I’ve never received a structured settlement payout before, and it’s something that I would want to speak to professionals about before jumping into since I don’t have the experience that I think would be needed.  That said, I can definitely see the positives that Jason identifies below.  These positives make the option a worthwhile consideration!

And so without further ado, the following words from Jason’s (my words will be in the color green):

Perhaps your structured settlement has been used in the past as a modest source of monthly income.  Or maybe you’ve just inherited a rather large structured settlement.  Either way, financial life for you and your family is set to change for the positive (and definitely grow for the positive too) when turning your structured settlement into a large lump-sum payout.  Reputable structured settlement companies will keep the process running smoothly, leaving you free to dream about your financial improvements. 

Here are five positive changes that await your future:

A chance for a new start. Whether you decide to buy a house or pay for college tuition, selling a structured settlement for a lump-sum payment is nothing short than an opportunity to make a dream come true. If using the cash to pay off a large amount of debt, think about how good it will feel to have a clean financial slate – something many Americans burdened by the economic downturn would love to have. 

Day-to-day financial life improves. A structured settlement payout can be used to pay off debt that may have mounted due to an unforeseen accident.  Or use the lump-sum buyout to start a business or even put a child (or two) through college.  Knowing where the funding will come from for life’s major financial milestones no longer has to place an impact your daily budget decisions or struggles. 

Savvy money management skills develop. Deciding to use a structured settlement buyout to make a down payment on a house leads you to a new and improved financial arena that includes learning about growing property equity.  If you are purchasing a second home, you have the opportunity to take on the roll of a landlord and collect monthly income through rental fees. 

MR here; For me personally, the landlord option sounds like something I would pursue if I were to receive a structured settlement payout!

Watch your investment grow. Once you’ve wisely invested your structured settlement buyout into a house, business or education, the best part of your next task is to watch your investment grow.  If funding a child through college, your structured settlement payout produces a degree.  If paying off debt, you can use cash that was once tied up in credit card or medical bill payments for retirement investments. 

New forms of return are on the horizon. A structured settlement payout really is a creative way to invest a large lump-sum of money.  A business starts to produce a profit.  A recent college graduate lands a great job.  When selling a structured settlement, it is important to remember this one big financial investment leads to many smaller others that will help your payout grow in ways you never imagined.

I think Jason has done a wonderful job pointing out the benefits of a receiving a Structured Settlement Payout!

Thanks Jason!

I’m not disputing the message of the article, but I think Billionaires should spend their money instead of being frugal and hording their cash like a Scrooge! 

IMO, when Billionaires act frugal and keep their money tight, that keeps the money from the hands of the middle class people!  This means the money supply is constricted, and then not as many people purchase goods which in turn slows down the economy.

Now you might think that when Billionaires spend money, they buy expensive things like yachts, personal jets and other such luxuries.  And this is true, but even when Billionaires spend money on luxury good, that money pays workers that build or create those luxury goods.  Then those workers spend money on ordinary goods, and once again money flows freely again.

So, while I believe in being frugal, I don’t think it’s such a great idea for a billionaire (or high-end millionaires) to do so.   These extremely rich folks should enjoy life a bit more instead of being so frugal.

Recently, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates went around and convinced over 40 Billionaires (and near Billionaires) to give over half of their money to charity.  While that’s an admirable goal, I think some of the money would have been better served helping the economy by them spending some of it.   Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that these billionaires are giving their money away to charity!!!  But, I know that during the recession, I actually spend more of my money, and I’m not a millionaire…, yet.  Of course, I didn’t go into debt when I was spending more money during the recession.

An outstanding example of a frugal billionaire hurting their local economy would be the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim.  Carlos Slim is a mexican, and very frugal.  But if he were to buy more things from mexican business, wouldn’t that help the mexican economy?  I know that mexico has complex and not easily solved business issues, but every little bit counts…

What do you think of frugal Billionaires hording their money?

MR

After I became totally debt free by paying off my mortgage, this past February, I was very excited about being able to sock away an extra $1,500 a month into savings and investments.   I imagined myself every quarter of this year, plopping almost $5,000 into a balanced mutual fund or ETF. 

So how much extra money have I saved up for investing?  nada, nil… nothing at all.  Now, I knew that I would have an adjustment period at the beginning, that would stun my initial investing plan, but I didn’t see it lasting this long! 

I’ve learned that Cost Control, is the new root of my saving problems.  You see, when you have more money in your checkbook, it’s easier to justify getting the more expensive or quicker product. 

