Offshore Asset Protection Advice

There are companies out there - some of them more reputable than others - who will quite happily charge you a huge fee for offshore asset protection advice, advice that quite simply you can figure out for yourself free of charge.

This article is to help you understand the concepts of offshore asset protection, what you can and can’t do for yourself, what you can do for free and when to call in the experts for assistance.

Asset protection is all about, well, protecting your assets (!) whether that be from unfair litigation, excess taxation, acts of God or con artists, and the ‘offshore’ element comes in when you place assets such as money or intellectual property for example physically out of the reach of those from whom you wish to protect your property.

In terms of the steps you can take yourself to protect your assets here are our top seven tips for basic asset protection: -

1) Any asset that you have that could potentially draw negative or greedy attention or generate a liability should be separated in terms of the owner entity from the next asset of this kind.  Therefore your day to day business interests should be under the management of one entity - for example a limited company - and your home should be in the name of another entity - for example it could be in your own personal name.  If you have subsequent investment properties these should not be mixed in with your own property or your other business interests.  Basically divide everything up so that if one element of your business or personal assets comes under attack all other assets are protected.

2) Consider taking advice before making any far reaching business or financially impacting decisions from a well trained lawyer in the same way you would take advice on your health from a doctor.  Lawyers are after all trained to advise on the far reaching consequences of actions taken, their advice could save you from making costly mistakes.  Advice need not be expensive and be prepared to negotiate with a solicitor on the fees you will be charged for their time.

3) Be extremely careful in business if entering into any form of partnership.  If at all possible separate liabilities and responsibilities so that no one partner can affect your personal or financial standing.

4) Don’t necessarily feel the need to show off your wealth and reveal your assets – if you can avoid the trappings of status anxiety others will be less sure about what you do have and will be less likely to attack!

5) Every single country in the world has different laws of taxation, different rules concerning offshore asset protection strategies and even different ways of handling law suits and claims - therefore ensure that you understand the important legal and financial aspects of the countries in which you live, do business or have assets.

6) Don’t ignore potentially problematic issues – they won’t go away.  Address problems head on, take advice and cover yourself for the long term.

7) Consider taking out insurance to protect your assets, your life, your business interests and your potential liabilities.  Insurance is boring but it can defend and protect and preserve your assets.

Okay, that’s the stuff you can tackle yourself, now on to some of the more complicated strategies that are available for those wishing to create as comprehensive an offshore asset protection plan as possible…

We all have a natural desire to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our possessions from negative influences, and a part of this desire is usually a strong urge to protect our hard earned wages and hard won property from excessive and unfair taxation.  While tax evasion is most defiantly a crime, utilising every available and legitimate opportunity to reduce our taxation burden is not - therefore there are certain offshore and onshore paths to take.  This article covers the options in more depth: - http://www.shelteroffshore.com/index.php/offshore/more/offshore_asset_protection/ but generally speaking one can potentially utilise the advantages of an offshore trust or offshore company structure; furthermore certain onshore family trust structures can assist particularly with inheritance taxation planning.  For those who do business, live or travel internationally, offshore bank accounts and investments may have some taxation advantages. 

Finally it’s important to introduce the concept of good and reputable advisories.  A financial advisory who takes into account every aspect of your personal and working life, who is in a position to design, put into effect, manage and review a personalised asset protection plan and whose advice is independent is one you can consider trusting.

Page 1 of 1