Good to Great: How to Scale With an Outsourced CFO

You work hard to build your wealth, and it’s your responsibility to protect it from lawsuits, creditors, irresponsible children, and other dangers. If you’re a business owner, succession planning is another important aspect of asset protection. Do you have peace of mind when it comes to asset protection? If you have the following asset protection measures in place, you will find that peace of mind you’re looking for.

A Strategy for Transferring and Protecting Assets

Assets can become vulnerable during a transfer of ownership, so it’s important to have strategies in place for their protection. Some people decide to transfer their personal assets to a trust as a way to protect them, and this can be a very effective strategy. Speak with your financial adviser about whether or not this is right for your estate.

Structures & Wills

A solid will is essential for giving your heirs instructions on how to distribute your assets. A will alleviates stress and lengthy court battles. You should review your will about every 3 to 5 years to make sure it still reflects your wishes. You should also update your will when you get married or divorced, when children or grandchildren are born, when an executor or beneficiary dies, or if there is a major change in your financial situation.

Control of Assets

Whether you’re protecting assets for your own estate or for your company’s, you may want to consider a trust for controlling your assets. A trustee takes care of the day-to-day trust management, and this can give you more power to direct the affairs of the assets.

Powers of Attorney & Guardianship

A general power of attorney allows you to appoint someone to make financial decisions on your behalf. This can be useful in a number of situations. For example, if you’re going to be overseas for some time, you can give someone else the power to pay your bills or sell your house. It can also be useful if you are ill or injured for a long period of time and need someone else to manage your affairs for you.

Life Insurance

Life insurance makes it possible for your family to continue living their current lifestyle even if you’re no longer around to provide for them. Without life insurance, they may have to spend your savings or sell important assets in order to pay for day-to-day expenses. Adequate life insurance brings enormous peace of mind and goes a long way toward protecting your assets.

Superannuation

Superannuation is a protected asset in bankruptcy, which puts it in a unique class when it comes to asset protection. Superannuation does something even better, and that is that it protects your retirement assets from yourself. Financial hard times come to everyone, and it’s very tempting to dip into retirement savings to save the day, but superannuation is off limits, and that can be a very good thing.

Estate Planning

Your estate planning process should be coordinated between your attorney and your insurance broker as well as your financial adviser. With all of these eyes on your plan, you’ll have peace of mind when it comes to your asset protection.

For more information about asset protection - or for any other financial planning matter - contact us at Altus Financial.