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Welcome to The Keenan Roberts Advantage, where we discuss how families and business owners tactically grow and preserve wealth for generations to come. There's a right way and a wrong way to protect your business, grow wealth and transfer it. But most people only learn the hard way when it's too late. The advantage you get here is learning the strategies used by the wealthy, by top business owners, and by those who don't just make money, but know how to keep it. I'm here to break down these strategies in a way that's clear. actionable and most importantly something you can actually use.
I am not a CPA, attorney, or financial advisor. The information in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be taken as legal, tax, or financial advice. Always do your own research and consult with a qualified professional before making any financial or legal decisions
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[00:00:00] Hello friends and family. Welcome back to the Keenan Roberts Advantage, where we discuss how families and business owners tactically grow and preserve wealth for generations to come. This episode is brought to you by AssetSmart. And today we're talking about something every family, every business owner needs to understand.
Which is how to protect your assets in 2025. Wouldn't you want to know how to protect your assets against all the foolishness going on in 2025? Well, first of all, you have to understand, ladies and gentlemen, that the rules of the game are changing. Lawsuits are increasing and of course, taxes are shifting and new regulations are making it even harder to keep what you've built.
If you own a business. Invest in real estate or have significant assets, guess what, you're a target. And if you don't have a plan in place, you're leaving yourself, your business, [00:01:00] and your family exposed. By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly how to protect your business and personal wealth from lawsuits, creditors, and the IRS, without making costly mistakes.
So let's get into it. Okay. What are the biggest asset protection risks in 2025? Number one, maybe not in this exact order, but starting with lawsuits, lawsuits are a major threat to families, especially business owners. So I want to cover a few data points with you. Okay. The United States has a high volume of lawsuits with over 40 million filed.
I'd say that's quite a bit. 36 percent of small businesses have been sued at least once in 90 percent will face a lawsuit eventually, according to the small business administration. So let's put that into [00:02:00] perspective. Small businesses take on shoulder carry 160 billion out of 347 billion.
In commercial liability costs. This means that in 2021, the United States commercial liability costs total to over 347 billion with small businesses bearing 160 billion of that burden, basically small businesses are defined as making 10 million or less annually accounted for nearly 50 percent of the total commercial liability costs, despite only representing 20 percent of the commercial revenues.
That's pretty crazy. Okay, let's move on. If you're in real estate, healthcare, construction, finance, due to regulatory complexities and high [00:03:00] value transactions, you are considered high risk industries for litigation. So basically what that means is there's a higher chance that you're going to get sued.
That's why lawsuits are a major threat. Are you protecting your family? Are you protecting your business? Are you protecting what you've built from lawsuits? What I'm trying to get you to understand is that you think that you are. Never going to be targeted. I don't know why, but the truth is whether you are or not, the goal is to preserve wealth in order to preserve wealth.
You have to protect it in order to protect things. You have to prevent things. You have to plan for these. [00:04:00] Number two, the corporate veil is weaker than you think. Many business owners assume that an LLC or a corporation protects them from these lawsuits. . But in reality, courts can pierce the corporate veil and go after personal assets. And I talked about this in my other episodes, why every business owner needs a trust and how to structure it the right way. You'll have to hear that to get a better understanding of how that works, but number three. Rising estate taxes and new IRS rules. Well, this is interesting. This one's very interesting because the federal estate tax exemption is scheduled to drop from 13.
61 million to around 7 million in 2026. Due to the sunset provision of the tax cuts and job acts of 2017. . So what are estate taxes? Estate taxes are triggered by specific events. [00:05:00] Primarily related to the transfer of assets upon death or during one's lifetime.
And here are some key events that could trigger estate taxes. For one, death. The most common triggering event is the death of an individual. at this point, the estate tax is applied to the total value of the descendant's assets, known as the gross estate, which includes cash, securities, real estate, insurance, trusts, and business interests.
Put an asterisk on that trust because I bet you that's referring to revocable, which is another conversation. Or maybe not simply revocable, but statutory trust gifts during someone's lifetime. So inter vivos or living gifts, gifts made during one's lifetime can also trigger the gift tax, which is closely related to the estate tax.
[00:06:00] These gifts are added to the estate's value when calculating the total estate. Of course, there's. Changes in the estate tax laws that could also factor into a state tax. Number four, spousal death or disability. so the death of. A spouse or disability of a spouse or beneficiary can necessitate a review of the estate plan as it may alter the distribution of assets and potential tax implications.
Ladies and gentlemen, this means more business owners and individuals will face estate taxes, increasing the importance of asset protection planning. The IRS is continuing to ramp up audits. With audit rates for those earning over 10 million expected to increase from 11 percent in 2019 to 16.
5 percent in 2026. The IRS is also targeting trust in [00:07:00] offshore accounts as a part of its enforcement plan to prevent. Tax avoidance strategies. so the IRS has outlined plans to significantly increase audit rates for high income individuals and large corporations by 2026. It's a part of the strategic operating plan.
There are also increasing scrutiny on large corporations and partnerships with audit rates for corporations with assets over 250 million expected to nearly triple from eight. 0. 8 percent in 2019 to 22. 6 percent by 2026. My goodness. So if you think asset protection is something you can deal with later, think again, the time to set up protection is before you get sued or audited, not after. Serious question. Are you ready to take control of your time, your income, and your future? If you've ever wanted to own your own business, [00:08:00] write your own schedule, and earn while you learn the ultimate secrets of the wealthy, this is your choice. I work with a team of experts who help business minded people, just like you, build something real.
If you're tired of waiting for opportunities and you're ready to create your own, let's talk. Send me a text message. of the word Mentee, to 50750asset. That's 5075027738 to get connected and start building your advantage today. Again, that's text Mentee to 50750asset now and we'll get you started on a real path to financial control.
So what I want to do is share with you the 2025 playbook. For business owners, families that wish to protect their assets the right way, it's really going to be important to separate your personal and business assets properly. How do you do that?
My opinion is [00:09:00] not to own any personal assets, at least assets that aren't worth much assets that you are willing to risk in a key to doing this is having multi layered. Legal entity structures. For example, you can use an LLC or corporation. That's fine, but make sure that you do one very important thing.
Ensure that a properly structured trust owns those shares, even if it's a holding company. Right, ,
if your business is owned by a trust, it creates that layer of protection from you and the business personally. all right, so how can you do this? And how is it done? Typically, at least I know for the mergers and the acquisition space, if you're in a buying and selling businesses, , you may have heard of the special purpose vehicle or the SPV, like an LLC or S Corp
when you're doing your business deal. So I would [00:10:00] follow this model. I would consider an SPV or a special purpose vehicle that is owned by an irrevocable trust for better protection. What is a trust? A legal structure that separates you from your assets, making it nearly impossible for creditors or lawsuits to seize them.
And no, you don't have to go offshore to develop this type of trust. It can be a domestic trust. It just has to be set up properly. Why? Because courts can't force you to access the trust assets. It protects your wealth from lawsuits, creditors, and unnecessary taxes if you're a high risk professional, doctor, real estate investor, business owner, consider setting up an irrevocable trust for maximum protection.
Here's a final thought for you. The difference between [00:11:00] losing everything in a lawsuit and keeping your wealth comes down to how well you planned ahead. Thank you. You've been listening to the Keenan Roberts advantage, and I look forward to seeing you on the next episode.