From my window in my home office I can see into my neighbor’s backyard. I noticed that I didn’t hear their dogs barking anymore about the time I realized I didn’t have to cross the street to avoid their lunging dogs when walking past their house. The first time I walked my dog past those dogs they almost made nose contact with mine through the open work of the wrought iron gate.

After I noticed the dogs were gone I saw the “for sale/for lease” sign. They bought that house after we moved into our house, so they’ve only been there a few years. Being a nosy neighbor, I suspected either a job change or a divorce. A job loss, transfer, or change would necessitate a hasty move leaving the house for sale or for lease. Today, I glanced into their yard and spotted the husband confirming my second guess—a divorce. She probably took the dogs and they probably both need out of their obligation to the house.

It’s a nasty and painful conclusion to draw based on so few clues but so many people find themselves in similar situations. Life doesn’t always work out the way you want. If you have an annuity you can get cash for structured settlement payments if you sell annuity payments. You trade payments received over time for a lump sum of cash now to deal with whatever crisis you may be facing.

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There’s nothing worse than having financial trouble and not knowing where to turn for help or advice; feeling like there are limited options to help you get out of a sticky situation. There are few of us who have not found ourselves in a similar situation in the last several years. The economy has been struggling and continues to struggle; and we struggle right along with it. That means that many people have found themselves out of work and facing mounting personal debt that they simply cannot afford to pay; and even face the possibility of losing their homes. These are tough times and it’s difficult to know where to turn and who to turn to help us make sense of it all. Of course, the answer differs depending on who you are and what your situation. Those who have structured settlements have additional options available to them in the way of selling their annuity payments to accrue the money they need. This is not a typical choice that many of us have but those who have been awarded a structured settlement and have money sitting in an annuity have other choices than just continuing to receive a payment every month - especially if that payment doesn’t allow you to make significant changes or improvements in your financial situation.

In the event that you do receive payments from an annuity and are still facing debt and an uncertain financial future, there are choices; and who you turn to for advice and guidance in this regard is a buyer of structured settlement annuity.

A buyer of structured settlement annuity represents a purchasing company that will actually trade you cash today for the right to receive future annuity payments from your settlement. There are many benefits associated with selling annuity payments which we will explore in the next post. More to come…

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One of my favorite things about early fall is the arrival of the Texas State Fair. For the last many years I’ve attended the fair with a group of friends. The group varies a little each year, but the spirit is the same. We seek out and try as many weird food combinations as we can stomach, we hit our version of the fair highlights, and basically wander around in a fair-induced daze. Favorite stops at the fair include the petting zoo, the arts and crafts pavilion which houses the butter sculpture, the trick dogs, the birds of the world show, and the vendors.

We spend most of our time in pursuit of obscure fried food concoctions, which seem to be hidden around the entire fair grounds. In between, we’ll ooh and ahh at tiny goats, marvel at a joey peeking out of it’s mother’s pocket, decide that you can’t have enough embroidery portraits of Legolos from “Lord of the Rings” and Lego should be a more recognized form of sculpture, before marveling at a dog that can dance backwards, and having our hair grazed by the vulture or eagle that year that does the dive from the ferris wheel over the audience to the stage at the bird show. If it’s a good year, we might catch the llama or miniature horse competitions.

The fair is about creating a spectacle. Having been to it so many years in a row now, it starts to feel like a routine until you get there. The lights of the fair at night are still spectacular, the colors during the day are as garish as ever, and the mood is the air is one of excitement and anticipation. I can’t wait.

If your financial plan depends on winning prizes at the fair you might need to know about cash for structured settlements. Rather than playing the odds, you can sell annuity payments for cash now and enjoy your time at the fair! Meet you at Big Tex.

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As I’ve been writing about in my posts lately, I spent the summer of 2005 and the year between September 2009-2010 post-full-time employment. So what was difference between the two experiences? What changed about me and about the employment world around me in five years?

For me personally, I went into this last year knowing that I had survived it the first time. I’d been there before. When it happened in 2005 I felt ashamed and alone. I was the only person I knew going through it. The second time, I felt like I was part of “Class of 2009.” So many people were losing their jobs; it wasn’t just statistics, but people I knew, my friends. We were validated daily with news reports about the economy and jobless claims. It felt like we were part of a wave or a phenomena sweeping across the country and we were the collateral damage.

