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Asset Protection Lessons From Katrina

By Rob Lambert - Email Editor

Date: 08-Sep-2005

I've decided to give my discussion of Kinetic Asset Protection a week's rest.

Instead, I want to focus on some of the simple Asset Protection lessons from Katrina.

We don't need another newsletter commenting on the ridiculously slow and inadequate initial response by FEMA and other governmental agencies.

Suffice it to say, you don't need to be a brain surgeon to figure out that people need water to survive in 90-plus degree weather. Unfortunately, our bureaucracy didn't comprehend and respond to this urgent need. I am certain that we will find out that many people died needlessly from dehydration.

Why mention this in an Asset Protection newsletter? Because it points out several cardinal rules of Asset Protection.

First: Don't depend on the government for anything. The State and Federal governments don't care. The politicians are purchasable (just ask the lobbyists). If you depend on the government to take care of you (and this includes judges, juries, legislatures and agencies) you will be sorely disappointed most of the time. Asset Protection in the form of tort reform will never come in any adequate fashion. The greedy contingent fee tort lawyers have too strong of a lobby. Bottom line: The next best thing to tort reform is solid Asset Protection. I often call it “self-help tort reform.” It is a terrible thing that you can't depend on the government; however, it is the truth. Chairman Mao adopted the slogan “self-reliance” for China for a number of years. You should do the same.

Second: Don't forget the little things. Many of those people who died or were injured by dehydration would have avoided harm if they thought ahead and grabbed a couple gallons of bottled water. Most didn't in their wildest dreams ever think that the most powerful nation in the world wouldn't figure out how to deliver water to its own citizens; yet, that is the reality.

What are the Asset Protection “little things?” There are many which will be handled in future newsletters. Here is a short list:

• Don't forget to homestead your personal residence.

• Don't forget retirement planning (most is well protected).

• Don't forget insurance.

• Don't forget a will or estate planning trust.

• Don't forget health care directives.

• Don't forget to keep an adequate supply of any needed drugs.

• Don't forget to save for education and a rainy day.

Don't forget the many seemingly insignificant issues like using a car seat for small children, kissing your spouse good night and saying I love you, sitting back and enjoying health while you have it, or doing your best to keep your health by eating right and exercising.

I am grateful to be healthy and protected. I wish you the same.

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