thin
- glucose utilization, affecting brain power and muscle power

Whether your goals in ballet/sports/fitness are personal and recreational, or professional, I'm sure you would want all the points made above functioning for optimum results in your muscles and brain.

Because magnesium allows the muscle contractions that occur to turn off, it helps control tension and spasms caused by over training, heavy practice or rehearsal days, and inaccurate technique.

Magnesium supplements can be bought in tablet or powder form. Always read labels, and select brands that do not have anything else added, except maybe fruit flavoring from natural sources that you recognize. Powdered magnesium digests faster. It's usually a good idea to take half the recommended dosage for a couple of days, to let your body get used to a nutrient that has been deficient. Magnesium can loosen the bowels at first, but that effect goes away within a day or so. Magnesium carbonate has the biggest affect this way. Magnesium citrate and magnesium for lactate are known to digest better.

Because of the relaxing effect magnesium has, you may sleep more deeply, and high blood pressure may lower towards normal. Even irregularities of the heart muscle can be helped by magnesium.

Many flavoring foods are high in magnesium: dill, chives, celery seed, spearmint, sage, coriander and basil . Put fresh into salads or chopped and sprinkled on vegetables, meat or fish, these are all delicious.

So for strong bones, good muscle tone (which requires proper relaxation for strength), getting enough rest, and staying calm, eat magnesium! Best obtained from fresh foods, yet very helpful as a food-sourced supplement, it is a super star silent partner in your ballet/sports/fitness training.
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Conventional Steam Bath Saunas vs. Infrared Saunas

The health benefits of steam saunas have been recognized for centuries, beginning with sweat lodges, traditional Finnish saunas, and other methods of heating the body and producing perspiration that cleanses the cells and pores. Typically, a heat source such as a wood, electric or gas sauna stove is used to produce the heat in a sauna. But in recent years, a technology known as far infrared has been used to replace the traditional steam sauna with infrared saunas, and some people feel that the result is superior.

How Does A Far Infrared Sauna Work?

Manufacturers say that far infrared saunas use infrared light to heat the skin directly, rather than warming the air first. In an infrared sauna, a heater produces this radiant energy, which is similar to the heat from the sun. Most of these heaters draw on technology developed in 1965 by Dr. Tadashi Ishikawa, a member of the Research and Development Department of Fuji Medical.

Infrared sauna promoters state that unlike UV radiation or atomic radiation, infrared radiant heat is safe and beneficial. When infrared rays hit your skin, they transfer heat energy, which proponents say penetrates more than an inch and a half into the body to heal and stimulate tissues, making it an effective therapy for arthritis and tissue injuries.

In addition, the heat causes you to sweat, thus achieving health benefits similar to those from a conventional steam sauna. In fact, some say that the more penetrating and intense heat of a far infrared sauna makes you sweat 2-3 times more, resulting in more comprehensive cleansing.

Reasons to Choose a Far Infrared Sauna

Those who favor the use of the far infrared sauna say that the right frequency of infrared rays triggers a process called resonant absorption, wherein toxins are removed from the cells in our bodies at a higher rate than with a steam sauna. When comparing infrared saunas to standard indoor or outdoor saunas, infrared has several other advantages.

Perhaps one of the most important differences between conventional saunas and far infrared saunas is that they function at a lower heat setting. Standard U.S. saunas typically operate at temperatures ranging from 180F to 190F. This high heat can be uncomfortable or even dangerous for some people, especially those with cardiovascular problems.

In addition, the heavy, thick air can be difficult to breathe, and the evaporation can dry out membranes in the nose and eyes. Sometimes the exceptionally high temperatures make the wood benches and any metal surfaces extremely hot as well, creating potential for burns.

A far infrared sauna functions between 100F and 130F. Claims state that less than 20% of the infrared energy from the heater goes into the air, so not only does the body receive 80% of the heat benefits, some people find that the air is more tolerable. And other than the heaters, there are no hot surfaces to worry about.

Another claim of infrared sauna manufacturers is that an infrared sauna heater uses considerably less electricity than indoor or outdoor saunas that use electricity to heat. Plus, the sauna is usually warm within 10 or 20 minutes, whereas a conventional sauna can take over an hour to reach optimal temperatures.

And infrared uses no water, so you don't have to plumb pipes or pay for that additional expense. In fact, many feel that infrared saunas are easier to assemble and they can be moved to a new location with relative ease.

The Other Side of the Sauna Story

On the flip side of the comparison, many people feel that a steam sauna provides benefits that can't be matched by a far infrared sauna. Their main position is that the steam produced by a conventional sauna is essential to the healing process, especially in regard to respiratory health.

In response to those who say a steam sauna will dry out membranes, supporters of Finnish and other conventional saunas state that the steam is beneficial to those with sinus conditions and add that because they operate without steam, infrared saunas are drying and can irritate nasal and lung passages. In addition the dry heat from infrared saunas can cause hair to dry out and skin to become itchy and flaky.

Supporters of conventional saunas feel that information about the health benefits of saunas that operate with infrared have been exaggerated or claimed without proof. They refer to different studies that show a traditional sauna produces more sweat and removes more toxins.

And some say that any radiation, even infrared, is unhealthy and should be avoided. An infrared sauna has several heaters, and bathers must sit within a foot of the heat source in order to gain full benefits. In some cases, this has caused people to feel sunburned following an infrared sauna.

Others who prefer conventional saunas feel that a steam sauna simply feels more healthy and refreshing. And because you can control the steam, heat, and humidity by adding more water or moving to a higher or lower bench in the sauna, you can tailor the experience to match your needs and preferences.

Some people prefer a sauna Ontario that is heated with wood, allowing a traditional heat source as well as the option to add smoke to the sauna for additional purifying features. Others add aromatherapy oils to their sauna steam to create a dual cleansing and healing effect. This is typically not possible with an infrared sauna.

And there is the tradition and ritual that comes along with certain aspects of a sweat lodge or Finnish sauna that have been a part of different cultures for hundreds of years. For many people, a sauna is not only key to a healthy physical life, it is also important to overall spiritual health, and making the steam, or löyly (lou-lu), is an important part of that ritual.


Gain First-Hand Knowledge Before Choosing

When it comes to choosing between an infrared sauna and a steam sauna or one that operates with more conventional technology, it is best to try each type yourself and to talk with people who own them. Take time to fully research your options and talk to your doctor about health concerns with either type of sauna. In the end, the choice may come down to limitations in budget, space available, preferences in heating sources, or other personal factors.

No matter which you choose, you will be joining the ranks of millions of people who use and enjoy saunas to improve their health, provide relief and relaxation from life's stresses, socialize with friends and family, and even find spiritual peace.
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