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Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Hi there, welcome to the best communication Show. I’m your host Bill Lampton the business communication guy, bringing you tips and strategies that will boost your business because my guest and I will talk about winning words and ways as the biz communication guy would do. I’m delighted today to welcome Jodie lamb Jodie joins us from the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. Jodie was a young finance major driving to college, when she became the victim of a blinding collision, as another driver ran a red light, and T boned her car. Consequently, she suffered long term debilitating back injuries and financial frustration. Jodie at the time didn’t realize the importance of hiring an attorney nor what her options were. So she naively accepted a measly $1,000 settlement.
And after aggressive pursuit, the insurer finally agreed to pay for her medical expenses. Jodie then dedicated herself to educating and aiding other personal injury victims through similar circumstances. she educates clients on structured settlements, enabling them to secure their financial futures. Jodie has handled more than 3000 structured settlement cases. She is widely known for her tireless and tedious work on behalf of other victims by fulfilling her mantra, safeguarding your settlement. So it’s a delight to welcome Jodie lamb. Hello, Jodi. Hello, Belle, thank
Jodie Lamb
you so much for having me today.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
delighted to host you very delighted. And we’ll start with the term that we mentioned, structured settlement. And I’ll preface that by saying, you know, we hear so much about big money’s coming somebody’s way. And hardly a day goes by that you and I don’t hear about lotteries, which are getting up into the many millions of dollars. And many of us think about, oh, man, if I just got a windfall, it would solve all my problems. And yet, by contrast, again, there’s hardly a day goes by that we don’t read about some lottery winner from five years ago, who has lost everything we read about professional athletes who’ve gone broke. So this, it seems to me is where you come into the picture with your educational service about structured settlements. And it all stems from your own personal event with a an accident that involved many dollars of recovery. So explain to us in terms we can understand, please God what a structured settlement is?
Jodie Lamb
Well, that is a big question, Bill. But you set it up perfectly. Thank you so much. Like you mentioned that the lottery winners, the professional athletes, they come into this windfall of money, and they often years later, very quickly, will dissipate that money and find that they have nothing to show for it or that sometimes their lives are worse than it was before they receive the money. Unfortunately, receiving money doesn’t solve problems. But money is often thought of as a cure for our problems, the right the wrongs in our past, when a person is involved in a personal injury case, for example, they’re going to be receiving a settlement for the expenses that were incurred for their pain and suffering for their future medical care. And when they receive that settlement, they typically will customarily receive it in a lump sum cash settlement, their attorney gets paid their bills get paid, they get the remaining money and they said, sent on their way and said good luck, have a great future and the claims closed, there’s nothing more that can be done. The IRS allows for those payments, that that submit payment to be made both at the time of settlement and in to the future. So if it’s built into the terms of settlement, that you’re going to be paid cash and future payments, that’s called a structured settlement. And both the original cash payment and your future payments are tax free, which makes it a very unique opportunity that is not available to most The public the opportunity for for guaranteed tax free future payments are very limited in in the United States. But the opportunity to make that a option at time of settlement is where we come into the discussion and the negotiations on personal injury cases. So let’s say for example, you have a child who was involved in an accident, let’s say they were a bit by the neighbor’s dog or they were in a car accident, they have injury claims, they have bills that they have received. To heal the process of recovery, when they are better when they’ve reached the improvement when they’re ready to settle their case, the age of that individual is such that they can’t take receive the money and the courts want to make sure that the money is going to be protected for the child. So one of the options is unstructured settlements alternatives include a block savings account or deposit with the registry of the court. The latter two options are taxable. With a structured settlement, we can customize future payments once they turn 18. Or in other states where it’s a different age of majority to start those distributions for college for milestone ages to buy a car for downpayment on a home for educational purposes for whatever their needs may be including future medical care. So if the parents are concerned about taking too much money at age 18, or giving all the money to the kid to the team, we can stretch that money out, we can customize payments with monthly annually. Lifetime payments, lump sum payments, we can be as creative as anybody wants to be able to tailor plans to meet future needs. And the opportunity isn’t exclusive to children. For adults, they have the option as well. So whether it be customizing supplemental retirement income, or making sure that the money is there for a future surgery, even again, providing a lifetime of income, not everybody involved in an accident is able to return to the work. Or if they can maybe it’s in a different capacity, or a lower earning opportunity. So they need to offset their income. Sometimes that barrier to a settlement can be that uncertainty of that questionable financial security in the future. And that’s where we come in, we show them options, we give them choices, help them understand their opportunities to maximize their settlement with guaranteed future payments that will never have tax on interest, dividends or capital gains.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
One thing that certainly strikes me is that when you’re talking to someone who needs your services, once you explain the benefits, and you’ve done it so well already in very clear language. Is there anybody that these advantages don’t appeal to him, but almost seem to have made that that 100% of your clients will say, let’s, let’s do this in my Am I mistaken on that.