Because budgets were being tightened, institutions were mandating hiring freezing, and jobs were still being shed I didn’t feel the need to rush out and aggressively pursue my next position. There weren’t any to go after. In 2005 I had 9 nine interviews in my field in a short period of time. This time, I’ve hardly had any at all. I’m applying, but the job market is so glutted I’m not even getting the interview. The old strategies weren’t going to work. My focus shifted instead to finding income to survive the recession with the hope that the “my” job will come back later.

If you’re going through a tough financial situation and have an annuity, you can sell structured settlements as part of your survival strategy. You’ll receive cash for structured settlement payments right now when you need it instead of receiving payments over time.

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About five years ago, I found myself in a similar situation to the one I’ve been describing in the last few posts. I lost my job. Officially, my “position” was eliminated. It happens in arts fields. Funding priorities shift and suddenly my academic focus wasn’t where the money was going to go. It felt like the end of the world to me. I collected unemployment, applied for and went on so many job interviews, and tried to keep my chin up, but mostly I sulked in my hot apartment and grieved what I saw as the death of my young career. I had been at that company for five and a half years—my entire professional career. I had hoped for a quick recovery and immediate offers elsewhere, but they didn’t come and the fact that my job loss was technical was difficult and painful to explain. I was given a raise for my excellent job performance and let go in the same meeting. My ego was in shreds and I paid for it.

Two months into the summer after losing the job, I started having strange physical symptoms. I saw my doctor. My symptoms got worse. I ended up in the emergency room. It wasn’t clear what was wrong, but I needed lots of tests to make sure. Did I mention my health insurance went away with my job? My parents had the wisdom to purchase an emergency plan for me even when I was too cheap to do it. I spent the next year sorting out those medical bills and making payments. I was able to delay the biggest medical test until I had full-time employment with insurance about a month and a half later. I have to confess, part of the reason I even took that job was for the health insurance.

So what was going on with me medically that summer? Luckily, doctors were able to rule out the chronic debilitating disease that they suspected, leaving only the stress and heat of the summer as the culprits.

Large medical bills can derail any budget and wipe away financial security. If you’re struggling with medical bills compounded by unemployment you may want to research cash for structured settlement payments. If you sell annuity payments you can resolve your bills and start with a clean, hopefully healthy, slate.

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As I think about the year stretching out ahead of me, I am feeling more resilient and confident in my adaptability. I’ve shown over the last year, as indicated in the last two blogs, that I am resourceful and open to new opportunities—even if they don’t work out exactly as hoped.

I’m still not sure what my “plan” is exactly. I can see about 3-4 months at a time now, which seems like an eternity! I am optimistic about a few new directions and changes in the wind. Mostly importantly, though, I feel more secure about my ability to handle uncertainty and confident in my own resourcefulness.

If you are struggling with job worries, bills, and problems that seem too big to handle you may want to look into finding a firm to buy structured settlement annuities. By selling off a resource that your currently receive small payments over time from, you can receive cash for structured settlements now. Living with the constant worry and anxiety of joblessness and uncertainty can wear you down. It’s better to use what you have to take care of yourself now

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As I mentioned in my previous post I’ve had an interesting year since my last full-time job ended. I call it my year of “unemployment” but truthfully it should be called my year of “over-employment.” I certainly didn’t earn a full-time salary, but I was industrious as ever. Since I didn’t qualify for unemployment benefits, I started off with a bang right from the start doing anything and everything I could. Here are a few highlights:

– Sorted receipts and created expense spreadsheets for a self-employed friend
– Sold handmade goods at craft shows and online
– Taught hula hoop lessons
– Babysat
– Worked as a personal assistant on a specific project
– Wrote articles and reviews for a local publication
– Sorted titles for a land title company
– Designed and gave museum tours to middle school students

At the same time, I worked on almost as many projects that didn’t pay at all, but were potential job leads or just for fun.

