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Having Options

By John Dietz - Email Editor

Date : Nov 14, 2006

Dear Subscriber:

Is U.S. domestic Asset Protection Planning better than offshore planning? Some promoters would have you believe that, but the fact is both are an integral part of a well-designed Asset Protection Plan. It really is hard to know what to believe with all “the noise” that is out there on the airwaves. It’s pretty straight forward if you follow the rules.

Rob’s Asset Protection rules:

1. What you don’t own can’t be taken from you.
2. No country in the world recognizes U.S. judgments.

Once you activate that in your brain, a fair amount of “the noise” will clearly become utter nonsense. In fact, it would be easier said that some promoters never let the facts get in the way of the story.

Here are some facts to consider. In order to have a complete Asset Protection Plan, you need to be able to have the ability to move your assets to a safe harbor. Your plan should consist of many dynamics and options. For me, this is really where the rubber meets the road: options, options, and more options. …

Have you ever gone to the movies without checking the times? If you have, you know they will not start a special feature movie just for you; there are specific show times. In other words, if you allot two hours to see a movie, and not a specific two hours, you will be sitting around eating popcorn in the lobby and waiting.

Some of the basic questions to ask yourself:
1. Do I need to protect my home?
2. Am I concerned about my investments?
3. Do I have liquid assets in my name or my spouse’s name?
4. Am I concerned about lowering my overall tax?
5. Do I own investment property, and is it in my name?
6. Is my IRA up for grabs?

These are just some basic considerations. Another major concern could be your chosen profession. It may not be high risk, but that’s almost meaningless if you have any assets to speak of.

What I am really talking about is a complete business plan for your life. Not the 12 second sound bite that grabs you before a commercial.

Having options means the capacity to move your assets into a protected environment either domestically or offshore. The two real reasons to move money offshore are protection from a creditor attack and/or investment options. It’s interesting to note that there are approximately 9,000 mutual funds in the U.S.; however, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 54,000 mutual type funds in the rest of the world. Now those are options. There are also a host of annuities and life insurance products that may help with your estate and tax planning domestically and offshore, and again, here we are, back to options.

Here is my 12 second sound bite before the commercial:

What are your options if you don’t plan? Yes, you can get sued; yes, you can pay more than your fair share of taxes; yes, your estate will be probated; and yes, one of your family members will probably go through your hard-earned accumulated assets from your lifetime in less than a year.

You planned when and where you wanted to go to see the movie…interestingly enough that it would probably not take more than the time for a movie to get a real good fix on your financial life.

Think about it: Simple planning to see a movie changed your entire evening…instead of sitting in the lobby, you saw the movie.

Until next time,

John

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