Jodie Lamb
I will find that a lot of people have spent their money before they even receive it. As far as when they say thanks. but no thanks. Unfortunately, the propensity to to think ahead and say, Well, gosh, I could use a new house, I could use a new car, I could use it for this or that. Sometimes people have borrowed against their settlement. And when they repay that loan, they’re not able to have that additional funds to put aside for the future. When they are given this opportunity if they’re not given enough time to appreciate what this is. And they just make a knee jerk reaction without having an appreciation for what this opportunity presents itself as it’s just pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity. Because let’s be honest, though, if you’re involved in a serious accident where you need to talk to me, you don’t want to be in that position twice in your life. So this opportunity existing only at the time of a personal injury settlement is something that we only want people to have to experience once but having that option explained to them before the 11th hour when they’ve got to make that decision and sign on the on the line of that release and they get a full and final release of their claim. Once they settle their case, it’s too late to structure so the challenges that we have is helping people understand this choice before they get to that finish line. Often the attorneys won’t think about the structure into or the they’ve got the settlement number and then they’re trying to figure out or what do we do with that number, if we back it up during the negotiations when parties are sitting down and evaluating what the claim is going to be worth, or what the claim is going to settle for what the future medical needs are going to be consulting with an advisor, like a structured settlement consultant, we can help people get present value cost of future expenses. So if we’re doing an income replacement, or we are doing calculations for future medical care, we can actually help people save money in the long term, by being able to fund those expenses today at present cost value. So if we take $100,000 and turn it into $300,000, tax free, they’re saving 200,000. If they needed that $300,000 for that future, neat, whatever, whether that be income, medical retirement, whatever it is, they’re gonna get the value of today’s present day cost, because the money is going to grow over time. That’s often important on cases where there’s just not enough money to settle the case, whether it be for policy limits, because there’s not enough money on the policy, or, you know, there’s just a contributing negligence factor where they’re not going to be able to get the full value of their claim, being able to come in and help stretch their settlement dollars further, helps put more money in their pocket for their immediate needs, while still putting money aside for the future. So as far as those that say no to structures, I think it’s, it’s most often when the people have already spent the money before they got it, or they haven’t had the opportunity to understand what this option is. And when it’s, when it’s presented at the very last minute, it feels rushed, it feels pressured, they haven’t had time to appreciate what this option is. And so they they make the decision without all the information, which is unfortunate, because when they’re settling a personal injury case of this size, or any sort of catastrophic nature, this could very well be the largest financial transaction of their life. And to make that decision so quickly, is a challenge for people. And I advocate for educating, giving them choices, letting them understand what they what their options are, and then letting them make an educated decision before they finalize that release. Because again, once they settle their case, the IRS says you’re not able to structure after you have receded that money. So those opportunities for those future payments with tax free growth, no interest on interest, dividends, or capital gains, only exists at the time of settlement.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
I I think then I said, everyone that comes to you, you can help that they will accept your services, but there is an exception, and you say, that’s the person that’s already spent the money which is which is a sad impulsive decision that, that sometimes we’re prone to make. We’ve talked about a very serious topic, which is what you do professionally. But, Jodie, you and I became acquainted on LinkedIn. And in fact, we became acquainted on LinkedIn because we found out we had an alma mater, and common we both got degrees from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Now, as I have looked at your LinkedIn post, I find that even though you deal with a very serious business, you also have great respect for Umer in the workplace. So in just a minute, we’re going to talk about that.
