In some interesting news for the settlement community it was announced today that Liberty Mutual of Boston, MA had bid for and has an agreement to purchase Safeco Corp. The purchase which will be a combination of cash and debt issued by Liberty, a mutual company, is valued at $6.2 billion and will represent the second major purchase by Liberty in the last year.

This is a deal that makes a great deal of sense in that Liberty is primarily focused on East coast markets and Safeco is a major player in the Rocky Mountain region and Pacific Northwest. Safeco has languished with a low stock market valuation for some time now and this is on it's face a very good deal both for Liberty and for Safeco stockholders.

In the settlement world it consolidates one more casualty market under the Liberty umbrella and there will be some re-ordering of the settlement firms who handle the account for Safeco i'm sure once this is done.

This deal does not impact Symetra, the spin off from Safeco that is an independent operating entity and life market that has it's own structured settlement operation. I'm always amazed by the number of people who still think Symetra is a Safeco subsidiary when in fact that relationship ended some time ago.

You can read more about the deal by clicking this link to the Wall Street Journal. 

At the NSSTA convention in La Jolla, CA this week the long awaited Joe Jamail videos were unveiled for the membership. These video podcasts, which are available for viewing by going to the NSSTA web site, The Legal Broadcast Network or at Speaking of Settlements multi-media site are some of the single most powerful endorsements of structured settlements by one of the nations leading trial lawyers.

Joe Jamail, famous for his multi-billion dollar verdict in the Pennzoil vs Texaco case, is a passionate advocate for the use of structured settlements in protecting the money awarded injured plaintiffs. This first video podcast, in which he is interviewed by Attorney Rick Kuykendall, is of vital importance to trial lawyers as Jamail focuses on the lawyers responsibility to educate and inform their client about the right to structure their award. In some of the companion video Attorney Jamail will even go to the point of telling other trial lawyers that failure to recommend and educate a client about the option to structure is tantamount to legal malpractice.

Make sure you view this video and give me your feed back on it. There will be a companion consumer piece coming out shortly as well as the ability for NSSTA members to access the entire Jamail speeches to the NSSTA membership and his full interview with LBN.

This is an important first step by the structured settlement industry to combat the million dollar advertising machines employed by other firms to minimize the value of a structured settlement. As more video's and material are put online we as a profession can begin to reclaim the term "structured settlements" from the factoring and financial community that often don't have our clients best interests at heart.  

View the entire video of Joe Jamail discussing structured settlements by clicking the TV box or this link. Joe Jamail personifies Texas Trial Lawyer but more then that he personifies what a trial lawyer should be in advocating the right solutions to protect his clients.  

Each week I like to highlight and post the featured podcast over at The Legal Broadcast Network and this week we have a truly big name in John Grisham. While not specifically on legal topics, but more on his political views regarding Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama, it's still a really good podcast and an indication of what LBN is doing lately. Watch for a lot more interviews just like this one, plus the roll out of our daily video podcasts as well.  

In today's Speaking of Justice, the daily legal broadcast and interview segment featured exclusively on The Legal Broadcast Network, one of the most acclaimed and widely read authors in the world, John Grisham,  joins Scott Drake for a conversation that is somewhat of a departure from his standard "book tour" interview. 

John Grisham spends a good part of his time with us talking about his support for Hillary Clinton's run for the Presidency, his long friendship with the Clinton's and his views as to why he feels she is the strongest candidate to lead the Democratic Party to victory in November. As most of his fan's know, and even others who might not have read his books but who have seen the movie adaptations, Grisham is a former trial lawyer himself, a man who ran for political office back before his writing career took off, and his thoughts on exactly why he believes so strongly in her candidacy should be of interest to his fans, and to political types who are fascinated with the epic electoral battle between Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama.

John Grisham doesn't grant a lot of interviews and we are pleased he took the time to join The Legal Broadcast Network for this enjoyable and revealing conversation where fan's of the author of such best sellers as The Appeal,  The Innocent Man, The Broker, The Last Juror, The King of Torts and The Client, can get a glimpse into the political beliefs and theories of this intriguing author.

