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Guest: Hillel L. Presser, Esq., Managing Partner of The Presser Law Firm, P.A.
Overview: CEOs who lead a company to BIG aren’t just growing a business. Your success is also creating a better life for yourself and your family. Without proper asset protection planning, a single slip up or frivolous lawsuit could jeopardize everything you’ve earned, everything you’ve built, and everything you’re hoping to preserve as part of your legacy.
On today’s show, attorney Hillel Presser explains what a comprehensive asset protection plan is and why all CEOs need one.
Hillel Presser on why insurance alone isn’t an asset protection plan:
“Liability insurance sounds great. I tell my clients, ‘Buy as much insurance as you can because it’s cheap and it helps you sleep.’ But if you do read your policy, you’ll notice there’s probably a page of what’s covered and then 40 pages or so of exclusions. And I remember my dad telling me, ‘Son, the big print giveth, the small print taketh away.’ So insurance in theory is great, but there’s so many things that aren’t covered by insurance. Divorce isn’t covered by insurance. If you’re in Florida and somebody gets sick from mold, usually there’s a cap of about $5,000. What if you have a million-dollar company but you get sued for $2 million? Well, you have to come out of pocket for the rest. So I think insurance is a good first step. Certainly, the majority of the time, it helps pay your legal bills to fight the case. But I definitely wouldn’t solely rely on it. You want to have a good insurance plan and you want to have a good asset protection plan, almost like a belt and suspenders.”
Hillel Presser on using legal entities for asset protection:
“The law looks at you and I as different people. And the law looks at you and your protective entities as different people. You are different than your LLC. You are different than your limited partnership. You have a Social Security number. Your LLC or your limited partnership has a different tax ID. So if you take an asset like real estate or liquid assets or business shares and put them in some sort of protective entity, then if you get sued, you can’t lose that asset because you don’t own the asset. The protective entity owns it. So I call that ‘Own nothing, control everything.’
Hillel Presser on the ethics of asset protection:
“People always ask, ‘Is it ethical?’ I take the opposite approach. I say, it’s unethical not to protect yourself. We have a duty to our families to do anything and everything we can to protect things for them. I’m not telling someone to do something illegal. I’m not telling someone to be unethical. I want to put my client in the driver’s seat. There’s so much frivolous litigation, because anybody can hire a lawyer for free. I’m not saying if you did something wrong, don’t write a check. Put yourself in the driver’s seat where you can then make that legal and ethical decision for yourself.”
Links:
The Presser Law Firm, P.A. Get in touch with Hillel’s team and mention this podcast to receive complimentary copies of his books on asset protection.
The CEO’s Guide to an Effective Wealth Management Strategy Ron Carson and Paul West of Carson Wealth Management discuss how CEOs should think about their income and wealth.
4 Ways to Properly Time Succession Planning Tips from CEO Coaching International Partner and coach Mike Marchi, an expert on managing family business dynamics.
About CEO Coaching International
CEO Coaching International works with CEOs and their leadership teams to achieve extraordinary results quarter after quarter, year after year. Known globally for its success in coaching growth-focused entrepreneurs to meaningful exits, CEO Coaching International has coached more than 1,000 CEOs and entrepreneurs in more than 60 countries and 45 industries. The coaches at CEO Coaching International are former CEOs, presidents, or executives who have made BIG happen. The firm’s coaches have led double-digit sales and profit growth in businesses ranging in size from startups to over $10 billion, and many are founders that have led their companies through successful eight, nine, and ten-figure exits. Companies working with CEO Coaching International for two years or more have experienced an average revenue CAGR of 31% (2.6X the U.S. average) and an average EBITDA CAGR of 52.3% (more than 5X the U.S. average).
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