Do you wish you felt confident about giving speeches? Do you want to deal with difficult people constructively? And what about becoming more persuasive and sales? Then keep listening now to Dr. Bill Lampton, he spent 20 years in management, so he knows the communication skills you need for success. I urge you to call the biz communication guide today for a no cost, but very valuable 30 minute discussion about your communication challenges. Call now. 678-316-4300 Again, that’s 678-316-4300
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
you’re on the biz communication show. Our guest is Jodie lamb and we’ve been talking about structured settlements and their numerous benefits. I mentioned before that short break that Jodie and I were going to talk about humor. I’m a speech coach, and of course I deal a lot with people and their their word choice and their their spoken presentations. But you mentioned quite often on LinkedIn, you mentioned the value of nonverbal communication. And one that really comes to mind is where you talk about smiling, the benefits of smiling and and your phrase, happy faces yield business. Elaborate on that farce a little bit. Jodi, is there some maybe experience or revelation that caused you to recognize the value of smiling and particularly maybe when you’re dealing with clients in such serious situations?
Jodie Lamb
Okay, well, that that’s a two prong answer there. I mean, when you think about smiling with the exception of the grumpy cat, can you tell me any marketing, you know, any marketing effort that comes out with like grumpy, angry, not smiling people, right? Everyone wants to be uplifted. Everybody wants to work with someone who smiles because if you’re working with someone who’s super serious and scorns and problems, you know, you have theirs that you have trouble relating to that it there’s a little bit of what feels like a barrier. When you can smile, you can see someone’s genuine nature, even when I’m introducing myself to someone for the first time. And we deal with people that I’ve dealt with loss of loved ones, which I think is probably some of the worst cases that when you have to deal with the loss of a spouse or loss of a child or a friend. Those are those are very somber moments. But even in those moments, there’s a little bit of there’s still a little bit of smile, because there’s warmth in that smile, there’s there’s a genuine person behind that smile, who has hope for them, because they’ve been through a very, very tragic experience. And I bring an opportunity to add a little bit of silver lining to this story. They may feel like they have much hurt and loss in their past, but their future can be better their future can be in memorial of that person. For people with catastrophic injuries, their future can be filled with hope and opportunity in a whether it’s providing a strategy so that they can see where they can get the newest wheelchairs, or the upgraded vehicles to be able to keep their independence in life. You know, I think the smile is is the opening to the soul, you really get to see someone’s true nature when you’re when you’re taking in those nonverbals you know, there’s a difference between a smile that’s forced and a genuine smile, you know, the genuine smile, you get those wrinkles on your eyeball, you can’t you can’t fake that if you’re the smile is just a a way to show your your your genuineness because it just shows who you are. It knows who I am. At least I think that that’s my way of communicating just to give people assurance and give people just that comfort that I am a person just like they are I’ve been through the tragedy I’ve been through those losses. I’ve been through numerous conversations where people know nothing about what their futures looking like, and helping them turn big dollar numbers settlements into numbers that makes sense numbers that give them assurance that, okay, my mortgage is going to be taken care of okay, my kids will get through college, okay, I’ll be able to retire. I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to be able to be able to take care of my family. I come in with that little bit of lightness to the room. I know sometimes I’ll even come in with a bright pink suit because I love the color pink. It just, it’s by no means a disrespect to the to the reverence of the situation. But it is foretelling of the opportunities after this case resolves of life can be better life will go on. And we’ll do it in a respectful manner of making sure that they’re taken care of or that we’re honoring their their loved ones.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
I heard something long ago which fits in with this and that is when there’s a great deal of gravity. There needs to be some levity. What are the changes and we’re very we’re talking about losses, personal sorrows. personal limitations. One of the changes I’ve noticed Jodie, over at least maybe two decades now is how memorial services have changed. Change. And former decades, a memorial service was a very somber occasion. And people went there weeping and sad and all of the presentations, whether it was clergy or whether family members got up to say something, it was really a weepy experience. But going to memorial services now I love the phrase they use, it’s celebration of life. And people now family members, when they get up to talk about the one that they have just lost. They, they bring in some clips from that person that talk about some, some quirks that person may have had, nobody’s offended by that. Everybody knows that. We need some brightness in this occasion. And I’ll have to bring in here a memory I have. I was in management for 20 years before I became an entrepreneur. And I can remember a board member of mine, who was the most somber looking person, I mean, if you were to look up the expression, long faced the dictionary, his picture would have been there. Now the interesting thing about that I didn’t get this directly from him. But he told a close friend of his. He said, I know that I come across as a dour sour person. My mother even told me that and tried to get me to smile more. But he said it’s it’s just something facially that I don’t do. And every time in a board meeting, when I was trying to read what this guy was thinking how he was reacting, it was almost impossible, because he he did not change expression. I put on Facebook, and I put it on LinkedIn to that. Today, I tried to get my smile away, Jodi, but I couldn’t do it. Everybody I gave it to gave it back.