While LBN doesn't cover politics on a regular basis, we definitely discuss political issues, the views of trial lawyers and opinion makers in the law, and this is a really enjoyable, insightful podcast that will appeal to Democrats who are looking at the choice between Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama and are interested why John Grisham is convinced that Hillary Clinton is the best choice for her party. He also discusses why the idea of a Clinton/Obama ticket doesn't look like a winner in his eyes and the importance of a candidate having been in the arena and tested the way Hillary Clinton has so they are fully able to compete in a national campaign in November. Just a really solid podcast.

You can listen to the entire podcast with John Grisham by clicking here.

Or you can go to the audio player at the bottom of this post which links to the Speaking of Justice video archive and listen to the entire John Grisham interview by clicking the player.  

Also, if you want to know more about John Grisham, you can click this link and go to his official page at Random House which has all of his books, his bio and other information you might want on this author.

These interviews and the expanded coverage you are seeing from The Legal Broadcast Network are just the "toe in the water" of what is going to be a dramatic expansion over the next few months to a full video, daily broadcast platform with radio podcasts, video news and interviews ,as well as in depth writing and discussion for attorney's , law students, judges and others intrigued by the law. Also, don't forget to check out our beta test page for Speaking of Justice, the new social/professional network for attorneys that will feature all of our video, audio, blog posts, discussion boards and social networks. Just one more tool for you to use being brought to you by The Legal Broadcast Network.  

Next week in La Jolla the National Structured Settlement Trade Association will be holding their annual meeting, at which officers and board members are elected for the coming year, or years. Our industry is at an important crossroads and is moving a new generation of leadership into key positions in our association. While I appreciate a lot of the work done by "the old guard" of the industry I firmly believe that fresh thinking, innovative people are needed to both energize our industry and association so that it can get off the sales plateau and same old, same old approach that has characterized much of what has passed for leadership in the past.

Toward that end I am strong encouraging our readers to vote for Robin Young in next weeks election of board members.

One of the oldest maxims in the business world is that if you want something to get done, find a busy person to do it, and Robin Young is exceptionally busy with her professional and personal interests. The point being that people who are busy and have a broad range of interests and professional involvements tend to be well organized, committed to excellence and highly professional in how they represent themselves and their clients. All you need to do is check out Robin's web site to learn more about her practice, the approach she takes in handling cases and dealing with injury victims. Our industry needs dynamic, balanced advocates to promote structured settlements and the broader issues we increasingly deal with. Robin has demonstrated that commitment to her clients and to our association and I think would be an excellent choice for our board. I applaud anyone who takes the time and effort to run for a board position or leadership at NSSTA, but even more so the producers in the field who take time away from income producing opportunities or family to give their time and interest to our association.

Make sure you are there for her talk to the membership next week in La Jolla and make up your own mind, but to my mind our association and industry will be stronger as a result of her being on the board for NSSTA and I encourage you to vote for her and support her candidacy.  

In this weeks edition of Speaking of Settlements we have two podcasts we want to highlight.

The first is a short 10 minute piece that we did with Stan Harlan and Chris Harlan of Summit Settlements in which we covered what is going on with one of the industry's top five general agents and their plans for growth in the coming year. As you might know, Summit has been around for over 18 years and has gone through an evolutionary process of being a primarily defense oriented firm to one that has a eclectic mix of defense brokers, plaintiff firms and other entities that work both plaintiff and defense. 

As Stan explains in this podcast, Summit is continuing to evolve and grow as the industry changes, but regardless of the changes in structured settlements his firm will stick to it's core model of exceptionally high commission pay out's to competent and experienced settlement professionals who are running their own branded settlement firms.

Click here to listen to the entire podcast and learn more about what is going on at Summit Settlements. 

In the Wednesday, March 26th Wall Street Journal the front page story entitled " Stocks Tarnished by "Lost Decade" jumped out at me and hopefully a lot of other settlement advisors and planners who are constantly confronted by the argument that stocks ALWAYS out perform fixed rate investments over time.

