Asset protection...does it even matter?

[Andrew Millard]

My question is mostly out of curiosity. Does anyone on here have any example of you or anyone else being sued and losing the entire asset, business or worse?

I hear so much about asset protection and it just gets me thinking, I've never heard of anyone being sued and losing everything or losing the asset. I own a couple rentals in a LLC with million dollar+ liability coverage, the likelihood that I would be sued and loose excess of that seems highly unlikely. Seems to me that if something major does come up the insurance will pick it up, and if not you will likely be held liable personally anyway for some reason or another.

[Nathan Gesner]

I think asset protection is over-hyped. I know people with 50+ rentals all owned in their personal name. They've never been sued, they've never lost an asset, and they certainly didn't lose everything. I manage rentals for over 150 different owners and not one of them has ever been sued. I can't even think of a single person on BP that's lost an asset.

Can it happen? Sure. Your kid could also be kidnapped walking home from school. In fact, it's probably more likely. Even more likely is that you'll die in a car accident within one mile of your home but I bet that doesn't stop you from driving every day. 

The best thing you can do to protect your assets is to operate within the law. Treat people honestly and fairly. They can still try to sue you but justice will almost always prevail if you are truly honest.

I personally intend to set up an LLC and place my properties there just to separate them from my personal assets, but I'm not rushing to do it and I don't lose sleep over it.