{"id":23830,"date":"2019-04-07T09:15:51","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T13:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/?p=23830"},"modified":"2022-11-02T16:23:40","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T21:23:40","slug":"why-everyone-needs-asset-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/blog\/why-everyone-needs-asset-protection-part2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Everyone Needs Asset Protection: A Guide To Asset Protection Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why Everyone Needs Asset Protection: <\/strong><\/h1>\n

A Guide To Asset Protection Strategies
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Whether you\u2019re holding onto a small nest egg or a multi-million dollar investment portfolio, everybody wants to keep as much money as possible in their pockets. <\/span><\/p>\n

Financial strategies designed to protect your wealth<\/a> are important whether you have less than $250,000 in assets or over $10 million in assets. It is important that you find the proper strategies that will work best for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in a world where the vast majority of legal and regulatory systems are designed to disrupt capital accumulation, that objective is harder to accomplish than you might imagine. <\/span><\/p>\n

Today, taking ownership of even a modest share of assets will expose you to a variety of risks that you may not fully understand until it\u2019s too late.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know that this might sound like unnecessary paranoia, but as someone who has spent the past 20 years or so working to achieve financial freedom, I can tell you that building real, lasting wealth can be extremely difficult if you\u2019re not prepared for the challenges that come with it. In other words, getting rich is easy \u2013 staying rich is much more difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever I get the chance, I make sure to hammer home the importance of diversification because I know how flimsy the illusion of comfort can be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why Do You Need Asset Protection?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Over the past couple of decades, we\u2019ve been through multiple major recessions, real estate bubbles, massive political upheavals and at least a couple of currency collapses. With all that going on, you better believe that you need a backup plan. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, that doesn\u2019t just mean spreading your wealth across different stocks, commodities, ETFs, REITs, and bonds. It\u2019s not even just about purchasing property and other market-resistant tangible goods (although I am a big believer in using <\/span>gold and silver<\/span> as hedging devices). <\/span><\/p>\n

To me, real diversification applies as much to the lifestyle you lead as to where you park your money. From your skill set to your income streams to the language you speak and your place of residence, you should have multiple options available in every sphere of your life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Which brings me back to the concept of asset protection; I recently spoke to an extremely well-respected professional in this field by the name of <\/span>Joel Nagel<\/span><\/a>. Joel is the founder and managing partner of Nagel & Associates, LLC, a law firm that specializes in offshore asset protection strategies, internationalization, and estate planning amongst other things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, when I\u2019m with experts, my general approach is to shut up and listen because every word coming out of their mouths might be worth millions of dollars to me someday. Joel definitely didn\u2019t disappoint on that front. <\/span><\/p>\n

While he acknowledged that the term <\/span>asset protection<\/span><\/i> might have gained somewhat of a negative reputation in this post-Panama Papers world, he stressed that the days of shady tax evasion schemes are long gone. The truth is that you simply can\u2019t stash away millions of dollars in an unnamed Swiss bank account anymore (for reasons that I\u2019ll get to in a moment). <\/span><\/p>\n

As Joel described it, offshore asset protection strategies are all about setting up walls and safeguards that will separate you from the various threats to your wealth. Although your <\/span>foreign bank accounts<\/span> might technically be visible to any government agent or attorney with sufficient authority, the layers of red tape that you\u2019ve placed between your money and those external parties should deter all but the most determined individuals from actually accessing them. <\/span><\/p>\n

At this point, you might be asking \u2013 <\/span>is all this really necessary<\/span><\/i>? Dig a little deeper and you\u2019ll see that it definitely is. Let me break it down for you<\/span><\/p>\n

Physical Risks<\/b><\/h2>\n

Now, this is a risk that pretty much everyone can relate to. If you\u2019re holding assets in a tanking economy, then you\u2019re at risk of losing a significant portion of your net worth – and it could happen in the blink of an eye. Studies show that the <\/span>average US household<\/span> lost around $70,000 in the last recession. Meanwhile, in the Eurozone, collapsing financial systems saw a number of large deposits simply disappear as banks tried to cover up their massive losses. <\/span><\/p>\n

With this kind of volatility around, storing your wealth in a single country should be a red flag for anyone, regardless of whether they\u2019re protecting ten thousand dollars or ten million.<\/span><\/p>\n

Economic Risks<\/b><\/h2>\n

Carrying on from that point, I want to talk a little bit about the inherent instability of so-called fiat currencies. Now, there was a time when every country based the value of their paper bills on their gold reserves. This so-called <\/span>gold standard<\/span> kept the value of most currencies relatively stable and ensured that governments couldn\u2019t just print money when they were running low, because every note was actually worth its weight in gold. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 1971, Nixon abolished the gold standard. Since then, we\u2019ve seen unprecedented levels of inflation and interest rate volatility, as governments have attempted every trick in the book to keep their currencies floating within a stable range. The end result is that a dollar today is worth a lot less than a dollar twenty years ago, and will, in turn, be worth a lot more than a dollar twenty years from now. <\/span><\/p>\n

The only way to get around this issue is by holding multiple currencies so that you can spread out gains and losses and hopefully break even in the long run. Of course, you need an <\/span>offshore bank account<\/span> to do that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legal Risks<\/b><\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s the elephant in the room. A lengthy court case can wipe out even the cushiest asset portfolio in a couple of years. If you\u2019re in a particularly litigious country like the United States, where <\/span>$310 billion<\/span> dollars are spent on settlements and attorney\u2019s fees every year, then this should be a constant concern. <\/span><\/p>\n

It should be noted that this isn\u2019t just a danger for doctors and corporate executives. The average entrepreneur can be targeted with claims of wrongful termination, workplace injuries, reputational damage or even vehicular accidents that occur on the commute to your office. If you\u2019re involved in any of these commonplace incidents, then you can bet that you\u2019ll soon be hearing from a lawyer that\u2019s hell-bent on going after all of your assets. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, frivolous lawsuits are all but incentivized by the US legal system, because most lawyers are able to work on a contingency basis, which essentially means that they only get paid if they win. Of course, it only costs a minimal amount of money to file a case, so even if these ambulance chasers only end up winning a small fraction of their cases, they\u2019re still making out like bandits in the long run. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, if you move your assets offshore into a country where asset holders are prioritized over plaintiffs, then you\u2019ve got a whole different proposition. Add in an airtight legal structure such as a trust or an <\/span>offshore company<\/span> and you\u2019ve built a few more walls between you and any circling legal sharks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Death and Taxes<\/b><\/h1>\n

Surprisingly, both of these issues relate to asset protection in a number of ways<\/a>. In my next blog post, I\u2019m going to explain how an offshore company can be a critical tool in your fight against the long arm of the tax agency. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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