Income by amount

What a $250,000 annuity pays — and what $250,000 buys here

Name: Pacific Structured Assets, Inc.
Address: 2626 Foothill Blvd, Ste 200, La Crescenta, CA, 91214, US
Telephone: (800) 928-7680

At a quarter million dollars the question stops being which stream and becomes how to structure several. A new annuity would put the whole amount behind one insurer at the insurer's rate. The same capital on the secondary market can ladder three or four existing schedules across different carriers and start dates, each bought at a discount with its estimated yield stated up front.

Reviewed by Evan Chait, Esq., Senior Vice President, OperationsUpdated July 30, 2026

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The honest frame

Two ways to turn $250,000 into income

With a newly issued immediate annuity, an insurer quotes a monthly payout for your age and rates at the time you buy — part interest, part return of your own principal. Illustrative only: payout quotes move with rates and your profile, which is why no honest page can print one number for everyone.

A secondary market annuity inverts the exercise. The schedule already exists — fixed dates, fixed amounts, an insurance carrier already obligated to pay — and you buy the right to receive it at a discount. The estimated yield is stated up front, and on current inventory runs roughly 4–7 percent. The trade-off is limited liquidity: these are long-term holdings.

A worked example

A $250,000 ladder, sketched (illustrative)

As an illustrative frame only: a $250,000 ladder might pair a stream that is already paying monthly income, a second whose payments begin in a few years, and a third bought at the deepest discount because its payments sit furthest out. Each rung comes from a different issuing carrier. The near rung covers income now; the far rungs are where the estimated yield, in the 4 to 7 percent range on recent inventory, does the most work.

Unlike a CD or bond ladder, nothing here rolls over at whatever rate the market offers that year. Each rung's yield is fixed by its purchase price on day one and stays fixed for the life of the schedule.

Structuring $250,000

Carrier diversification becomes the point

The dominant risk in this asset is single-carrier credit: payments depend on the issuing insurer's claims-paying ability, and payment rights are generally outside state guaranty coverage. At $250,000 you do not need to accept that concentration. Spreading rungs across three or four highly rated carriers turns one insurer's solvency from the whole bet into a fraction of it.

Account placement is worth a conversation with your own tax advisor: some investors hold income-now rungs in a taxable account and deferred rungs inside a self-directed IRA, where the discount compounds under IRA tax treatment. PSA does not provide tax advice, and our team coordinates with your custodian rather than advising on placement.

Live inventory

What $250,000 buys right now

View all inventory →

For example: $251,210.93 currently buys the right to collect $350,000.00 in scheduled payments from Everlake — an estimated yield of 6.25%. This section updates as inventory changes.

GuaranteedNo. QJ006536

Everlake

6.25%estimated yield

Purchase price: $251,210.93
Total scheduled: $350,000.00
Payment window: Jul 2028 – Jul 2035

AvailableTerms →

Lottery Life-ContingentNo. GK005440

WA Lottery

9.00%estimated yield

Purchase price: $229,035.53
Total scheduled: $359,000.00
Payment window: Feb 2029 – Feb 2035

AvailableTerms →

GuaranteedNo. JS002188

USAA

5.00%estimated yield

Purchase price: $194,184.98
Total scheduled: $218,739.60
Payment window: Oct 2026 – Sep 2031

AvailableTerms →

Also see: $50,000$100,000$500,000

$250,000 annuity questions

How much income does a $250,000 annuity buy?

From an insurer, a $250,000 immediate annuity quotes a monthly payout for your age, commonly in the low four figures, blending interest with return of principal. On the secondary market the answer is whatever the listed schedules near that combined size actually pay, visible per listing, at estimated yields that have recently run 4 to 7 percent. A ladder of streams lets you shape when that income arrives.

How many payment streams should $250,000 be split across?

Three or four is a common shape: enough rungs to spread carrier risk and stagger start dates, few enough that each purchase is still substantial. The practical constraint is inventory, since every rung must be a real listed stream, so ladders at this size are typically assembled over a few months as fitting listings arrive.

Is a ladder of payment streams better than a bond ladder?

It is different, not strictly better. A bond ladder keeps daily liquidity and lets you diversify across many issuers, but each maturing rung reinvests at whatever rates are then on offer. A payment-stream ladder locks every rung's estimated yield at purchase and typically prices higher than investment-grade bonds, in exchange for limited liquidity and carrier credit exposure. Many investors hold both and give each job to the instrument built for it.

What these assets are, and what they are not

Guaranteed and life-contingent structured settlement payment rights, and lottery payment rights, represent the right to receive factored payments that Pacific Structured Assets purchases and assigns to investors through a court-approved process. They are purchased at a discount to their total scheduled payments.

These payment rights are NOT annuities, NOT insurance products, and NOT securities registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They are not bank deposits, are not FDIC-insured, and are not protected by any state insurance guaranty association. The industry term “secondary market annuity” refers to these payment rights and does not mean you are purchasing an insurance annuity contract.

You acquire the right to receive the payments, not the underlying annuity. The annuity itself does not change hands. Unlike the original structured settlement annuity, which may be shielded from creditors under applicable law, the assigned payment rights you purchase generally do not carry that creditor or bankruptcy protection.

Assigned annuities, offered as a separate product line, are existing insurance annuity contracts reassigned to a new owner through a change of ownership or an irrevocable change of payee.

These are long-term holdings with limited liquidity, and may not be suitable for every investor. There is no public trading market and no daily price. Resale or reassignment of a payment stream to another buyer may be possible, and Pacific Structured Assets can assist, but a resale is not guaranteed and the price it would bring is not guaranteed. Because the payments are fixed, that resale value moves with prevailing interest rates: an investor could realize a gain if rates have fallen since purchase, or a loss if rates have risen. These holdings are best suited to capital an investor can commit for the long term. Nothing on this website is tax, legal, financial, or investment advice. Consult your own advisors before investing.

Pacific Structured Assets

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