Here are examples where my cost control wasn’t in place:

•  My old Lawnmower (Mean Green) was finally forced out of action (I’ll blog in greater detail about Mean Green some other time).  But instead of looking at Craigslist for one or buying a cheap model from Lowes, I went out and bought a new Toro self-propelled (variable speed) lawnmower! 
  
  My new lawnmower (called the Red Barron) is spectacular!  I love it, but I also spent about $375.00 dollars on it.  To me this seems a bit pricey! 
  In the days when I still had a mortgage, I would have went out and bought a cheaper model, or bought a used lawnmower.  In fact, my boss offered to sell me a cheap used lawnboy as a replacement…  But I declined.
  I’m sure if I put my mind and efforts to it, I could have found a lawnmower for at least half the price.  
    
   

• Car problems.  My wife’s car was experiencing a car problem.  So what did I do?  I call my favorite mechanic and asked him to get it in today and fix it.  My mechanic is great, so that was exactly when he did, but it cost me $450 dollars. 

  Now you might be thinking what is so bad about this?  Well, we have a few friends that are auto mechanics.  We could have waited and had one of our buddies look at the car and fix it for a lot cheaper!  After the fact, my one buddy told me that he could have cleaned the part and that might have made it work.  He said he would have done it for free.  So I paid a premium to get it fixed that day!  It would have taken my friend at least 5 or so days to get to it.     

• Changing the oil on the car.  I haven’t done this in years!  It’s easy enough to do, but I always convince myself that it’s not work the time and energy (and perhaps it’s not).  Some people may say, yeah but what about the cost of oil disposal…  Well, you can drive your old used oil to any Walmart car service department and they will take it off of your hands for free!  It’s possible to created a paper funnel and pour the oil into a plastic 1 gallon  milk container,  then put the plastic cap on to keep the fumes contained.   I have used the milk jug trick for the oil changes I did performed on my old lawnmower and snow thrower.    

If you stay focused and realize that you are wasting money by doing such as I have above…  You can save money by using more focused cost control! 

Have you every mode impromptu decisions that you knew weren’t the best, but because you had the money to do them, you did them anyway? 

-MR

This Labor Day weekend, our big plans are to attend my son’s soccer tournament this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  At first I wasn’t excited, it was just a typical part of the routine.  Then I realize how special these moments are!  This is our time to be there for our son, watching him do what he loves. 

I was sitting out on the sidelines, looking at the surrounding trees leaves fluttering in the gentle wind, when it hit me!  I was going to have a great time!  And so far I have!

If you have kids, realize that these are cheap forms of entertainment that could build your child’s confidence.

My Favorite Reads of the Week:

Well Heeled Blog:  The Thin Line Between Minimalist & Moocher - Well Heeled makes an excellent point this article!

Everyday Tips and Thoughts:  Heavy Drinkers Expected to Live Longer Than Non-Drinkers?  – We all know that a glass of wine once a day is good for us…  But Kris takes it a step further!  Read this eye-opening article!

Financial Samurai:   Spending Too Much Money And Course Correcting - Sam talks about feeling a bit guilty about spending more than he hoped for the last three months!  This week he had a lot of funny and entertaining posts!  You might want to check Sam’s entire week out!

Free Money Finance:   Big Difference Between Average and Median Net Worths - FMF make a great point about Average vs Median Net Worths.  Big Whales like Mr Buffett and Mr. Gates skews the Average number to such a degree that it’s no longer a good representation of the real average middle class folks.

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff:  Fit in a Fun Friday – Daydreaming About  $500 - This was a very fun post!  I really did start to imagine what I would do with an extra $500… and it was surprisingly a lot.  I wonder if I’m depriving myself?

Young and Thrifty:  6 Tips for Buying Organic On the Cheap - Young does a very impressive writeup on buy organic as cheaply as possible.

Bucksome Boomer:   What’s the Definition of Needs? - Kay Lynn discusses why people view what are needs and what are wants differently!

Monevator:  101 ways to save money - This is a great list of tips and ideas!  Very comprehensively done, and very spot on!  This English blogger always produces quality material!

Little House in the Valley: Ten Signs You’re Not Prepared for Retirement - Humorous, but also hits hard at home.  Very funny while making a great point!

My Favorite Weekly Post from Money Reasons:

Less is More On The Road To Accumulating Wealth, talks about spending less to save more!

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How do you put a value on something?  How do you measure one’s worth or success?  Some measure their success by the investments they own, some do so through career achievements, while some do so through the accumulation of material things.  Funny enough, I even know someone who measures their success by the number of points they collect in their rewards credit card accounts.

