The McNay Group
1-800-676-2629
1-800-Mr McNay
EXPERIENCE AND A PLAN
Experience matters. We have extensive experience in planning financial matters that includes 1000 settlement conferences, more than 100 speaking engagements and thousands of clients. Our professionals are prolific authors, writing hundreds of articles to share their financial expertise. You can read our articles in publications like Huffington Post, Trial, National Underwriter, Trial Diplomacy Journal and Claims. Others have written about us in publications such as Forbes, Financial Planning Magazine and the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Our experienced professionals are eager to put their knowledge to work for you. Call or email us for a free consultation.
Clay N. Bigler, CSSC, a Certified Structured Settlement Consultant, has over two decades of experience working with trial attorneys, their finances and their clients.
Bigler is frequently selected to be a conservator or guardian for juveniles and disabled people and administers Trusts and Qualified Settlement Funds.
Along with being a published author and a frequent speaker to legal and professional groups, Bigler has served several times as an instructor for the Introduction to Structured Settlements Program offered by the National Structured Settlement Trade Association and is a former president of the Madison County chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.
Bigler has worked with many attorneys on their cases and legal fees. Clay has worked with attorneys to administered mass torts and has been called on by some of the nation's top injury and malpractice attorneys. Bigler is an expert at dealing with unique and unusual issues and considered one of the top students of the attorney fee concept in the United States.
Bigler developed one of the best systems in the United States for implementing Qualified Settlements Funds and Supplemental Needs Trusts for disabled injury victims. He helped to make a complex process simple and easy to understand. This ability to explain complex financial strategies in a simple way serves him well.
He has written articles on and spoken to numerous groups on settlements and disability issues. Bigler has lectured to associations, legal, workers compensation, claims and financial groups throughout the United States and as far as the West Indies.
Bigler has spent a considerable amount of time in the non-profit area. He spent two years in National Service as an Americorps volunteer in Lexington, Ky. and Canaan, Vermont. He attended Eastern Kentucky University, The University of Kentucky and Notre Dame University, he studied Political Science and received a CSSC Certification from Notre Dame.
A native of New Orleans, he has a long family tradition in the financial services industry.
Don J McNay, CSSC
Founder
1959-May 29, 2016 (In Memorial)
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Don McNay was one of the world’s leading authorities on how lottery winners handle their winnings. He has written several best-selling financial books and is a former syndicated business columnist.
His financial column appears regularly in The Huffington Post. McNay also has appeared in several hundred television and radio programs, including CBS Morning News, CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, ABC News Radio, BBC News, KPCC- Los Angeles, WLW-AM-Cincinnati, Al Jazeera-English, CBC Television (Canada), TBS eFM (Korea), RAI (Italy), CTV (Canada) and Radio Live (New Zealand). ​
His insight has been sought by hundreds of print publications, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, New York Daily News, Tampa Bay Journal, National Enquirer, Reuters, Associated Press, USA Today and Forbes.
McNay has written seven best-selling books: Death By Lottery, Don McNay's Greatest Hits, Life Lessons from the Lottery, Son of a Son of a Gambler: Joe McNay 80th Birthday Edition, Wealth Without Wall Street, Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You Win the Lottery and The Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher. Another book, Life Lessons from the Golf Course, co-written with PGA Professional Clay Hamrick, was a bestseller as well. He is also the CEO and Chairman of RRP International, a book publishing and digital media company based in Richmond, Ky.
Entering the financial services business in 1982, McNay was a pioneer in the field of structured settlements, helping injury victims and lottery winners handle large sums of money. He founded McNay Settlement Group Inc., which is one of the world’s leading experts concerning structured settlements, mass torts and qualified settlement funds. His company has been noted for its work with special needs children, along with injury victims and lottery winners. ​
He is also the founder of Kentucky Guardianship Administrators and has participated in over 1000 mediations and settlement conferences. He has testified in trials that have resulted in multimillion dollar verdicts and served as an expert witness.
A graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, McNay was inducted into the Eastern Kentucky University Hall of Distinguished Alumni in 1998. McNay has a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University and a second masters in Financial Services from the American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. ​ McNay is a Lifetime and Quarter Century Member of the Million Dollar Round Table signifying that McNay met the organization’s highly selective standards for service, production and ethical behavior in 25 different years.
McNay has four professional designations in the financial services field. ​ Don received the Certified Structured Settlement Consultant (CSSC) designation from a program affiliated with Notre Dame University. He is a Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and earned the Masters of Financial Services (MSFS) designation. ​ He is in the process of obtaining the Enrolled Agent designation from the Internal Revenue Service.
Among his professional involvements are former Treasurer of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and former Director of the National Structured Settlement Trade Association. He has spoken numerous times at structured settlement industry conventions. He also served on the Board of Directors for Society of Settlement Planners. ​
McNay has won several awards for his newspaper column, including “Best Columnist” from the Kentucky Press Association. Don is a former Director of the Eastern Kentucky University National Alumni Association. He was named Outstanding Young Lexingtonian in 1985 by the Lexington Jaycees. He is an honorary Kentucky Colonel and named as an honorary Duke of Hazard by the Mayor of Hazard, Kentucky. McNay is a University Fellow at Eastern Kentucky University and a University Fellow at the University of Kentucky. ​
Don was recently appointed to the Board of Directors for the Eastern Kentucky University Foundation and is a member of the Investment Committee. He has previously served on the University’s Planned Giving Committee.
A prolific author and lecturer, McNay has spoken to hundreds of legal and financial groups throughout the United States, Canada and Bermuda. He has published research articles for Trial, Round The Table (the official publication of the Million Dollar Round Table,) Claims Magazine, Best’s Review, Trial Diplomacy Journal, National Underwriter and other financial industry publications.
Don is married to Karen Thomas McNay, who is President of the Ursuline Academy in New Orleans, the oldest Catholic school and oldest all girls school in the United States. He has two children, three grandchildren and three stepchildren and raised his nephew after his sister and mother died in 2006. He lives in both Lexington, Kentucky and New Orleans.
Don McNay, CSSC
Chairman/Founder
Angela Luhys
Executive Director, KGA
Angela Luhys brings her vast intellect, unique talents and life experiences to her role as Executive Director of Kentucky Guardianship Administrators LLC.
A native of Hyden in Eastern Kentucky, Luhys is a graduate of the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine in Ithaca, New York. After traveling the United States, Luhys came back to Kentucky and began her career at McNay Settlement Group Inc.
She served over a decade at McNay Settlement Group as Office Manager, Medical Director, Intern Coordinator and bookkeeper before moving to Kentucky Guardianship Administrators LLC as a special needs trust administrator. During that time, she co-authored an article for Claims Magazine.
“I'm a special needs trust administrator,” Luhys said. “I handle money for disabled people, particularly those who have received a large personal injury or medical malpractice settlement.
“I pay their bills and assist them in large purchases, such as houses, cars, appliances. I open bank accounts, secure insurance. I also set their weekly or monthly allowance and try to teach them how to budget and live within their means."
Her work has been featured in publications such as Huffington Post and Kentucky Forward and she has been selected to be a speaker at the National Guardianship Association Annual Convention in New Orleans in October 2014.
As the mother of a teenager with special needs, Luhys understands the unique challenges of dealing with bureaucracy and government programs and fights for her clients to get the benefits they deserve. As the enclosed feature from KY Forward notes, she has a natural affinity for handling money.