As someone who has always advocated that people have a balanced approach to planning their settlements assets or awards I'm familiar with the long term average yields of most major stock indexes and that depending on the measuring period that stocks averaged between 8.5% and 11.3% annually according to the studies. These numbers are often used when people compare the yields of structured settlement annuity contracts, typically between 4.5% and 7% depending on the duration, medical underwriting and interest rate environments during which they are purchased, vs equity or real estate investments. The argument always centers around the fact that structures are some how inferior to real estate and stocks and that people would be foolish to allocate to a stodgy, fixed yield annuity like a structured settlements. 

Well, as this story points out, long term averages are just that, long term, and that over short terms or even over a decade of time you can have negative yields on equities. How many of us in the planning business are really aware that from April 1999 to April of 2008 that the S&P 500 has in fact only risen 1.3% per year over that ten year stretch? Factor in that the average mutual fund or equity manager is taking at least 1% to 1.5% out each year in fees an you have a decade long run where most clients who indexed funds are probably under water or breaking even. How good do the structured settlement yields, which oh by the way are income tax free and come with ZERO annual management fees look at 5% to 7% over the last ten years compared to the stellar yields of stocks during this run? 

Now lets take a look at the real estate boom and bust that is occurring nationally over the last two years. Just as with stocks, the conventional and academic wisdom is that nobody ever went broke owning quality real estate over the long term, which I must say is a sentiment that I share. However, we again are talking about settlement planning here and people who don't have their old income, earning capacity or health to purchase, service, maintain and hold on to real estate for the long term in almost every case. I can't tell you the number of cases that I personally knew that cashed out in the last five years when every advisor talking to a settlement recipient would have some hot real estate deal for them to invest their money in. It got so bad that it prompted me to write my now famous market call on real estate about three years ago, ( link available by clicking here to see the post) in which I begged attorneys and advisors to stop cashing out structures or taking all cash settlements with the intention of putting people in real estate.

Again, yesterdays Wall Street Journal outlined markets all over the U.S. that are down between 25% and 50% in value as mortgage funds dry up and the financial system copes with the new limited ability to mortgage and purchase real estate. As some one who has seen this before i'm going to predict that we aren't even half way into this real estate collapse and that we probably are going to see on a national basis at least another full year of price declines before we even hit bottom. Then we can count on several years of treading water as inventory and wreckage of this decline is absorbed and sorted out before we see increases in the value of real estate. The net effect on many settlement recipients over the next few years is going to be dire as their mortgages will be under water, they won't have the income to service them and they don't have the other assets necessary to hang on long enough to get out of the cycle. Once again, how good would those clients, and their advisors, look if they had funded their settlements with structured annuities at 4.5% to 7% instead of losing up to a third of their asset value in real estate.

My point in this commentary is this; " The settlement industry needs to get off the defensive and go on the offensive when it comes to comparing the ACTUAL returns of our product compared to stocks, bonds and real estate over the last 10 years." As John Maynard Keynes once said, when asked about long term results or predictions, " In the long run, we are all dead." In other words, long term results going forward may prove a particular asset class or course of action right, but it may take so long to occur that we are "dead" by the time we are proven right. While real estate and equities remain a valuable component of any balanced financial plan, there is little doubt that over the last ten years that those who bucked the conventional wisdom of plowing client money into stocks and real estate and instead allocated funds to their structures are looking pretty good right about now. I predict they will continue to look good in the future as well.

Arm yourselves with the facts about your product and be ready to prove to a trial lawyer, their client and the other advisors that what we offer is in almost every case superior to alternative investments given the unique situations our clients face.  

As perhaps one of the first industry bloggers, and definitely the first industry podcaster, I get almost daily questions, complaints and feed back from other settlement professionals about the impact that new media is having on our one time sleepy, staid, "under the radar", industry. Their complaints typically range from annoyance that a few people who have taken the initiative to start blogs and learn the ropes of blogging now seem to dominate the industry conversation, or that the cost and complexity of starting a new media broadcast is far beyond the scope of most professionals or general agents. Add to that the recent entrance of a media marketing group that is funded by factoring and life settlement interests, and that their aggressive push to turn themselves into the "voice of the industry" to attorneys, investors and the financial community, has created a level of anxiety that gets expressed to me almost daily in some fashion by a settlement planner or life company official.

So the question to my brethren in the settlement world is this " How long are you guys going to sit on the sidelines and complain, and at what point are you going to stop bitching and get in the game?" 

