Suze Orman Outright Tells One Writer that Selling is Bad – for Them
One person wrote to Suze asking her advice about her husband selling a settlement just so they could pay off bills. The caller said they had $110,000 in a settlement, but a sale would net them just $17,500. They had $30,000 worth of bills to pay off. Suze, smartly, told the writer no way – to sell would cost far too much money and would not even net them the money that they needed to be debt free. Suze was right here – this situation was easy, there is no way that the writer should sell. But not structured settlement transfers are this cut and dry.
When it comes to structured settlements, Suze Orman cautions that before you sell your payments you should rethink your current situation, considering questions such as:
- Can I afford this home?
- Should I downsize?
- Are there changes we could make to lower our need for money?
Suze also says that you should avoid just moving the debt around. Taking money out of a settlement or 401k investment plan to pay off credit cards is just geography. Consider:
- Can I get the money another way?
- Will this sale fix my situation into the future or just put a bandage on the problem for now?
Finally, Suze suggests that you should change your attitude towards spending money. For some people simply changing their spending habits can make a bit impact on the bottom line. Ask yourself:
- Do I really need to buy that?
- Can I pay more than the minimum payments so that I can get out of debt faster?
- If I sell my settlement to pay off credit cards can I avoid charging them up again?
The bottom line is that with structured settlements Suze Orman recommends against selling your payments when that is simply a short term solution to a long term problem. However, at Strategic Capital we know that when done as part of a well thought out, viable plan, selling your structured settlement payments can be a logical decision. If you wonder, “Can I sell my structured settlement payments” the answer is yes – call Strategic Capital to discuss your situation today.