Asset protection is the process of protecting personal or business wealth. For advice on how you can protect your assets, both business and personal, talk to Endeavour Financial Planning.
Your assets could include savings, both in cash and investments, but also houses, offices, cars, jewellery and other valuable items.
There are two main ways to protect your assets: trusts and insurance.
Family trusts:
A family trust can be used to transfer your assets for the benefit of your family. This means that legally, the assets that are transferred are not owned by you. You can become a trustee of your trust so you still say how the assets owned by the trust can be distributed to your family.
If you transfer all or a majority of your assets to a family trust, then they will usually be safe from any creditor demands, lawsuits and claims by ex-spouses or partners. The family will also save on inheritance tax after you die.
Transferring assets to a trust also means that if you need to go into care, then your assets, such as your home, should be protected from a forced sale to pay for care costs.
Most people who set up family trusts are over 55 and have considerable assets, but this isn’t always the case.
Insurance:
Most people protect their physical assets through insurance. Cars, property, jewellery, art and other objects of valuable can be insured.
As a business owner, a limited company protects your personal liability in case the business fails. Most professions have professional liability insurance to protect from lawsuits and claims of malpractice.
Savings and investments:
The case of banks failing in Cyprus resulted in some people losing some of their savings. Fortunately, if your savings are deposited in a British bank then up to a certain level they will be safe.
Investments in shares or unit trusts carry risk and cannot be protected if they decrease in value. To protect your investment assets as much as possible, it may be advisable to spread your investments to spread the risk.
If you have pensions savings, then provided the pension scheme is regulated by the Financial Conducts Authority, your pension is protected.
Start today
If you want to protect your and your family’s hard-earned wealth, talk to Endeavour Financial Planning today about how we can work with you to protect your valuable assets.
The plan will have no cash value at any time, and will cease at the end of the term. If premium are not maintained, then cover will lapse
Trusts and Inheritance Tax Planning advice are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
