Email Article Print Article

Trust.

By Rob Lambert - Email Editor

Date : June 19, 2008

Our economy is terrible (you already know this). Fuel prices are rising, inflation is beginning, hundreds of thousands of good folks are losing their jobs, and much of the world is looking to the United States as a once great superpower that is squandering its resources and people in ill-advised wars.

Regardless of how you feel about this (and I am sure to get many emails telling me how short-sighted I am, even though I haven’t even taken a position on our forays abroad or the innate strength of our economy), one thing you cannot argue about is that our economy (and that of much of the industrialized world) is faltering. It’s hard to buy gas, much less a decent home.

THE FOLLOWING IS CLEAR, regardless of what you perceive the causes to be.

When the desire for Asset Protection Planning increases many folks hit the Internet looking for a cheap, do it yourself “Plan” to protect their assets, often from legitimate creditors.

Many of these people, desperate to protect some of their hard earned assets, will make some fundamental mistakes. In this newsletter, I want to warn you of one of the most common mistakes you may make if you move down the road toward cheap, do it yourself Asset Protection Planning.

What is this mistake?

Simple.

TRUSTING SOMEBODY WITH YOUR MONEY. This is something you almost never need to do when you are being guided by a solid Asset Protection Specialist.

One of my key rules of Asset Protection is: It's your money, and you should never trust anyone with it unless there is no other alternative and you have taken steps to satisfy yourself that your hard earned savings are completely insulated from theft!

Why is this such a problem? Again, the answer is simple. The easiest way to implement a Plan is to follow the advice of many of the self-styled gurus, which is, "Just put your money with a foreign trust company. It's cheap and easy. Trust them!"

Don't believe this nonsense for a moment! You should never trust anyone with your hard earned money without solid checks and balances!

Each year, foreign trust companies steal millions of dollars of funds that
have been placed with them. These companies are usually small, they're not
safe, and if you don't have to trust them, then you shouldn't.

Remember this: A good, solid, Asset Protection Plan, when first implemented, never forces you to trust anyone with your money. If you get under serious attack, control may be entrusted to someone else, but that still doesn't mean that you ever need to expose yourself to theft.

I'll emphasize this again: It's your money, never trust anyone with it!

If any planner suggests that you simply put your money with some foreign trust company (or worse, some phony straw man in some state like Nevada or Alaska) …..RUN. YOU ARE ENDANGERING YOUR FUNDS. It is like having unprotected sex with an HIV infected drug addict. NEVER NECESSARY and NEVER A GOOD IDEA.

Why am I writing this at this time? Again, it’s simple.

In the last several months I have been contacted by many people making this fundamental mistake. I have also become involved in several efforts to recover money that has been stolen by some seemingly fancy trust companies. NEVER GIVE THEM THE POWER TO STEAL YOUR MONEY. PERIOD. These trust companies know the rules. They use the same Asset Protection techniques the pros use to keep their stolen money out of the hands of the legitimate beneficiaries of these funds. It is not a pretty sight. Unfortunately, the rules which protect properly protected and completely legitimate and clean funds also work to allow the crooks to keep control of their ill gotten gains.

Never go from the frying pan into the fire.

When you want protection, do it right and guard your flanks in the process.

Have a healthy and protected week.

Rob Lambert

RELATED ARTICLES:

• Protect the equity in your home
• Asset Protection Plans
• C.A.L.M. Introduction
• Get educated on Asset Protection