Whenever people hear the phrase "time value of money" most of us relate this concept directly to interest rates, since it sounds like an accrual or gains on a specific amount but what happens when we add volatile politics, inflation and devaluated currencies to the equation? We are certainly living in interesting times, that' is why being smart with our investments and the way we handle our money can make the difference between keeping our retirement account and be left with nothing. As we have seen in recent days the United States Dollar (USD) has been failing due to several factors, one of them was the great dump of US treasury bonds by China in order to protect their assets and avoid losses from a weakening currency. Another important factor which has definitively contributed to USD problems is the housing crisis and lending fraud, we all know that for several years the housing market kept going strong, people were buying houses regardless of what the loans actually entitled and recently even people who didn't qualify for a loan under any circumstances were able to purchase properties through "sub-prime loans". As we have seen the real estate market hasn't sustained its sharp growth and is currently on crisis, after adding all of these factors it is surprising our situation isn't worse, not to even mention the huge debt we have acquired after this costly war; that is why it is recommended that for those who hold negotiable instruments such as structured settlements or future lottery annuity payments, sell these instruments because they will not gain any value after a certain period, on the contrary they are quickly loosing value, in other words due to inflation and the factors already mentioned these notes will be worth a lot less in 5-10 years than what they are currently worth. This is exactly what the Asians realized and it's the reason why they dropped Billions is US treasury bonds. For Annuity and structured settlement holders now is the time to change these instruments and convert them into accounts which will actually gain interest, but due to the times we are living in it is advisable to look for FDIC insured accounts, some financial institutions will even offer to set several accounts to spread the funds evenly so that each account would be insured. It goes without saying that the decisions you make today will have a strong effect in your family's future.
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