The fact is that most of the biggest complainers are those who have for years enjoyed a competitive marketing advantage due to exclusive selling or marketing arrangements with big casualty firms, self insureds or governmental agencies, relationships they have worked long and hard to develop and jealously protect. It took a specific skill set to operate in that world and to succeed in the settlement profession, but the emergence of new media and open communication, coupled with greater plaintiff sophistication and control, have created a new dynamic where "experts" can arise over night and the end users of our products and services can research our industry with a click of their mouse. People and firms can choose to hide behind their walls, but all walls can be breached and the fact is that our industry is being out worked and out financed by companies and industries that often don't have our clients best interests at heart.

So what do structured settlement firms, settlement brokers and our respective industry associations need to do to get in the game and seize the high ground?

1. NSSTA membership needs to get behind and adopt the Army of One proposal laid out in the Austin, TX meeting by the marketing committee. For those of you who missed it, this presentation laid out the foundation of an industry communication and marketing program that is self financing, enlists the support and talents of the entire NSSTA membership, but leverages new media tools such as blogging, podcasting and sophisticated email campaigns to educate our end consumers and settlement decision makers. The response and support of the NSSTA board has been great on this, and the Joe Jamail videos that will be unveiled at the La Jolla NSSTA national will be the opening shot in this long term battle for the minds of consumers, but this "job" can not fall on the shoulders of the NSSTA staff in Washington, DC. Every member of NSSTA needs to become informed about the details of this program and make an effort to implement it into the daily practice. Get out of your caves, get off the golf course and do the 8 to 10 hours of work necessary to make this part of your firms contribution to your industry. You will be stunned at how much it will raise YOUR profile with your clients and the additional business you will realize as a result of these efforts. Outside interests are about to eat our industry's lunch in media relations and PR and you will only have yourselves to blame. Don't wait for "NSSTA HQ" to do it, get it done yourself today as the tools are there for you to get started.

2. SSP needs to break free of the perception that they are a captive of the factoring industry and start a real communication program. Time for a little tough love for my friends at SSP. I was a member, I wrote checks to fund lobbying and donated a lot of time, money and capital to promote the interests of this group that was organized to be an advocate plaintiff rights and issues. As a career plaintiff advocate I had a stake in the growth and survival of the SSP, and although not currently a member, I still would like to see it continue to grow and become a viable entity to promote plaintiff interests and issues. However, the over dependence of the organization on funding from factoring companies has created a taint on the organization that prevents a substantial number of professionals from joining or supporting the organization. I know that John Darer has become a permanent thorn in the side of SSP and many of it's members on this topic to the considerable annoyance of the society. Well, if you don't like the heat or don't want the exposure, or if you think he's inaccurate in his commentary, how about SSP starting a blog, doing some podcasts or getting into the game to explain their positions and beliefs? Just talking to each other isn't getting it done guys and I know that you have members who have agitated to start some new media efforts, but their proposals were shot down on the premise that "hiring LBN" was "giving SSP money to a competitor", a reference that hiring LBN to promote SSP would be somehow putting money in my pocket as a partial owner of LBN. Fine, hire someone else at 3 times the price, but until you get serious about developing and funding a comprehensive communication strategy that includes blogging, podcasts and search engine optimization you are going to be a punching bag to those who have the platform you lack. The SSP does some very good things and has some outstanding professionals, but if you do a search of the term on Google most of the results turn up attacks on the society and that is going to be your lot in life until you take the steps necessary. You guys know my number and LBN is open for business.

