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- Load an available cash flow by selecting the case code from the drop-down menu & click Solve.
- To solve for price based on a rate, enter your desired Interest Rate, & click Solve.
- To solve for rate based on a price, enter “Unknown” in the Interest Rate field, then enter your desired price in the Amount field, & click Solve.
- Click ‘Download’ to see amortization, reservation and illustration documents at your custom price or rate.
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Understand Rates on DCF Income Payments
A DCF Income Payment investment price is the Present Value cost of the specific Future Value payments shown, at the Discount Rate shown, and Priced On the date shown.
The Basics of Time Value of Money
The basic premise is that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. How much more? Well that depends on your discount rate. Thus, there are three key terms to understand the concept of “Time Value of Money” and of discounted cash flow (DCF) math.
Future Value- FV is one or more payments, at specific dates in the future. With DCF Income Payments, it’s the specific payment description, for example, “120 monthly payments of $1000 starting on 1/1/2020 until 12/1/2029” or “One lump sum of $100,000 on 12/1/2030” This is the Future Value(s) you receive
Discount Rate- this is the rate at which a Future Value decays, or is discounted. in the most basic sense, $100 one year from now is worth $95 today, at a 5% discount rate. For our purposes with DCF Income Payments, the Discount Rate, is the same as the Effective Rate, and is also the same as the Internal Rate of Return, or the Annual Percentage Yield. This rate is clearly shown on the inventory page.
Present Value- PV is the value today (or on a specific date) of the specific Future Value(s) of the payment stream, discounted to that purchase date at the Discount Rate shown. In our case, Present Value is also the Purchase Price or investment cost, and the day we use to calculate that PV is the ‘Priced On’ date shown on the inventory.
Every Future Value needs to be discounted using the Discount Rate, back to today, using the compounding period specified, to arrive at today’s Present Value for that specific payment.
Thus, every piece of information you need to verify the mathematics is shown on our inventory page, and so…
A DCF Income Payment investment price is the Present Value cost of the specific Future Value payments shown, at the Discount Rate shown, and Priced On the date shown.
There’s no mystery to it at all, but unfortunately, people accustomed to complex annuities with hidden fees and charges just don’t believe that what you see is, in fact, what you get.
All this can be verified using a good discounted cash flow annuity calculator. Use ours above or use MS Excel and XIRR the XIRR or XNPV functions
Summary of DCF Income Payments:
- DCF Income Payments are existing and in-force payment streams backed by annuities, available at a discounted price & higher yield than comparable fixed term annuities.
- Purchasers acquire the right to receive these future payments in a court ordered and state- regulated transfer procedure.
- DCF payments offer a higher yield and lower price because sellers need cash today, and they sell their rights to future payments at a discount.
- Fixed Term DCF payments will pay exactly as scheduled to the purchaser or their heirs. Insured DCF Income Payments offer a fixed yield but may pay out earlier than expected via life insurance on the seller.
- DCF payments have no volatility, no market exposure, no fluctuation in value, and no complicated terms or contracts.
How To Choose:
- In Stock cases are fully approved, ready for immediate resale
- In Review cases are court approved and in DCF’s legal review process. Buyers can expect to close within 1-2 weeks
- In Pipeline cases are in an earlier stage of the transfer approval process. Buyers can expect to close in 15 to 45 days.
- Insured cases are insured with life insurance. If the seller dies before the end of the assigned payments, life insurance repays any principal and interest due to the purchaser under the assignment agreement as of the date of the seller’s death.
- Inventory is priced as of a projected close date- the final price will change slightly based on actual close date.
- Cash or IRA funds are accepted- Use GoldStar Trust as the self directed IRA custodian to purchase with qualified funds
- Cases can be split to suit individual needs, see “Split Cases” tab on this page and call for details.
How to Buy:
- Hold a case for 48 Hours to take it ‘Off-Market’
- Reserve a case by sending in a purchase order with purchaser details (name/address etc)
- If using qualified funds, open a Self Directed IRA with GoldStar and rollover/ transfer sufficient funds.
- Closing book is sent by Docusign for review and electronic signature. For IRA’s, the purchaser signs a Direction of Investment included in the closing book to complete the purchase.
- Closing book contains the contractual assignments from seller, to intermediary, and then to purchaser, along with the final court order, carrier stipulation agreement or acknowledgement letter, amortization schedule, and payment servicing agreement.
Closing and Funding Process:
- No pre-purchase buyer deposits are required.
- Transactions are funded only after the purchaser has received and reviewed the complete closing book.
- Once purchaser reviews and e-signs the Absolute Assignment of Cash Flow and Payment Servicing Agreement, the purchase price is sent to the dedicated escrow account, and the case is closed.
- Closings are safe, quick and efficient through the use of a dedicated, third party escrow account and electronic signatures.
Receiving Income and Cash Flows:
- Income payments are received into a payment servicing account specific to each case and under the sole control of the purchaser.
- The payment servicer is GoldStar Trust Company, a federally regulated bank and trust company based in Texas.
- GoldStar receives payment from carrier and sends payments by ACH or check on to the purchaser, their IRA if applicable, or to their heirs or assigns.
- Payment servicing allows for easy beneficiary designation, anonymity, and transferability to purchaser’s heirs, assigns, or estate.
