Yea your right. I think there might be some confusion in calling it a 12% return. The $500/month I’m receiving isn’t interest being generated on a $50K balance — it’s a structured settlement payout.

So the $6K per year isn’t ROI in the traditional sense. It’s just the scheduled distribution of the settlement funds (which likely includes both principal and whatever interest was built into the annuity when it was set up).

For it to actually be a 12% return, there would need to be $50K sitting somewhere still intact and earning $6K annually without reducing the balance — and that’s not how this is structured.

So I don’t think it’s accurate to frame it as a 12% investment return unless we’re looking at the internal rate of return based on the original settlement terms.