3. Individual brokers and general agents need to develop their own new media strategy in a fashion that partners with their customer base. It doesn't matter if you are plaintiff only, such as Forge asserts they are, if you are an exclusively defense oriented firm, as most firms working AIG claims are, or if you are a mixed shop like most other firms and brokers, you all have your installed base of clients and prospects. There is no better return on your marketing dollar, in my humble opinion or personal experience, then that spent in partnering with your clients on new media ventures. It doesn't have to be grandiose or absurdly expensive ( i.e. Ringer Radio ) in order for it to work to your benefit or the benefit of your client. A simple example for those out there to ponder. Everyone of you knows of a lawyer in your city that has a " Saturday morning Law show" on the local radio station or cable TV channel. These shows are valuable marketing and educational efforts for attorney's all over the country. What if I told you that for less the $1000 a month you could go to those law clients of yours and offer to " take them national" with their show at ZERO additional work on their part with you as their signature sponsor of ALL of their internet content and marketing? Do you think they might look at you in a different light now that you are effectively leveraging their efforts and helping them solve a problem, all while obtaining national exposure and credibility yourself? That's just one idea and opportunity available, but once again it takes you spending some time, money and creativity to develop long lasting partnerships with your clients. Help them, help yourself, and oh by the way, I can also show you how to make it so that it eventually costs you ZERO to sponsor them if you stick with it and the show is a success. Again, you know how to reach me.

The point of this post is this: You guys who keep calling and emailing me need to stop complaining about other bloggers, podcasters, media interlopers and others and get in the game! All marketing money for every major firm in the US is shifting dramatically to online media and if you want to get left in the dust, be my guest. Just more for the rest of us while you sit there grumbling. LBN is an open platform that develops partnerships and channels for YOUR client base of attorneys, law firms, state and national associations, and soon enough, insurance companies as well. If you don't like me or don't want to deal with LBN, there are other entities out there you can contact as well. However, if you don't do it, your competitors will. So, let me repeat it one more time for emphasis.

Get off the sidelines and get in the game! 

An interesting, if poorly chosen headline, story in the Saturday N.Y. Times examines the issues confronting the families of U.S. military who have died in combat and who are beneficiares under the enhanced combat death benefit provision.

You can read the full article in the NY Times by clicking here.

What I found moderately offensive in the headline, the use of the term "windfall", is in fact a life insurance death benefit provided to the named beneficiary of each U.S. Serviceman or Service woman. I hardly think the death of a loved one and the cash it brings is a windfall, but the N.Y. Times does need to sell newspapers and the headline certainly grabs your eye.

In the bigger picture, those of us in the settlement planning community, who routinely as part of our professional practice work with personal injury victims, widows, orphans and estates are sadly too familiar with the issues this article raises. While I am thrilled the U.S. Government made this change three years ago as the prior amount paid to the surviving family was embarrassingly low, it does raise a whole roster of new problems that the article actually does a good job in addressing. Among them:

1. The issues a sudden influx of cash create to young widows who have typically never had to manage more then $500 a week as opposed to $500,000. Few if any people are properly prepared at a time of emotional trauma to make rational or quality long term decisions when that money is sent to them by the government. Settlement professionals such as myself are well aware of the grief process confronted by families where they spend funds down quickly to emotionally rid themselves of the money, or fall prey to other family members who feel entitled to the money.The more people are aware of the risks of putting this money in these young peoples hands the greater the chance we can start educating them about how to handle it wisely.

2. The issue of beneficiary designations. Often times young men or women will get married prior to heading over seas but fail to update or change beneficiary designations. This can create circumstances where in a mother, brother or other person is legally entitled to the payment as opposed to the widow or widower. The family conflicts, as well as financial hardships, this can create is discussed in the article.

3. The VA does offer free financial consulting referrals for up to a year after the death of a service man or woman but as any settlement professional will attest, the vast majority of surviving family members are so over come with grief and emotional issues they are in no position to be making life time planning or investment decisions at this time. This can lead to decision paralysis or dissipation of the funds through impulsive decisions. I'm wondering what long term consulting or advisory services are available for these families.

What the article doesn't mention, that I would like to hear from our readers about, is does the VA and the U.S. Government offer the survivors something akin to a settlement annuity in which the family can take all or part of their distribution in monthly installments? I'll profess some ignorance on this topic but we will be taking this up as a subject on Speaking of Settlements probably next week to investigate what options are there for the surviving families. I'd like to see NSSTA and other settlement planning organizations begin to look at these cases and to share our 25 years of experience and knowledge with families facing major decisions while dealing with incredible grief and duress. Obviously, I would hope that the option to have a family take a secured, tax free guaranteed income over time as opposed to trying to manage a lump sum of cash is something that is available to every surviving beneficiary.