Protecting your Business Interests
Protect business interests as part of your personal wealth management strategy
If you’re a business owner, your company is likely the biggest asset you own. As you carefully craft your personal wealth strategy, there are a wide variety of asset-protection strategies you should consider to help ensure that your business will remain a valuable asset for you and your family. Here are a few examples:
Form separate entities to conduct riskier business activities. Provided the entities are structured and operated properly, you can prevent creditors from going after assets owned by other entities within the group — even if they have common ownership.
Execute a sale-leaseback. Under this approach, you sell certain valuable assets to another entity created by the company’s owners, and then you lease them back. Again, if it’s done right, you’ll ensure that the assets no longer belong to your company and, therefore, are out of creditors’ reach.
Strip the company of equity. Doing this may sound counter-intuitive, but it leaves less wealth exposed to creditor claims. Equity stripping typically involves pledging company assets as collateral for a loan and then lending funds to its owners, who protect the loan proceeds with their own personal asset-protection arrangements.
These are but a few examples of many to consider. We can help you pinpoint the strategies that both protect your specific assets and preserve your company’s distinctive ability to stay competitive. Please note; these approaches do not make sense for all businesses and can create more risk in some circumstances. Please contact us at your convenience and let’s get started.
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