Asset Protection for High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI)

You saved, struggled, and built up your wealth enough that you’ve finally achieved true financial freedom. When you pass the $10 million net worth mark, you have enough money to build a business, pursue any kind of education you want, purchase property, and secure generational wealth for your kids and grandkids.

There's just one problem: when you become a high-net-worth individual (HNWI), creditors, lawsuit plaintiffs, and other legal opponents are much more aggressive and committed to taking the wealth you’ve earned through years of effort. 

One of the first things you should do with your newfound wealth is invest in asset protection.

But simply sequestering some of your money away into a basic trust or the stock market isn't enough. Instead, you need to partner with knowledgeable legal and financial advisors who can help you develop an effective strategy for high-net-worth asset protection.

And the best way to grasp asset protection for high-net-worth individuals like you is to first look at asset protection for the median person.

Asset Protection for the Average Joe

Lots of people take advantage of asset protection plans and strategies, like offshore trusts, that make it difficult for creditors and lawsuit plaintiffs to get a hold of money, property, and other vital assets. 

But there's a world of difference between "normal" asset protection for people with a few million dollars in net worth and asset protection for individuals like you: successful entrepreneurs, surgeons, and business owners.

Simply put, a firm that works on asset protection for the average Joe isn’t the right group to contact under any circumstances. 

That’s because such a firm provides ordinary services for ordinary people. Any services, packages, or asset protection plans they offer will be focused on clients of this type: in other words, clients unlike you.

Indeed, many asset protection strategies for very small business owners or working professionals – say, folks that have $3 million in total assets – are templated, standardized, and too rudimentary to be relied on when considering the creative strategies your opponents might employ in pursuit of your wealth.

What Does Asset Protection Mean for HNWIs?

There are assets, and then there are assets. More specifically, high-net-worth individuals often have assets far and above what the average Joe can imagine. 

We aren't talking about a few cars in the garage; we're talking about multiple cars, multiple properties, several businesses or subsidiary companies, stocks and bonds, investment interests, and lots of liquid capital.

There’s a lot to protect, simply put, when you are an HNWI. And if that’s the case for you, you need to understand what quality asset protection means for someone in your financial situation.

Quality is Everything

First and foremost, good asset protection for someone at your financial level should focus on quality to the exclusion of all other factors. At your level of wealth, you don’t buy things based on how affordable they are, right? You don’t, for example, go to purchase a new car and look for a budget, beat-up used sedan. No – you purchase a car that’s well worth your time and money.

The same philosophy applies when it comes to asset protection. When you need to keep your estate safe not just for the next few years but for decades to come, you want the Lamborghini of the financial and legal sectors. 

You want the best of the best, a quality asset protection plan that looks at all the possible threat vectors you might encounter and has a contingency plan in place for each of them. You can get that with specialized services like Dominion.

Of course, this is also why a lot of the advice you find online about asset protection isn’t applicable to your situation or financial protection needs. Most asset protection articles are written for median net worth individuals or the average American. 

Those people are looking for cheap trusts, accessible instruments, and flexible estate planning solutions.

They aren't concerned about lawyers coming after them for $20 million. Even if a lawyer were to try something like that, the average American wouldn't be able to pay that kind of bill!

Here’s the bottom line: your asset protection plan should be high-quality and premium in terms of service results, flexibility, and savvy strategic value. Think of it as an investment that pays for itself and it worth far more than the standard alternative.

More Options/Flexibility

High net worth asset protection also differs from standard asset protection in terms of the options available to you, many of which come from the fact that you have more money to work with. Simply put, if you have over $10 million in net worth – especially substantially more – you have:

• More investment options for the assets you put into a trust or other instruments. The more options you have, the more ways are available for your money to make you even more money as time goes on
• Better tax reduction opportunities. This oftentimes forms a positive feedback loop, in that your tax reduction strategies allow your money to grow even faster, so you can take advantage of more tax reduction opportunities, and so on and so forth
• You have access to the best, most specialized asset protection planners, like Dominion. The best help isn’t affordable: it’s premium for a reason. When you work with us, you’ll get your money’s worth and then some
• More opportunities and flexibility regarding insurance

Versatility is highly important when it comes to effective asset protection. After all, laws change all the time, and you can never know when a new legal threat might arise. 

Therefore, your high net worth asset protection strategy needs to incorporate contingencies and anticipate possibilities that might arise to threaten your estate sometime in the future.

Different Needs in Asset Protection Providers

More broadly, those with lots of money or assets to protect have different needs compared to folks with a few million dollars in the bank or stashed away in various properties.