Heirs, Beneficiaries, and Liquidity Provisions
- The payments will pay as scheduled to the purchaser or to their heirs
- Beneficiaries may be designated directly with the Payment Servicer
- Payments may be re-assigned or sold to another buyer
- DCF may offer to re-acquire payments from Purchasers on a case by case basis and at a market price determined at the time of resale.
- There is no partial or full cash surrender schedule.
How to Choose?
How to Buy?
Top 10 FAQ
SPLITTING CASES
We are able to easily accommodate splits or portions of cases.
Lump Sum Splits
Lump sum cases may be split to suit the purchaser. For example, one lump sum of $250,000 on 1/1/2030 may be split for a purchaser who only wants to purchase $150,000 of that future payment. Lumps may also be split so the payout is sized to fit an available present day investment amount, such as the balance of an IRA or a specific desired purchase price.
Income Splits
Income streams may also be split or tailored to suit your clients needs. For example, 240 monthly payments of $1000 may be split into 240 payments of $500 to your customer and DCF retains and sells the remaining $500 to another customer.
We can also accommodate a split such that one of your buyers takes the first 120 payments of $1000, and another of your buyers takes the deferred 120 payments of $1000. This is especially useful where you have a client who buys a portion of a case with an IRA and buys the remainder of the same case with non qualified funds.
Please note, we would not approve a split of the first 120 payments of the example above without the back end piece being simultaneously sold, nor would we split out a portion of payments in the middle of an otherwise smooth income stream without all the other pieces being simultaneously sold.
Please call or email for approval of a proposed split prior to presenting to your customer. Closing books clearly display and reconcile all splits.
SELF DIRECTED IRAS
To buy DCF Income Payments with qualified funds, a self-directed IRA is required. We have worked with many SDIRA custodians, however we only recommend GoldStar Trust. They offer the best service, the lowest price, and the fastest execution, and thus there is no reason to look elsewhere.
THERE ARE THREE STEPS IN A DCF INCOME PAYMENT/IRA TRANSACTION:
- Open the Gold Star IRA Account– Complete and sign the application and pay account opening fee
- Account establishment fee of $65 annual/$25 opening can be paid by credit card.
- Input “DCF Exchange” on Page 8, as the Broker Dealer company name. This authorizes us to communicate with Gold Star regarding your DCF Income Payment purchase, but does not grant any investment direction permissions. You may also specify additional advisors on this form also.
- Fund the Gold Star IRA- Page 5 , IRA Transfer, or page 6, Rollover Certification
- Depending on the current custodian and the investments held, transfer may take 2 days or 4 weeks.
- Typically, we wait until the DCF Payment is court approved, then initiate transfer of funds to Gold Star.
- Buy the DCF Income Payment-
- The DCF Income Payment closing book will be emailed via Docusign with a Direction of Investment form included and ready for purchaser signature
- Once the DOI is signed, Gold Star signs the Absolute Assignment and the Servicing Agreement as custodian, and funds the purchase of the DCF Income Payment
- Closed/Funded/Complete
TAXATION INFORMATION:
Structured settlement payments are typically received tax free by the original annuitant, per 26 U.S. Code § 104. Therefore, carriers do not issue IRS Forms 1099 to the original payees.
U.S. Code § 5891 and IRS audit guidelines outline how a new assignee may obtain an existing payment stream from an original payee without incurring an excise tax – most importantly, a qualified court must determine that the purchase is in the original annuitant’s “best interests.”
This is the path followed by DCF Exchange on all transfers of structured settlement payments and is documented in our closing book. A “DCF Income Stream” is the right to receive a customized schedule of structured settlement payments, each a “DCF Income Payment.”
While the sale proceeds are not taxable for the original payee, the portion of a DCF Income Payment that is income (vs principal) is subject to tax for the purchaser. Carriers do not issue IRS Forms 1099 to the purchaser, but the taxable income portion of each payment is the taxpayer’s responsibility.
Income from assigned payment streams are typically considered ordinary income and recognized for tax purposes only when it is received, leaving unrealized income to defer, accrue, and compound.
The portion of a payment that is reportable as income (and not principal) is ultimately determined by the taxpayer. However, DCF Exchange obtained guidance confirming favorable deferral treatment of DCF Income Payments from a well-recognized nationwide accounting firm, which we make available to our clients. This guidance states that the income portion of a payment is (1) the amount received minus (2) the price of purchase for that payment. That allows for substantial deferral as early payments have proportionally less taxable income, and later payments have more.
DCF Exchange performs the calculations following this reporting method and displays the taxable portion of each DCF Income Payment on the Payments Schedule.
ALTERNATIVE METHOD:
Some purchasers choose to compute taxes based on an “exclusion ratio” applied to the whole payment stream so as to obtain a consistent ratio of income vs. principal across all payments. For purchasers who use this less favorable tax deferral method, DCF computes the exclusion ratio on the Payments Schedule. While DCF has not obtained tax advice regarding this method, we understand that many purchasers of structured settlement payments use this method of tax reporting.
TAXATION IN IRAS:
Please note, if a DCF Income Payment is owned by your IRA then the tax treatment above does not apply, as IRA distributions trigger taxes for IRA holders, not the income from IRA owned assets.
DCF Exchange, LLC does not offer tax advice, and this page is for general information only, so please be sure to consult your own tax adviser for more information.
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Understand the DCF Income Payment Opportunity