Whether you are a highly compensated specialist who makes maximum contributions to a cash balance plan, profit sharing plan, and backdoor Roth IRA (plus spouse), health savings account, and 529’s or an unmarried primary care physician who is a W2 employee with a 401k and IRA you could find yourself in the position of saving in excess of the limits of your ERISA or state-law-protected accounts. No matter what your situation is, let’s just say you have a taxable account (at Vanguard, Fidelity, TDAmeritrade, etc.) that would be vulnerable to a potential future, unknown creditor.
You already have a substantial umbrella policy, good malpractice coverage, you practice medicine responsibly, you change the batteries in your smoke detector, and you drive safely (including driving slowly when exiting the parking garage where all the highly paid physicians walk to their parked cars).
You live in a state that doesn’t have a very generous homestead exemption, and your state doesn’t allow you to title your home as tenants-in-the-entirety.
You have no appetite for buying any type of Cash-Value Life Insurance (whole life, variable life, universal life), or variable annuities, etc. even though they may offer some protection in your state.
You have considered investing in LLCs or limited partnerships that buy real estate, but you live in a state where a charging order is not the exclusive remedy for a creditor of such an investor. You would prefer that your taxable account be simply invested in tax efficient, inexpensive, broadly diversified index funds.
You currently have no known creditors, and you are not trying to accomplish a fraudulent conveyance to escape paying a known debt.
So... How can you make sure the assets in your taxable account are always yours?
You already have a substantial umbrella policy, good malpractice coverage, you practice medicine responsibly, you change the batteries in your smoke detector, and you drive safely (including driving slowly when exiting the parking garage where all the highly paid physicians walk to their parked cars).
You live in a state that doesn’t have a very generous homestead exemption, and your state doesn’t allow you to title your home as tenants-in-the-entirety.
You have no appetite for buying any type of Cash-Value Life Insurance (whole life, variable life, universal life), or variable annuities, etc. even though they may offer some protection in your state.
You have considered investing in LLCs or limited partnerships that buy real estate, but you live in a state where a charging order is not the exclusive remedy for a creditor of such an investor. You would prefer that your taxable account be simply invested in tax efficient, inexpensive, broadly diversified index funds.
You currently have no known creditors, and you are not trying to accomplish a fraudulent conveyance to escape paying a known debt.
So... How can you make sure the assets in your taxable account are always yours?
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