Mark Wahlstrom of the Settlement Channel featured in Wall Street Journal article.

Every now and then a business publication really sets out to do a real job of reporting on a topic or concept.

Today's Wall Street Journal article written by reported Rachel Emma Silverman on Structured Sales is really one of the better written and researched pieces of journalism on the structured settlement process, and in particular the structured sale.

You can link to the article by clicking here although you need to subscribe to the WSJ online to read the entire piece.

Failing that get a copy of the March 21, 2007 copy of the WSJ and go to section D1. I'll eventually get a pdf and put it here in the resource section.

Her summary was essentially as follows:

1.  The strategy can be useful for older people wanting a guaranteed income stream.

2. The IRS hasn't opined on the approach, so there's a risk it could be disallowed at a future time.

3. Low capital gains rates might make it better to pay the tax upfront.

Mark Wahlstrom is a featured commentator on the Legal Broadcast Network, and a co host of Civil Action Radio with Attorney Jan Schlichtmann. You can read Mark's commentary on The Settlement Channel, or at Wahlstrom and Associates.