Corporate-finance

While this book might have represented the cutting-edge in 1997, it is seriously outdated today. For instance, the book talks about offshore trusts as the penultimate asset protection tool, which was of course disproved in the Anderson case in 1999 and the Lawrence case in 2000, where in both cases those who set up offshore trusts went to jail. This book is good for the archives, and not much else.

I have read several books on this topic; none of them provided me with the "right set of answers" to my questions. Everyone of these book authors recommends their "favorite" legal structures for asset protection, and all of these protection schemes have "holes". Furthermore some of these schemes come at a steep price: on the one hand you may give up considerable amount of control over your investments, and on the other hand it (most likely) will cost you lots of time and money to set these structures up. What I like about this book is, that Mr. Goldstein presents this difficult topic from a neutral point of view - not recommending one legal structure over the other one. His discussions of the various asset protection vehicles are "to the point" - yet complete. What I miss is a more thorough discussion of the risk management side of asset protection. If you are in the middle class and you are on a limited budget, risk management is they key to (reasonable) asset protection. Let's face it, myself and probably most of us are better served with high liability insurance than with legal structures of the "rich and famous". Nevertheless, if you want to learn about the world of asset protection, Mr. Goldstein's book is a great reference! It will provide you with all the basic knowledge to discuss your case with an experienced asset protection lawyer.

Arnold Goldstein's classic book Asset Protection Secrets is probably one of the few asset protection books you will find that actually gives you your money's worth.

Goldstein's advice is aimed at those who are not only fighting off creditors, but those who want to legally and legitimately shield their assets from lawsuits, greedy ex-spouses, and other nosey people who should not have the right to go poking into your financial affairs in the first place.

His advice is applicable to individuals, businesses, professionals, and those who just want more financial privacy. Probably the best lesson you will learn from this book is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Even if you are happily married, if your business is in great financial shape and you have no legal problems of any type, NOW is the best time to take action. Waiting until trouble comes looking for you is much more expensive in the long run than simply preparing for the worst. If nothing else, following his advice will probably save you a ton on taxes, even if you never have to defend yourself against the courts or creditors.

This book is simple to both read and comprehend. Anyone should be able to follow the advice therein. However, keep in mind, most of the techniques in this book should only be used with the assistance of a skilled attorney. Trying to implement most of these suggestions on your own could land you in more trouble than you had in the first place. It will give you a lot of good ideas to discuss with your attorney though.

Overall, this is a great book for those looking to find basic info on asset protection and how to deal with creditors and debt.

You shall be interested in the book only if you are just beginning to learn about a bank analysis and management. Be careful!!!

All potential readers be warned: this book is only suitable for very early beginners, people starting from absolute scratch on the topic. It is very clear and concise (I read it in a single afternoon) but you are not going to find in-depth discussion of anything. Also I'd like to make it clear that the book talks about ALM in banks only (no insurance companies, pension funds, endowments etc).

So, if you are very ignorant but curious, this book is for you (possibly buy it used, it's not cheap). If you already know the basics of ALM, my advice is to buy something else.