An Income Stream is a number of periodic payments made under a contract from one party to another. For example; $1,000 per month paid for 10 years or $10,000 per year paid for 20 years.
The traditional definition of an Income Stream refers to a steady flow of income, often from a business or property.
A newer definition encompasses a longer list including 1) an income paid to a litigant from an Insurance Company as a Structured Settlement (read more) to settle a law suit; 2) an older annuity from an Insurance Company which pays a retiree a periodic payment; or 3) a lottery pay-out to a lottery winner by a State Lottery Commission.
For example, in 2007, Chicago's Mayor Daley sold the city's Income Stream from parking meter revenues (estimated to be worth in excess of 5 billion dollars over the next 75 years) to an investor group for 1.2 billion dollars.
Income Streams also come from workman compensation cases, wrongful death suits, medical malpractice suits, employment settlements and environmental settlements.
All of the above described Income Streams are assets, like a car, a home or other assets and like other assets can be bought and sold.
All Income Streams, when sold, are sold at some sort of discount from their total payout. The bigger the discount, the bigger the return.
Lives and circumstances change, and owners of Income Streams sometimes decide to sell their payments for a lump sum. In these cases, it is important that sellers get the highest possible dollar figure to replace their stream of payments.
Investors can benefit from the purchase of these Income Streams as a safe alternative to more traditional fixed interest investments like money market accounts, certificates of deposit and bonds.
The Income Stream Exchange ensures the fair, orderly purchase, sale and valuation of these safe, time-tested investment alternatives.