When the King of Rock and Roll died in August 1977, his estate was valued at more than US$10 million.
Unfortunately, Elvis Presley’s will wound up going through probate, and it took three years for the lawyers to work things out in court.
Finally, mercifully, the court ruled that the estate should pass to his only child, Lisa Marie.
But Lisa Marie Presley didn’t get the US$10 million. Between taxes and legal fees, Elvis’s estate was reduced to just US$3 million.
That’s right. Seventy percent went straight to the taxman and the lawyers, while Elvis’ daughter was left with just 30 cents on the dollar.
Now I’d like to tell you the story of another king… the Oil King, H.L. Hunt.
His story ends differently.
Just prior to his death in 1974, Hunt’s net worth was estimated at US$2 billion.
Far more than the King of Rock and Roll… but that’s not what’s important here…
Rather, the point I want to make for you is that this other king? He was far better prepared.
Hunt had carefully distributed his assets into all sorts of legal structures—funds, trusts, life insurance…
After his death, the only asset that could be linked to H.L. Hunt directly was a pick-up truck worth US$2,000—hardly worthy of a courtroom battle.
Meaning Hunt’s fortune remained intact. His heirs received everything he wanted them to.
This tale of two kings reflects your two estate-planning options:
Put a plan in place to preserve it… or end up giving much of it away.
The big-picture moral of this story is that, when you do the work to put a plan in place, only you have control over your wealth.
You—not the government, creditors, litigants, or the banks—can decide what happens to your assets, now and in the future.
Estate planning, safe-haven investing, legal tax avoidance, asset protection, foreign residencies, second passports, and wealth creation…
These are the tools that give you the power to guarantee yourself the financial future you want.
Now, 50 years ago, these same strategies that the Oil King used to grow and protect his fortune were expensive and hard for the average investor to access.
But not anymore. The Internet has made everything easier and the costs far more realistic for all of us.
Learning how to start to plan your estate
The ultimate key to putting together the plan that’s the best fit for you is getting the right advice.
Unfortunately, that can still hard to find.
That’s why once a year I gather together all the top experts I know on these topics—the same people who I work with to manage my own affairs—for my annual Offshore Wealth Summit.
As inflation ticks up and the cost of living skyrockets…
As the national debt is set to grow to an astonishing $54 trillion in the next decade…
And as we brace ourselves for round two of Trump v. Biden…
I can think of no better solution right now than focusing on the strategies available to you to sidestep all the mess and position yourself for security and prosperity regardless what the rest of the world gets up to.
That’s the agenda for my Offshore Wealth Summit which will bring together my network of global diversification experts in Porto, Portugal, from Oct. 16-18.
I think of this summit as an annual check-up. A chance to reconnect in a focused way with the entire team that has helped me to diversify my life… and to explore opportunities for the next-step evolution of my plan…
While helping all those in the room with us conceive customized plans of their own.
Join us, and you’ll come away with an iron-clad system for keeping your assets and your retirement safe…
You’ll come away with the “Plan B” that you need right now more than ever.
Stay diversified,
Lief Simon
Editor, Offshore Living Letter
