Saturday, December 7, 2013

Asset Protection Planning Strategies To Help Investors Safeguard Their Assets

By Tiffany Gill


As you continue accumulating wealth, you need to take measures to protect it. You can do this through asset protection planning which involves using various strategies to reduce the risk of losing your assets or paying too much tax. Asset protection can help you make it difficult or very costly for a person who has sued you to reach your assets.

If the attorney who is representing a plaintiff finds out that collecting against the assets of the defendant is difficult, he or she can choose to drop the charges or settle on terms favorable to the defendant. Well structured wealth protection plan do not attempt to hide assets. Instead, they use structures such as limited liability companies and trusts to safeguard the investments of an individual in an ethical, legal and effective way.

After investors implement plans to safeguard their wealth, they can rest assured that their assets will be safe even if lawsuits are filed against them. To create such a plan, investors have to be objective and clear about their goals and start early. One effective strategy of shielding wealth from lawsuits is increasing the limits of liability insurance. Individuals can make sure that the amount of their umbrella liability coverage equals the amount of their net worth.

People who own rental properties should protect themselves from disgruntled tenants. They can do this by creating a limited liability company or corporation to safeguard their assets. If a tenant sues them for any amount, they will only be able to attack the investments in the firm that holds their real estate. All their other assets will be safe.

It is also essential that you review the joint accounts you have. If you have money in joint accounts with your business partners, children, roommates or elderly parents, you can lose it if the joint account holder is sued or gets divorced. As a precaution, make sure that you do not place a large amount of money into a jointly held account.

Formalizing informal partnerships is another way to protect your assets. Operating an informal business partnership is risky because you are responsible for the actions your partner takes. If your partner is sued, your assets in that partnership can be in jeopardy. It is wise to avoid or formalize partnerships or form entities like limited liability companies which can provide you with added legal protection.

You can also safeguard your investments from creditors by placing them into an asset protection trust. This involves transferring a part of your investments into a trust that is operated by an independent trustee. Such a trust can enable you to protect even the investments owned by your children.

Some asset protection planning strategies are simple to implement. For example, an investor can choose to transfer his or her assets to the name of his or her spouse. Another option is to invest more money into employer sponsored retirement plans in order to gain from unlimited protection. Keeping business investments separate from personal investors is the other simple way to safeguard assets.




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