Executive Life of New York structured settlement beneficiaries are in for a rough ride

In a joint video commentary and interview on Speaking of Settlements, Mark Wahlstrom, President of Wahlstrom & Associates and John Darer, Principal of 4structures.com, discuss the looming problem for those who are still receiving structured settlement payments from Executive Life of NY. (ELNY).

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the situation, I point you to the excellent historical chronology at 4structures.com in which the sordid past of the ELNY  failure and reorganization. John does a fine job showing how this mess got started and what has brought us to this day.

Mark Wahlstrom discusses the Executive Life of New York structured settlements

The problem that annuity beneficiaries and owners of Executive Life of NY contracts face now is pretty simple in concept and stunning in scope. The assets that were being managed by the State of New York Liquidation Department for the last 20+ years are now going to be totally inadequate to make all of the remaining payments in full as has been assumed for years now. The politics, inflated investment assumptions, failure to communicate the potential of a future shortfall and a lack of will by those in charge to honestly address the problem, have created a perfect storm where some estimates indicate there could be a 25% to 45% reduction in future payments given the actuarial reality of this situation.  The result is that the State of New York may no longer have the option of keeping the rehabilitation and payment plan in place as is, but may be forced to commence a liquidation, with all of the negative elements that implies yet to be determined.

This will be the first of many on going video updates and interviews on Speaking of Settlements to provide context, resources and information to those impacted by the potential shortfall of Executive Life of New York.