Year: 2010

In this final article in this series on how best to protect your assets against a lawsuit, I want to cover one final area as well as help you develop a coordinated asset protection strategy.    Protecting your home. Protecting your home against lawsuit may be one of the biggest challenges. Most couples hold title to their […]

Thus far in this series on protecting your assets from a lawsuit, we’ve covered lifestyle issues, insurance planning, federal and state exemptions, titling of assets and the use of trusts. Legal documents are another way to protect your assets and today I’ll cover three categories: legacy planning, life insurance planning and prenuptial agreements. Legacy Planning. When I […]

The way most people title their assets does little to protect them in the event of a legal judgment. The three worst ways to own property, from an asset protection point of view, are in your own name, joint ownership or in a partnership.    Owning assets in your name. The main advantages include simplicity and flexibility […]

Last week I began a series on asset protection by discussing how you can reduce your risk of lawsuit through making changes in your lifestyle and protect assets by purchasing an umbrella insurance policy. When working with our clients, we do a Liability Risk Assessment whereby we attempt to determine if there are any obvious liability […]

There is a litigation crisis in America where the mantra is, “Sue everybody and we’ll sort it out later’. It is estimated that there are over 1 million lawyers in America…one for every 300 citizens. So what are the chances of you getting sued sometime during your lifetime? Turns out they’re pretty good. In fact, some research suggests that […]

Over the past several weeks, I’ve discussed retirement strategies based on whether you’re in your twenties to thirties; forties to fifties; or are in your sixties with retirement just around the corner. To review those column’s go to the Resource Center at www.welchgroup.com and click on ‘Stewart’s Column’.    One retirement solution everyone should consider is creating […]

Last week I began a discussion about retirement strategies for those of you who are in your sixties and can see the light at the end of the retirement tunnel. Some of you may have discovered that the light is actually an oncoming train! I began with the importance of figuring out just how much money you […]

Last week, I began a discussion about retirement planning for those of you in your twenties, thirties, forties and fifties. This week I’ll address the special challenges of those in their 60’s for whom retirement is just around the corner. If you fall into this category, it is vital that you clearly understand where you are now […]

In preparing for a speech for a group of retirees, I ran across some interesting research. American’s, on average, owe $53,000 and have only $1,500 in savings. A recent US Today article cited research indicating that almost 50% of Americans age 55 and older have never calculated how much money they need for retirement! Wake up folks! If you […]

  A friend once called me with concern over a gift his parents made to his sister.  His parents had given her $150,000 worth of stock to purchase a home. She then sold the stock and bought the home. The parents didn’t see anything wrong with this. After all, it is their money and they […]