How much is Structured Settlement worth? This is one of the most common questions you hear from clients who are going through a settlement with their insurance company. Insurance companies make their money in different ways and they do not always pay in cash. If you were to get a lump sum payment today, would it be worth seven hundred thousand dollars six months from now? I doubt it.

The best way to estimate how much your structured settlement is worth is to use a structured settlement calculator. A structured settlement calculator is a software program which estimates the amount of your future payout based on your age, medical history, and the current age and medical history of your beneficiary(s). It will also take into consideration your occupation and annual earnings and the life expectancy of each of those beneficiaries. Once you enter in these values, the calculator will give you an estimated future payout based on those values.

How Much is Structured Settlement Worth? Most experts recommend paying less than seven percent of the future annuity value of your structured settlement, instead of taking a lump sum payout now. Seven percent of your future annuity value represents the maximum payout you can expect. With this calculator, you can see what your structured settlement worth will be.

Is it better to sell now versus waiting until your situation improves? Another question clients frequently ask about selling their annuities is if selling now is better than waiting. The answer is no. If you are getting a lump sum payout now, you can use the lump sum payment to go towards paying your monthly bills, buying a new car or settling some other debt. However, by waiting, you will be tying up your money with interest payments for years.

How Many Monthly Payments does it Take to Get a Discount Rate? A key component in calculating the value of a settlement is the discount rate. The discount rate is the percentage of future payments that a company will charge if you choose to sell your annuity. Most structured settlement calculators will allow you to plug in your desired discount rate, so you can see what it would cost you to receive your payments over time. This allows you to calculate how many payments you will have to make over the course of a few decades.

How long would it take to achieve a goal through sales of my structured settlement? Different calculators will provide different answers to this question depending on which method of selling you wish to use. If you use an annuity purchaser to buy your payments, the process may take a very long time, compared to selling through a court. The formula for calculating the effective discount rate for most companies is based on the present age of the claimant, the current market price of annuity and the expected lifetime of the recipient. Once all of these numbers are plugged-in, the results will be displayed immediately, allowing you to see what your payments would be if you sold to an annuity purchaser.