As a high-net-worth individual, you have two primary needs for an asset protection strategy:

• You need to protect your assets from a variety of threats
• You need to use your money to build even more wealth over time

The second objective doesn't really apply to the average American, let alone a very small business owner who only has $1 million combined in both the bank and their total property value. You have to have several million dollars at a bare minimum to start putting the money to work for you.

Thus, good asset protection for high-net-worth individuals like yourself will accomplish both objectives simultaneously. 

When you work with Dominion, our comprehensive plans cannot only keep your estate and assets safe and secure, but can also ensure that your estate grows in the background while you build your business, retire in comfort, or accomplish any other objective you have in mind.

Proper Asset Protection for HNWIs

Let's dive a little deeper into what exactly you need to protect your assets as a high-net-worth individual.

Layers of Protection

Firstly, you need not just basic protection but multiple layers of protection that integrate well together and defend you against all possible financial or legal hazards. 

When you have millions upon millions of dollars to protect, either in terms of liquid capital or property/other assets, there are several different things that can damage your estate:

• Lawsuits, particularly those that come at you in rapid succession
• Loans, bills, and other debts
• Massive tax payments

Strategically sound asset protection for HNWIs will leverage multiple layers of protection to defend you from each of these hazards and more at the same time.

For example, you might set up an offshore asset protection trust. This instrument is highly effective at defending all types of assets because it can be set up in a very legally resilient jurisdiction, making it almost impossible for an American court or lawyer, for example, to access the assets stored within.

However, you’ll also want to set up an asset protection trust in a bank that’s trustworthy and, crucially, that doesn’t have several subsidiary or secondary branches in vulnerable jurisdictions. 

These kinds of vulnerabilities could allow an aggressive creditor or lawyer to get access to your asset protection trust through one of those secondary branches, bypassing the primary branch and its legal barricades entirely.

Simultaneously, your asset protection trust should be managed by an experienced, highly trustworthy trustee. 

Rather than appointing a trust protector, who can complicate the issue and actually make your trust more vulnerable, the right trustee can shield your trust from any inquests or attacks, all while carrying out your instructions capably.

Wealth Growth and Advanced Management

Asset protection for high-net-worth individuals often focuses on using the money stored in those trusts to excellent effect. With that in mind, a Dominion-style asset protection plan will also incorporate ways to grow your wealth and manage it in the most efficient way possible.

This is often accomplished by investing your assets in wise instruments or securities. But it can also include investing money into companies in the jurisdiction of your offshore asset protection trust, investing in your business through creative means, and other highly technical strategies that we won’t discuss here.

Rest assured that there are always ways to make your money grow over time. Just like with tax reduction strategies, the more money you have, the easier it is to make more money and grow that treasury over time.

Does Cost for Asset Protection Matter?

Absolutely, but it doesn’t mean you should opt for the most affordable asset protection strategy available to you. 

Remember, if your asset protection trust and strategy are both set up correctly, your offshore trust will generate income for you while protecting you at the same time. You can think of good asset protection as paying for itself in the long run.

In any case, it’s better to pay for quality than it is to try to save a buck here or there and end up paying for it much later down the road. Imagine working with a budget law firm that specializes in standard asset protection. You get your trust set up for very low prices. Good for you, right?

Not really. As soon as a creditor or aggressive lawyer comes after your money, don’t expect that basic trust to be able to do anything for you. It might as well be a paper-thin shield wrapped around your assets. A lawyer can punch through that layer of paper and get to everything you hold dear.

Think of asset protection as a wall in front of your assets. Would you rather have a wall made of:

• Straw?
• Sticks?
• Bricks?
• Titanium?

You're already a high-net-worth individual. You can afford premium protection. There's no reason not to get it.

Even better, if you have over $10 million in net worth, you can afford titanium-level asset protection. That’s what we offer at Dominion: more than protection, more than basic legal defense. We offer consistent, perpetual peace of mind and the knowledge that your money will continue to grow larger while it sits behind a bulletproof shield that no lawyer can touch.

It’s protection that your money can buy. And you can buy it right now.

Get in Touch with Dominion Today

All in all, it’s never worthwhile to compromise the security of your assets by going with a road or standard asset protection plan. Instead, it’s far better to stick with the experts who understand your situation and your unique needs.

A high-net-worth asset protection plan from Dominion is exactly what you need. 

The strategies we employ are highly effective and 100% confidential; you won't be able to find the methods or tactics we employ online. That's because we've developed efficient, durable strategies for asset protection over many years and know what works for entrepreneurs or other HNWIs like you.

With asset protection, the sooner you get started, the better. Get in touch with a representative from Dominion today to discuss your options and learn how we can help.