WHAT IS ASSET PROTECTION & WHY YOU NEED IT NOW!

Asset Protection Strategies are the walls that stand between your assets and income streams and the excessive and predatory claims of others or overzealous government officials.

The most important points to keep in mind are:

• What you do not own cannot be taken from you!

• Own nothing and control everything - indirectly!

• It is generally too late to protect your assets and income stream after a claim/suit is filed.  We recommend that you click on Avoiding Fraudulent Transfer Issues to gain a better understanding of the issues and how to avoid having the court reverse all that you do to protect your assets.

• Carefully structured asset protection strategies pay for themselves with immediate savings and provide a means through which to earn protected income for future needs.

• Asset Protection programs should include a careful review of the contracts and procedures utilized by your business, including hiring procedures, employment contracts, how and by whom vehicles are used; and should include a review by independent commercial insurance professionals.

"What do asset protection plans cost?"

• A well designed plan should result in sufficient tax reductions so that your actual result is a savings.   One of the unique aspects of our firm is that our staff includes business and tax specialists that will work with you to reduce your exposure to liability and provide you with important income and estate tax savings which are generally far in excess of our fees.  We are frequently able to assist our clients to utilize the assets they have protected to earn substantial returns -- often in a tax-free/deferred environment.

• "Less that the cost of losing all or most of your assets, or the cost of extended litigation!"

• Asset Protection Plans should be created for your specific asset, business, family and future plans, so no two plans should be alike, although many plans contain similar elements.

• The best time to setting up your asset protection program is now, before something happens to endanger what you have.   Your base business or investment strategy should be reviewed and changes made to provide you with the best protection available.   The foundation of your business and wealth accumulation program must be secured.  Then, as your business and investments grow and diversify, additional measures may be employed. 
• Creating a secure and tax-efficient structure, or series of structures, provides a safer and less expensive platform for building wealth and for transferring that wealth to future generations.
• Gifting assets and interests to heirs should be generally done as soon as possible to minimize the tax costs of the transfers, to start the "clock" running on the transfer, and to allow the growth to be attributed to the heir, rather than the benefactor.  Other reasons will appear depending upon the age and health of the benefactor, the beneficiary, the type asset transferred and the income stream that flows from the subject asset.

"What does a tax-efficient asset protection plan look like?"

• A basic plan that allows developing business and investment activities with the children of a prior marriage when there is a new spouse and children and the client is in a high-risk profession.
• A contractor with a high risk level and substantial personal assets, including a residence, wishes to invest in "pre-construction flips" and other real estate and slowly move away from contracting.
• The principal shareholder of a public company wishes to retire and initiate an real estate investment activity and participate in certain community charitable activities.
• A principal in a very high risk business wishes to provide his wife and children with assets for real estate investing and wishes to be a significant contributor to a specific charitable activity which will provide services to the societal segment that contains the majority of his employees.
• A family with a successful small business experiencing strong growth wishes to transfer ownership, but not control, to their children while values remain low and prior to a planned sale of the business in five to seven years.

• This article illustrates the type lawsuits that you might face that are "unexpected" and asks some questions that you should answer about your insurance planning.
• As we have all learned, legal claims may arise from expected and unexpected sources within your business or investment activities, from family issues, from employment related issues, from product or services related issues, and from the imagination of predatory individuals and officials.  

"What is the process - how do you do your work?"   The typical process is as follows:

• We meet with a prospective client to discuss our capabilities and experience and to learn about their situation and their goals.  

• If the client is satisfied with our capabilities and that we understand their goals, and if we agree to work with the client to achieve those goals, the discussion generally turns to a full disclosure of the financial and family aspects that relate to the work discussed.

• We will present a retainer agreement before work proceeds.   The retainer agreement will outline the work to be done and the costs and fees that will be incurred.

• When the retainer fee is received, we will then proceed to create an overall plan, similar to the charts shown above, to describe our recommendations for new and/or revised structures and other actions that we believe will be beneficial.   This is the design phase.

• We present the initial design to the client and then make any changes required based upon review of the plan with the client. 

• The client, together with us, will determine the speed with which the various aspects of the plan will be put into effect.   Some phases may be initial and immediate steps, some may be secondary or conditional steps, or may require the occurrence of certain events prior to implementation.

We will be please to discuss your particular situation with you.

Contact us by telephone or e-mail.