Jodie Lamb
It’s contagious. Absolutely. You can’t help but lift the mood in the room when you smile. Now I’m not immune to RBF. Myself, that is a very real struggle in my world. But when we can smile and we lift each other up, you’re absolutely right. You smile at a stranger on the street. They take their it’s a bit taken aback, right. But they smile, and you never know how that is going to touch them. They may have been having a very bad day. And that could have been the one little bit of positive in their day that made it better or change the direction of how they were going to take their next steps. You know, if you’re in a restaurant and you this the waitstaff it’s absolutely terrible. Give them a compliment anyway, over tip them anyway because they have a hard job. And we don’t know what, what has caused them to be in that mood in that particular moment or that day. But I think we all can relate to it probably wasn’t their best day. So if I have the ability to help lift them up and make their day better. It’s like your smiles. When you give it it comes right back at you. And very few people are unhappy when they’re smiling, genuine smiles.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
I love again that you emphasized genuine, a fake manufactured smile is even worse than not trying. It must be genuine, it must be that kind of feeling. I’m thinking now of a song an old song Let us smile be your umbrella on a rainy rainy day. And there’s something else in there. This says smile and the whole world smiles with you. I’m glad we brought up this topic because I I have not. I have not in probably 100 editions of this program. I’ve probably never talked about smiling. And yet, as you say it can make somebody’s day whether they’re a server in a restaurant where there’s someone who’s recovering from an accident, a smile. This is a wonderful note for us to conclude on which the clock says we have to do. Jodie, this has been so enlightening. You’re a master of your topic you present it well, I know that you do a great deal of speaking. Sometime we will have you back on the biz communication show to talk about tips that you would give us far improving our business communication. Clearly you’re you’re an expert at that. I know that my viewers and our listeners will want to get in touch with you. So please give us your contact information. Thanks,
Jodie Lamb
Bill. We work with Attorney As we work with insurance professionals, we work with the injured parties. And even cases that don’t involve personal injury, it could be litigation of employment cases, there’s opportunities to be able to structure those settlements as well as still tax favorable treatment, the best way to reach me is by phone. 480-253-3761 is my direct dial office number. I am on LinkedIn every day Jodie lamb, or structure your future both business page and personal, I can be reached on LinkedIn and send me a message. And we’ll definitely talk,
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
I certainly encourage you to contact Jodi. And I’m benefited greatly from her post on LinkedIn, I comment on the many times because they are, there are keys to improving my own communication. So I encourage you to find her own LinkedIn and call her she’s, she’s a very receptive, professional. And now that God has given her contact information, I’m delighted to give mine biz communication guy so quite logically, my website is biz bi Z. Biz communication guy.com. And when you go to my website, take a look around, then you’ll see my services for corporations and for leaders. And also on my website, you’ll see a way to subscribe to this podcast and encourage you to do that. And then my YouTube channel where you will find more than 450 instructional videos. And with about the last 100 of them being the best communication show my YouTube, you go to the search bar type in Bill Lampton PhD that will take you to my YouTube channel. And certainly while you’re there, I want you to hit the the subscribe button, once you’re familiar with how I can benefit you please give me a phone call with no obligation 678-316-4300. Jodie had to sort of wind it up and pull it all together in 30 seconds, what would you say to us?
Jodie Lamb
Oh, I would say you know, everybody has the opportunity to structure their settlement and being able to have that conversation prior to settlement is key. So if you or anyone that you know or love is involved in a case that’s not yet settled, give them that information, give them my contact information, let them know that they have options that may not have been communicated to them. And let them know that there’s no pressure we don’t charge for services. And I’m a no pressure person. I just want to make sure people make educated decisions that are best for them so that they can preserve their settlement live a life of future confidence, financial freedom, independence, and safeguard their settlement for years to come.
Bill Lampton Ph.D.
Well stated well stated. Thanks again very much to Jodie lamb for being with us as our guest on the miscommunication show thanks to those of you who joined us on the video portion and also those who joined us on the podcast. Be with us again soon for the next edition of the biz communication show.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
