As an investor, your assets are your business. If your business experiences any financial hardship or loss, you could risk having to give up many of your assets to creditors. However, establishing strong asset protection plans allow you to keep your assets safe and allow them to remain in your possession no matter what happens.

Buy Insurance

Asset protection insurance allows you professional help in protecting what you’ve worked so hard to gain. This type of protection is a personal liability insurance that protects your assets beyond the limitations of its regular insurance. This means that if your insurance needs extend beyond your car or homeowner’s insurance, you’ll have full coverage. There are several options you can go with to insure your assets. You can choose umbrella insurance, Guaranteed Asset Protection insurance, or life insurance, among others. Life insurance, while a seemingly unconventional option for asset insurance, takes your loved ones into consideration. This protects your family in the event of your death, and keeps them financially secure.

Put Your Properties in an LLC

This option is one of the most popular options for asset protection. Putting your assets into an LLC stops any creditors from having access to them. This means that your bank account, home, and company are all protected from creditors. Instead, you’ll be protected should your company experience any financial hardship or loss. This option can be especially helpful if you run rental properties, because so much of your company is constantly shifting and adjusting. An LLC offers liability protection for your personal finances. Your personal bank account will not be able to be accessed by creditors should you experience financial difficulty in your business.

Establish Asset Protection Trusts

An Asset Protection Trust (APT) is the strongest protection you can give to your assets. This option is a trust that is established to maintain the inaccessibility of your assets by creditors. An APT allows you to establish yourself as the beneficiary and the grantor of the trust. This allows you access to your assets, but creditors are unable to access them. APTs are typically created as offshore trusts established outside of the U.S. This allows them to be safe from any U.S. judgements regarding your trust.

Protecting your assets is one of the most important aspects of investing. If you want to remain successful, you need to be prepared for every scenario. Keeping your assets protected in one of these ways allows you to remain in control of your assets in the event that your business experiences financial hardship.

Check out this article on special situations that warrant greater investment in property safety!