Recently I was at a friend’s house and noticed a book set that looked familiar. I flipped one open and noticed the library stamp for Houston, Texas. Could it be? I asked my friend, who confirmed that yes, these were the books that I had given him eight years ago when I cleaned out my grandfather’s library. I had transported them up from Houston to Denton and he had carried it with him from apartment to house to loft, Denton to Richardson to Dallas.

The books were of a set of how-to encyclopedias from the mid-fifties. The illustrations alone were worth hauling the books around and hilarious consumer safety issues were a real laugh with things like “how to make your own baby highchair.”

The books capture a moment in time when a do-it-yourself attitude was all you needed to make any number of goods that we never think of attempting now days. In some segments of the population, there is a return to making things by hand or using your resources to buy from small entrepreneurs. There is a growing recognition of the value of things made by hand.

While these books certainly reminded me of that, they also reaffirmed my relationship with my friend. When I first saw the books, I knew who they needed to belong to and all these years later they are still in use. If you’re thinking about selling annuity payments, you want to choose a company that you can trust. When it comes to the how-to of relationships they, like reputations, are built over time.This is so important when you want to get cash for structured settlement payments.

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While the heat of summer seems to have arrived early, summer itself is finally here according to the calendar. Here in Texas heat is something we are well acquainted with. In direct sun, your skin can feel like it’s being microwaved! A slight breeze or bit of shade can make a huge difference.

Some of my favorite things to do in the summer involve being outside, including biking, running, hiking, picnicking, and swimming. By being out early in the morning and late in the evening, you can avoid heat stroke. Recently we borrowed a friend’s projector and had a late movie night in the backyard. By about midnight, the temperature feels pretty good.

To escape from the heat a trip to the mall or local art museum can provide a large cool indoor area to explore. I’m also a big fan of sitting down with a good book and letting the day outside exhaust itself while I stay cool and comfortable. Summer is also a favorite time to hit the road and take an extended trip, preferably to a cooler climate or maybe to the beach.

Summer seems to slow things down. The rush and flurry of activity gives way to lazy days. If finances have been tight so far this year, summer is a great time to regroup while relaxing. There are lots of free or low cost summer activities that can keep your summer fun while on a budget. You might also consider looking into selling annuity payments. Cash for structured settlement payments could be just what you need to keep your summer afloat and be in good shape for the fall.

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In business you often have to work with people who can make your life less than pleasant. A few years ago, I had an experience with just such a person that helped change my perspective on the problem. I wouldn’t say that this person was trying to sabotage the company, but her negative attitude and dour remarks made things difficult for sure. I knew I had to do something. As the leader of this unwieldy group, most of whom had more experience than me, I knew it could make a real difference if I could just turn this one person around.

So, I hand picked her to be the co-presenter of an important presentation. I stressed her standing in the community and her known passion for things she believes in when I made the pitch for her to sign on to this project. Before I could convince a panel of our project, I had to woo her. I spent extra time with her going over the presentation and listening to her ideas. It was an incredible experience for me. Rather than shutting off the person that was giving me the most trouble, I brought her even closer in and turned her into a powerful ally.

On the day of the presentation, I was proud to have her next to me. Sometimes, in order to get what you want, you have to go the extra mile. If you plan to get cash for your structured settlement payments, you want to find a company that will put your needs first, no matter how difficult the task.

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Like many people I know, I keep too many things. Scraps of paper litter my kitchen table, piles of paper stack up next to my desk, temporary structures become permanent homes for items randomly set there. I can keep this going for a certain amount of time. I can remember where this or that file is in the stack or why I put something in an odd place. I can gingerly step over the box I’ve abandoned in the middle of the floor and add one more item to a delicately balanced, but precarious, stack. I can push back the clutter and find a bit of blank space on the desk to start that new project. This can go on for a while… until it can’t go on for one more moment! The clarity of the clutter dissolves into chaos in an instant. Stacks slide into disarray, clutter overwhelms, and boxes tumble!

It’s time to declutter. Sorting through one’s things can be a very cathartic experience. I find it very soothing to impose order on the unruly mess. For me, typically that means gathering it all up in a pile and sorting through each and every scrap of paper and random item. In addition to the two most obvious categories of items (things to keep, things to trash) there is a third category—things to spur you to action. You may not need to keep this item in the long term, but it might trigger your memory about a person, place, or idea that you meant to act on but forgot once it was added to the pile. Perhaps the timing just wasn’t right when you first acquired the piece, but now you can jump on it!

