The worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil changed many things around the world. Wall Street's one of them.

Six years is a long time on Wall Street, except when it comes to erasing the psychological damage from another market crash.

The landscape has also changed after the 9/11 World Trade Center, more recent terrorist attacks here and abroad, and waves of scandals at big companies and banks.

There's a chronic sense of caution and pessimism that didn't exist before the attacks. The threat of terrorism is in people's minds, so it's in their investment lives.

These things have injected a new permanent variable into stocks: fear.

Stocks are up since then, though not by much: The Standard & Poor's 500 has a 2.012% annual return since 9/31/2007 and 3.014% annual return since 9/11/01 (without reinvesting all dividends)*... that's way below long-term averages, and without consideration for Investment fees and taxes.

With the smaller returns, there becomes an even bigger concern for the costs associated with investing. Making an annual contribution to a retirement plan? A recent study could give you pause. It says that more than half of the average person's IRA contribution is being eaten away in fees.

"People need to understand that fees are lethal," said Mitch Tuchman, chief executive of a self-help portfolio management website called MarketRiders, which conducted the study of fees. "They are a hidden tax that people have no idea they're paying."

The study focused on the $1.88 trillion in retirement money that's invested in mutual funds. (An additional $2.3 trillion in retirement money is invested in certificates of deposit and insurance products. The study did not attempt to assess the effects of fees on that portion of retirement savings.)

Using data published by the fund industry's primary trade group, the Investment Company Institute, Tuchman estimated that fees paid by the average investor amounted to roughly 2% of assets -- or some $2,180 annually.

The average saver contributes $4,000 annually to an IRA, which means that a whopping 54% of this contribution is eaten up by fees each year. Allan S. Roth, a certified financial planner and Colorado-based wealth advisor, has also analyzed investor fees and believes that Tuchman's conclusions are on the mark.

"Even though 1% or 2% seems like a little bit, it's 1% to 2% of all of your money every year," Tuchman said. "That's a big portion of your investment profits." In fact, it's about half of the average investor's "real" return, Roth said.

There are no management fees for structured settlement annuities

Playing it safe and waiting on interest rates to rise? What we know is there is an incentive for the FED keeping them low not only to keep money cheap to help the economy but also because Interest rates have an enormous effect on how much we pay each year on servicing our debt. In the Budget and Economic Outlook from January, CBO estimated that 1 percent higher interest rates each year could increase deficits by $1.3 trillion over ten years.

Higher Taxes Make Tax Free Structured Settlements a Compelling Option

2013 saw one of the largest tax increases in history, and when combined with state, local and county taxes, for the first time since income taxes were levied in the United States, a taxpayer can end up paying over 50 percent of the income in some jurisdictions.

To add insult to injury, there are more tax proposals in the pipeline, including caps on itemized deductions and exemptions, which will further erode income.

A structured settlement that provides income tax free payments over time for secure income to injured claimants while meeting the future medical or other needs of claimants make structured settlements an even more valuable settlement tool.

If they were to take it all in cash and invest it, they would need to pay asset management fees (which are non-deductible), then pay federal, state and possibly local taxes on any gain or interest income.

As taxes rise, it eats up more and more of their investment return, putting into question whether they will earn enough to meet their future needs and expenses. A tax free structured settlement with a 3 percent yield can potentially put more money in a claimant's pocket than a much higher yield that is subject to erosion from ever increasing taxes.

When a claimant is contemplating a settlement offer, the question in their mind is not whether the settlement is enough...it's whether the settlement offer is enough to meet their needs, present and future, which is what structured settlements are all about.

Making the settlement last as long as the injuries

Looking out into the future, longevity is expected to continue to rise. Based on current data, children born after the year 2000 in rich, developed countries are expected to live to 100. Since you never know exactly when you're going to die, there's a role in the household portfolio for insurance against outliving your assets. This would not apply to those with very low incomes, but certainly it does for the larger middle class: there's real potential and need to think about longevity protection in the form of insurance. IF THE INJURY IS PERMANENT, THE SETTLEMENT OUGHT TO BE TOO!

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*S&P Return Calculator: http://dqydj.net/sp-500-return-calculator/