The problem with this manner of judging one’s success and worth is that it’s very shallow and superficial.  Who a person is cannot easily be measured by the money he has in his bank account.  Perhaps, it is this very disillusionment of materialism and consumerism that has led the Crafton family to liquidate all their assets and set sail for the seas… for seven whole years.

The Crafton Family isn’t your average family.  Husband and wife, Tom and Kathy Crafton were both successful in the medical field before they set sail.  Kathy was an ICU nurse, while Tom was a family psychologist.  They had all the trappings that came with their jobs: a big house, and all the material stuff that they could want… or buy.  But what was it that drove this high-income family to just abandon the mainland in favor of the high seas?  For seven whole years?  According to this Washington Post story, they embarked on their voyage because they had gotten disillusioned by their wealth: while they had the big house and the mountains of stuff, they saw that they did not need all this and they wanted to see their kids grow.  They didn’t want the alienation that came with acquiring more stuff but not being able to build a relationship with their kids; they knew that family was far more valuable than what they could acquire with their high-income careers.  And so, they liquidated all their assets in six months and set sail.

How about you? Are you feeling the ennui that comes with the same old routine, day in and day out: working, coming home, watching TV, sleeping, waking up and rushing to work once more, looking forward to the yearly vacations…  By now, you must be wondering if there’s something more to life than living it in a cycle, or a rat race, so to speak.

Now you don’t have to do something as drastic as the Craftons have done — and radically uproot your regular routine and your life in favor of 7 years at sea with your loved ones.  All you really need to do is to find balance.

Here are some tips to promote balance in your work and life:

• Find some time to devote wholly to your family. Avoid the trap of letting work run your life.  When you’re able to consciously find time for family and relationships at home, there shouldn’t be any reason to want to cocoon yourselves at sea for 7 whole years.
• Let your money work harder for you.  Try to establish sources of passive income.  Have a good amount of your financial assets invested in high interest accounts. Also, have a good percentage invested in high yielding investments in online stock brokerage accounts.  By letting your money work for you, this will allow you to work at a pace, and in a field that lets you live a more balanced life.
• Understand that money is not everything.  If you get a job offer that will only kill your relationships with your spouse and kids, then rethink the offer.  Is it worth it?  Your income may not be worth it if, 5 years down the line, you suffer a divorce because you neglected to spend time with your family.
• There are certain careers and jobs that are not as stressful but can pull in significant income.  Figure out what kind of job can work for you, do some research on it, and see if you can shift your career from stressful to sane.

Balance is key to living this life.  While most people go through life harassed, harried and enslaved by their jobs, you don’t have to live this way.  Take the time to figure out what will work for you, and always hold relationships and family as a higher priority over money.  Work on being content with what you have, and make the decision to live a balanced life.

MR, here.  As readers of my blog know, I’m a big proponent of a balanced lifestyle in practically every regard.

I’d like to thank the writer for Digerati Life for contributing such a great piece that fits so perfectly here at moneyreasons.com!!!

-MR

Most of us wish we were a rich and famous celebrity, idolizing every step they take, constantly watching them in the news.

However, the cost of being rich and famous may be greater than we imagine. I would go as far as to say that the star celebrities are constantly on a kind of public stage, always being photographed or badgered by adoring fans (not to mention stalked).

Now granted being wealthy and a celebrity has its advantages, but my concern is about all of the great things that they’d miss out on that the average middle class family experiences!

Here’s a list of the things a celebrity would miss out on:

• A casual walk in the mall, or really anywhere in the public eye.
• A quiet evening out with their spouse.  Even when they are at a private room in a restaurant, there is someone trying to take pictures or get an autograph.  And there is always the nasty process of going and leaving the establishment.
• Travelling must be done in disguise, and even then, they are often recognized.
• Since they are busy with an acting gig, or away on a business trip, they miss large segments of their children growing up.
• They often adopt children rather than have their own kids, possible fearing that they might lose their million dollar looks or body.
• They’ll miss out on the sports that a child might play (if they play any at all).
• Their kids are bound to feel like they are entitled to have the same stuff other rich kids like them have.  The celebrity may not experience the hugs from a child when they come home from work.  Or at least not as many opportunities.

So while I wouldn’t mind being rich or financial independent, I don’t think I would really want to be famous.  I think the costs would be too high, and you would give up too much in the process, especially if you have kids.

What do you think?  Would you like to be Rich And Famous or just discretely rich (my preference)?

-MR

Related Reading:

Check out Everyday’s tips and thoughts’s article: Who Needs Yachts and Islands, it was my motivation for writing this article.