We’re told that as a society we are moving towards a paperless future. That’s probably so; maybe cleaning out my email inbox will trigger memories and calls to action too. If you’ve been putting off looking into getting cash for structured settlement payments, consider this your reminder scrap of paper. There is no better time to act than now if you want to sell annuity payments. Clearing off your desk is sure to follow!

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The Letter

Let me just start by saying that I come from a family with lots of girls, so it was pretty natural that my first job would be babysitting for other families at 13. By 16, I had my first fast food job. My best friend and I interviewed to work at a Wendy’s being built near our houses. We were employees #1 and #2. I stayed there long enough to wear through several pairs of bleach stained black high top sneakers.

Eventually I had an offer for a better job. Several of my high school art class friends and I were recruited to paint t-shirts for a woman who designed very gaudy expensive apparel that she sold to boutiques. We could all paint and draw and thought it would be great to work together, but the work itself was pure sweatshop. We inhaled so much glitter! We perfected applying neon slick paint from clumsy bottles in fluid straight lines. After hours hunched over shirts with cramped hands trying not to breathe wrong, this job was less fun. We were paid per piece. I made a comment, more like an observation, about the difference between piece work and hourly work before leaving on a family vacation. When we returned from our camping trip it was waiting for me in the mail—my first firing. The note inside said that I was no longer needed and my last paycheck was attached. I burst into tears immediately, crying hot and fast. It felt very personal.

I figured out why she let me go. She couldn’t afford any dissent and the mere mention of an hourly rate was too risky. I found another job that I kept for almost 2 years with a different kind of t-shirt company. I put letters and numbers on team shirts and took custom orders. My friend, employee #1, stayed at Wendy’s until she left for college.

I think back to how it felt when I opened that letter. I learned so much about people and management from those early jobs. As my parents reminded me, I didn’t do anything wrong, not really. With economy being the way it has for the last few years, there are many people who have felt the sting of a firing letter and the bewilderment of wondering what they did wrong. You may be in a position where you need a lump sum instead of your regular annuity payments. You can receive cash for structured settlement payments to help you through any temporary crisis, until that next job comes your way.

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One of the interesting side effects of the current economic recession is the frankness that has entered the conversation about money. Rather then brag about excess, people compare money-saving techniques and sacrifices. Where to get the cheapest fresh meat? Discount furniture? Restaurant specials? Do you clip coupons? You’ll find people are actually bragging about how little they can spend and showing off their prowess to hunt down the best deal.

As someone who has always lived by the laws of frugality, I find it especially humorous when people describe what they have given up: manicures, spa days, expensive dinners. I also find it troubling to hear what those who are barely getting by are doing to survive: shaving and boiling soap to make detergent, living on peanut butter, forgoing medication. We may all be in this recession together, but we are not experiencing it the same way. Some treat it as if it is a fad or some novelty to embrace and then discard when the money comes back. For others, this is just another year, though perhaps one that has gotten a little harder.

We’re all hoping that things will improve soon and that the great recession will just be a nation-wide character building program that we’ll remember fondly. If you’re in a bind right now though and can’t wait for things to come around, you might be interested in cash for structured settlement payments and finding relief right now.

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In addition to April being tax month, this is also the month when federal unemployment benefits will run out leaving a portion of the unemployed in the lurch. Everyone I know that lost their jobs in 2009, and I know quite a few, are struggling to find their place in this new work world. My good friend Cris has put out her shingle and started her own business, taking her previous clients from her old job. Caroline started working for her husband’s fledging business; two people working full-time mean twice the results and twice the risk. Bryan is picking up some freelance design work and Will found temporary work with the 2010 Census.
We’re all struggling; some of my friends collected unemployment benefits and some didn’t qualify. We’re all looking for a way to get by and launch our next great endeavor – the job that will provide the fulfillment, security, and income for the lives we want to lead. A great option for bridging the unemployment benefit gap is to look into cash for structured settlement payments. Unemployment benefits are really there to provide a cushion between jobs and allow you enough time to find the “right” job, not just the first job you are offered. (I’ll have to tell you about the fantastic offers I’ve received–$9,000 a year, really?! My next offer was $15,000. What is wrong with me? No, I didn’t take either of these offers and I don’t regret it.) The point is, we are all trying to figure out how to make the best of the situations we are in while looking forward to a brighter future. Finding a buyer of structured settlement annuity payments just might do it.