– Organized a charity arts and crafts sale
– Wrote blogs for organizations I belong to
– Helped a friend organize an art exhibition in an empty building
– Co-hosted a video podcast about the visual arts
– Conducted and wrote interviews for a friend’s publication

I’ve had to let some of these go as my schedule and priorities have shifted over the year, but I’m glad to have had the opportunity to have these experiences. I mixed together jobs, both paying and non, in my field with jobs that I knew would pay. If your year looks anything like mine, you may be ready for more stability! You can sell annuity payments and receive a lump sum of cash for structured settlements. That extra cash might be part of your plan to get things moving in the right direction.

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This month marked the one-year anniversary of the end of my last full-time job. Last year, this time I was heartbroken that my job was not going to be saved. I felt a mixture of anxiety and excitement about the future. Maybe I would find something better? At least finally the uncertainty and stress about this job would come to an end. I was so exhausted I couldn’t come up with a plan of what to do next. I latched on to a few short-term projects and found enough to keep me busy most of the time and even to keep money trickling in, but it was nothing like the day-to-day routine of having a full-time job.

As I drifted from project to overlapping project, I tried a few things that ultimately didn’t work out. A took a job for a week with a commute that was too long and work I didn’t understand. At the end of the week, I realized they needed a lawyer, not just a smart person off the street. I felt so guilty giving my notice to someone who had given me a chance, but I wanted to extricate myself as quickly as possible so as not to waste their money. Still, when people asked me what I wanted to do, I couldn’t come up with a plan. I didn’t have an answer. I couldn’t go back to the stress and workload of my previous job—I knew what that had done to me. Yet, I couldn’t seem to envision the next step.

Here we are one year later. I’m working again, even though it’s only for the semester. I enjoy the work and I could see myself continuing with this type of work, but I’ve also learned that the traditional workplace is gone. I don’t miss the routine anymore; things change and we adapt accordingly.

If you’re still trying to figure out your work situation while either looking for job or sorting out a bad situation with the job you have you should know about cash for structured settlements. You can sell structured settlements for a lump sum instead of receiving payments over time. Sometimes a temporary plan is the best plan.

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We’ve been analyzing our bills more closely this month. We’re looking for that elusive “extra” savings hiding in our monthly expenses; things we might be able to cut down or shift or do without. Having been paring down for the last year, it’s tough to come up with new areas of savings.

The good news is first, I don’t believe things will be like this forever and second, it’s not that bad! Even after cutting back and making changes things are still really good for us. We’re both working and while not living extravagantly, we’re pretty comfortable. Things get tight when pay cycles don’t match expenses, like right now at the beginning of the school semester, but that check will come eventually and things will balance out. The pay cycle problem is particularly frustrating because I’ve been working so much I’ve had to pass up other opportunities that would have paid faster just to keep up with the job that won’t pay me until much later. Good planning and being efficient with your resources is the key.

If cutting back and planning aren’t enough to solve your money dilemmas you might be interested in cash for structured settlements. By selling your annuity you receive cash for structured settlement payments. Remember, things won’t always be like this.

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In the last post I talked about how my structured settlement had been the perfect scenario for me when I was first awarded my money. The settlement came as a result of an accident in which I had been involved and I was given a particular sum of money that was then deposited into an annuity. The money was then given to me through equal payment installments. This was the best option for me at the time because I was out of work due to my injuries and undergoing physical therapy. This money covered my expenses and I could count on it coming every month. Later, however, this arrangement didn’t work out as well for me. I had long since recovered from my injuries and I was working again. While the settlement payments were certainly helpful, they would be much better utilized - for me at least - through a lump sum. With several payments at once I could really make some progress with my debt and make a long term difference in my finances. Otherwise, I was just wasting money paying interest towards credit cards every month.

I worked with a buyer of structured settlement annuity to learn what my options were in terms of selling my annuity payments. Up until this point I had been unaware that I could even sell annuity payments but a friend of mine mentioned that this was an option and I began to look into it. I found a buyer of structured settlement that had a great reputation and with whom I was comfortable. He was able to help me determine how many future payments I had to sell in order to accrue the amount of money that I needed to cover my debt and whatever expenses that I wanted to cover. This gave me the opportunity to get - and stay - in charge of my finances in a manner that worked for me.

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