Email Article Print Article

Two Asset Protection Rules For 2008

By Rob Lambert - Email Editor

Date : 17-Jan-2008

2008 is upon us. The recession has started. The campaign is well underway. 2008 will be a tough year for many people. Respect for the government is low, political rhetoric (aka lies) is up; and, most importantly for many, income and stability are down.

One of the key indicators for me comes from my personal day-to-day interaction with the young marines from Camp Pendelton, the Marine base less than two miles from my home, where many of our soldiers are trained. Most are on their way to Iraq or have been there already. I see quite a number of these soldiers on a daily basis and often treat them to dinner. I now see something different in these Marines. The difference is a lingering doubt these soldiers feel, always expressed in confidence, over the direction and quality of their leadership. This never happened two or three years ago. Even our brave warriors are losing confidence in their leadership or at least the direction of their mission. Yes, they still risk their lives and many will continue to die for me and my family’s freedom; however, even the die-hard, chain-of-command-God-and-Country guys are wondering.
 

The reason I am pointing this out is that uncertainty breeds failure. Failure breeds economic pain, and economic pain breeds lawsuits. It is certain that we live in uncertain times. The bottom line is that it is time to get your affairs protected. The period of political and economic uncertainty we are entering makes this more important than ever.

I am going to start the year with the most important Asset Protection fundamentals you can master: the two rules. I devote at least one newsletter a year to them; however, this year is special because they are more important.

Well, here they are. Master these and it will be much harder for one of the smoke and mirror, Asset Protection scammers out there to ever get to you.

The Two KEY rules of Asset Protection.

RULE 1: What you don’t own can’t be taken from you.
I have repeated this so many times that it is boring to my long time subscribers; however, even they should take the two minutes to reread this. Suffice to say that if you don’t own something (even though you gave it away to an Asset Protection Trust) it is NOT fair game for a creditor. PERIOD. The only potential catch is that you need to be sure that the transfer to the new entity was not a fraudulent conveyance.

Rule 1 is really all you need if you have absolute confidence in U.S. judges and juries. I do not, which is why Rule 2 is important.

RULE 2: No country in the world automatically enforces U.S. Judgments.
This rule lets you change the ball game with a stroke of a pen. If assets are not yours (rule 1), and they can be placed into a situation where U.S. judgments are ignored (rule 2), then they are hard and very expensive to take.

What a proper plan invoking both rules does is remove the economic incentive to litigate. Few contingent fee lawyers litigate on principal. They litigate for money and nothing else. Like common burglars they look for easy targets. It is our job to make sure that you are never an easy target.

I wish you a healthy and protected week….and don’t forget the two rules.

Have a healthy and protected week.

Rob Lambert

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Managing Asset Protection Offshore
• Making the Most Out of Hedge Funds That Drive Success
• Working Your Portfolio to Being Green
• Finding Better Ways to Manage Your Money