Asset protection is a legitimate right of any individual to avoid or mitigate the effects of taxation, divorce and bankruptcy. Asset protection is a concept that has arisen out of the estate planning industry. It is an attempt to hinder a creditor's attack to seize and sell assets to recover debt owed. It changes the character of assets that cannot be legally seized and sold by the creditor.

There are various legal techniques to protect your assets. They vary depending on the type and location of property with limitations. The most essential factors of an asset protection plan are the degree of financial risk, type of assets own total net worth. The kind of asset protection you need depends on your risk factor. It is a standard part of business and estate planning. Traditional forms of asset protection techniques are gift of property, retirement plans, spendthrift provisions in life insurance, turning the business into a limited company, etc. You can also transfer a risk to an insurance company that will protect your asset.

In domestic asset protection strategy you have to legally protect your assets within the country of that you residence in. While offshore asset protection allows you to transfer your assets and form a trust in a foreign land that has anti-creditor law. It is an expensive technique that requires a lot of legal consultation and maintenance.

Properly crafted asset protection strategy could reduce the damage caused by a plaintiff's attorney. Asset protection has been practiced for ages because it is legal, effective and trusted. It is the best way to protect your savings, investments and other accumulated assets.

If you own rental property you would do well to talk to an attorney who specializes in aset protection.

What does the IRS have to say about eschanging your property or a 1031 exchange? What is a 1031?  Like-Kind Exchanges - Real Estate Tax Tips Generally, if you exchange business or investment property solely for business or investment property of a like-kind, no gain or loss is recognized under Internal Revenue Code Section 1031. If, as part of the exchange, you also receive other (not like-kind) property or money, gain is recognized to the extent of the other property and money received, but a loss is not recognized.

Section 1031 does not apply to exchanges of inventory, stocks, bonds, notes, other securities or evidence of indebtedness, or certain other assets.

Like-Kind Property

Properties are of like-kind, if they are of the same nature or character, even if they differ in grade or quality. Personal properties of a like class are like-kind properties. However, livestock of different sexes are not like-kind properties. Also, personal property used predominantly in the United States and personal property used predominantly outside the United States are not like-kind properties.

Real properties generally are of like-kind, regardless of whether the properties are improved or unimproved. However, real property in the United States and real property outside the United States are not like-kind properties.

Additional Resources

• 
  Publication 544, Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets
• 
  Form 8824, Like-Kind Exchanges
• 
  Note: This page contains one or more references to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), Treasury Regulations, court cases, or other official tax guidance. References to these legal authorities are included for the convenience of those who would like to read the technical reference material. To access the applicable IRC sections, Treasury Regulations, or other official tax guidance, visit the Tax Code, Regulations, and Official Guidance page. To access any Tax Court case opinions issued after September 24, 1995, visit the Opinions Search page of the United States Tax Court.
• 
  Turn-Key Properties LLC does not provided tax advice see lawyer or an accountant.

In investing, the cash-on-cash return is the ratio of annual before-tax cash flow to the total amount of cash invested, expressed as a percentage. The formula to compute cash-on-cash return is:

PurposeThe cash-on-cash return is often used to evaluate the cash flow from income-producing assets.

ExampleSuppose an investor purchases a $1,200,000 apartment complex with a $300,000 down payment. Each month, the cash flow from rentals, less expenses, is $5,000. Over the course of a year, the before-tax income would be $5,000 × 12 = $60,000, so the cash-on-cash return would be

LimitationsBecause the calculation is based solely on before-tax cash flow relative to the amount of cash invested, it cannot take into account an individual investor's tax situation, the particulars of which may influence the desirability of the investment. Furthermore, the formula does not take into account any appreciation, depreciation, or other risks associated with the underlying property.

Cash-on-cash return is essentially a simple interest calculation, and therefore is not subject to the compounding of interest. The implication for investors is that an investment with a lower nominal rate of compound interest may be superior, in the long run, to an investment with a higher cash-on-cash return.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_on_cash_return"

Occasionally someone will want to calculate the Internal Rate of Return on an investment property. This article explains how that formula works. (IRR)  The internal rate of return (IRR) is a capital budgeting method used by firms to decide whether they should make long term investments. The IRR is defined as any discount rate that results in a net present value of zero, and is usually interpreted as the expected return generated by the investment. In general, if the IRR is greater than the project's cost of capital or hurdle rate, the project will add value for the company.

To find the internal rate of return, find the IRR that satisfies the following equation

Example:
Year Cash flow
0 -100
1 +120

Calculation of NPV:
i = interest rate in percent
NPV = -100 +120/[(1+i/100)^1]
(This calculation is condensed.)

Calculation of IRR:
NPV = 0
-100 +120/[(1+IRR/100)^1] = 0
IRR = 20%

Problems with using IRRAs an investment decision tool, the calculated IRR should not be used to rate mutually exclusive projects, but only to decide whether a single project is worth investing in. In cases where one project has a higher initial investment than a second mutually exclusive project, the first project may have a lower IRR (expected return), but a higher NPV (increase in shareholders' wealth) and should thus be accepted over the second project. A method called marginal IRR can be used to adapt the IRR methodology to this case.

The IRR method should not be used in the usual manner for projects that start with an initial positive cash inflow, for example where a customer makes a deposit before a specific machine is built, resulting in a single positive cash flow followed by a series of negative cash flows (+ - - - -). In this case the usual IRR decision rule needs to be reversed.

If there are multiple sign changes in the series of cash flows, e.g. (- + - + -), there may be multiple IRRs for a single project, so that the IRR decision rule may be impossible to implement. Examples of this type of project are strip mines and nuclear power plants, where there is usually a large cash outflow at the end of the project.

In general, the IRR can be calculated by solving a polynomial. Sturm's Theorem can be used to determine if that polynomial has a unique real solution. Importantly, the IRR equation cannot be solved analytically (i.e. in its general form) but only via iterations.

A critical shortcoming of the IRR method is that it is commonly misunderstood to convey the actual annual profitability of an investment. However, this is not the case because intermediate cash flows are almost never reinvested at the project's IRR; and, therefore, the actual rate of return (akin to the one that would have been yielded by stocks or bank deposits) is almost certainly going to be lower. Accordingly, a measure called Modified Internal Rate of Return (MIRR) is used, which has an assumed reinvestment rate, usually equal to the project's cost of capital.

Despite a strong academic preference for NPV, surveys indicate that executives prefer IRR over NPV. Apparently, managers find it intuitively more appealing to evaluate investments in terms of percentage rates of return than dollars of NPV.