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Financially speaking, a safety net is always nice; but in most cases it’s nearly impossible to create. With so many of us living check to check these days - and not even making ends meet in that capacity - it is a challenge to say the least to be able to take much-needed money and put it away for a rainy day. We need the money now. It might as well be raining now. So how does the average family make sure that they have a safety net of cash at their disposal for emergencies; emergencies that could very well - in this day and age - include the loss of employment. There are options, however, and for those who have a structured settlement that includes the choice to sell annuity payments for a lump sum of cash - cash that can be used to tackle bills or put away for emergencies so that a family can survive whatever financial challenges come their way.

Getting cash for structured settlements is not as difficult or overwhelming as it may appear. A structured settlement is often given in a personal injury case where a claimant is awarded money. Instead of getting the money all at once, it is parceled out in payments that come from an annuity. So it may seem counterintuitive that you can simply turn that back into a lump sum of cash. The truth is, however, that if you work with a reputable purchasing company it is far simpler than you may realize to convert your annuity payments into cash you can use today or in the future.

The way it works is this…a seller (the person who receives the structured settlement payments) can decide how many of those future payments they wish to sell based on much cash they wish to raise. It is not necessary to sell the entire structured settlement; only the payments that it takes to generate the amount you want. The buyer then pays you cash today for the right to receive those payments in the future. They have ownership of those payments and you have the cash on hand to build your safety net.

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Take a look at the news on any night of the week and you’ll certainly see that the top stories around the country are the dire financial situations that many people find themselves in right now. So many people struggling to pay their mortgages and other monthly bills; even to put food on the table. There are also so many out there who are “upside down” in their houses - meaning that they owe more on their homes than they are currently worth. This was the situation that I also found myself in; I owed more on the home than I could get from a sale but I still had to pay the hefty mortgage every month. I had to come up with something that would allow me to get caught up again and so l looked at the option to sell structured settlements.

When you sell structured settlements you are essentially selling annuity payments. My structured settlement was awarded to me about five years ago and ever since I have collected monthly payments from an annuity that was set up for this express purpose. The payments are mine to do with what I want - including selling them for a lump sum of cash. Getting cash for structured settlements is as easy as working with a reputable buyer who can lead the way through the process with professionalism and expertise.

I worked with a buyer who had a strong reputation in the industry and could help us make heads and tails of our situation. The company helped me determine how many payments I needed to sell in order to come up with the cash that I needed to get caught up on my mortgage and other bills. In just a few short weeks I was able to close the deal and have the cash that I needed to get back on my feet. Getting cash for structured settlements was a great decision for me and my family.

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In the last post I talked about how I found myself receiving a structured settlement payment – having gotten a financial award from a personal injury case in which I was involved; and how the payments served me well until I found that I needed cash on hand to make tuition payments to my son’s college.

After much research on getting cash for structured settlements, I determined that what I most needed was a reputable and experienced buyer of structured settlement annuity payments. Go online and you can quickly see that there are many such purchasing companies to be found. But they are most certainly not the same as the next.

I needed – quickly – to get a firm grasp on what made for a solid buyer of structured settlement annuity payments. What I found through my research was that a reputable buyer of structured settlement annuity displayed the following:

* A solid reputation in the industry. A reputable buyer of structured settlement annuity will have experience in the business and a reputation for treating clients respectfully and getting them what they need.

* Strong financial backing. A buyer of structured settlement annuity payments should have the money behind them to be able to offer sellers market price on their annuity payments.

* Competitive offers. Any buyer of structured settlement annuity should carefully walk sellers through the process of getting cash for structured settlements. Sellers are not necessarily selling all of their upcoming payments – and, in fact, should not be pressured into doing so – they are in most cases selling a portion of payments or a particular number of payments. The amount that they offer for payments should be according to market value.

I eventually found a really great buyer of structured settlement annuity payments and was able to get the money I needed to responsibly handle my son’s college tuition.

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