Want to stop creditors, snoops, or greedy opportunists from finding your hard-earned assets? You’re not alone. Many people build wealth only to lose it all too easily when their property is easy to track or claim. Understanding how to keep your assets invisible can protect your financial future and your peace of mind.
Below, you’ll discover practical ways to make your assets invisible using simple entity structures that maximize both privacy and protection. The focus is on clear steps and practical advice, so you can start safeguarding your checking account, investments, real estate, and even your business.
Why Invisibility Is Key in Asset Protection
Making your assets invisible doesn’t mean hiding them from the law or evading taxes. It means structuring your holdings so that they can’t be easily found by creditors, attorneys, or nosy individuals running background checks.
Why Visibility Invites Litigation
When an attorney is considering whether to file a lawsuit, they don’t just look at the facts of the case. They look at your exposure. They run asset searches to see if you own anything valuable. If the search pops up multiple properties, fat bank accounts, or investments tied directly to your name, you’re marked as “worth suing.” If they find little or nothing, you’re less tempting as a target.
What do creditors look for?
- Properties in your name
- Vehicles and titled equipment
- Large bank accounts
- Brokerage and investment accounts
- Businesses with proven cash flow
What Happens After a Default Judgment
Sometimes lawsuits slip through the cracks. Maybe you were never served or weren’t aware a case was filed. If a default judgment is entered, the creditor doesn’t just wait around. They can take immediate steps to freeze your assets.
Key term: Writ of Garnishment A legal order telling your bank to freeze and pay out any accounts in your name up to the debt amount.
If your accounts, property, or investments are titled in your name and easy to connect to your Social Security number, creditors can pounce—often before you even know what’s happening.
Transforming from a Target into a Dead End
The way you title and structure your assets determines how easy it is for someone to come after you. By making yourself appear as someone with “nothing to lose,” you flip the risk script. Most creditors, attorneys, and even opportunists won’t chase ghosts. If they can’t find what you own, you won’t look like a deep pocket worth shaking down.
Use a Privacy Trust to Protect Your Personal Checking Account
Your checking account is probably in your own name. Most people never think twice about this. Unfortunately, this simple setup makes it one of the first and easiest targets in any legal action. If your name and Social Security number are on the account, creditors have a direct path to your funds.
How Does a Creditor Freeze Your Account?
When a creditor gets a judgment, all they need to do is file a writ of garnishment. The bank is served with an order directing them to freeze and turn over any accounts that match your information. Banks don’t risk their own money, so they comply right away. Suddenly, you can’t access your own funds.
The Privacy Banking Trust Solution
Instead of holding your checking account in your name, you can set up what’s known as a privacy banking trust. Here’s how it works:
- Pick a Trust Name Choose any name that doesn’t connect to you personally. “Pickle Trust” works just fine.
- Draft the Trust You are both the trustee (manager) and beneficiary (owner) of this trust.
- Get an EIN Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the trust. This replaces your Social Security number as the main identifier on the account.
- Move Your Account Open a checking account for the trust and move your funds over.
Important:
- Your checks can still display your name, so doing business or depositing is simple.
- Privacy trusts don’t file separate tax returns or create extra tax burdens.
This switch means your checking account no longer shows up under your personal information when someone does a search. Only the trust’s generic name (and EIN) are visible to the bank, shielding you from easy grabs.
What About Savings and Investment Accounts?
While privacy trusts are perfect for personal checking, a different approach applies to savings and investments. For these, an entity structure works better, offering both privacy and protection.
Secure Your Investments and Savings with Wyoming LLCs
If your stocks, brokerage accounts, or savings accounts are in your personal name, they’re easy to find, freeze, or seize. This section explains how you can shield these assets using a structure that delivers both real anonymity and strong legal protection.
The Problem with Standard LLCs
Many people think that forming an LLC in any state gives them privacy. Not true. Most states—like Oregon or New Mexico—require management or member details to be public. If someone searches your name, the LLC appears, linking you to the asset.
Why is this a huge problem?
- Public corporate databases let anyone see your holdings if the state records you as manager or owner.
- Connecting investment accounts directly to you leaves a straight line for creditors.
Why Wyoming LLCs Stand Out
A Wyoming Limited Liability Company (LLC) offers outstanding privacy features:
- No public reporting of managers or members Your personal information isn’t on the records.
- Strong “charging order” protection Creditor who sues you can’t easily take the assets within the LLC.
- Not tied to your home address With a virtual business address and third-party registered agent, your personal info stays private.
Wyoming vs. Other States
| Feature | Wyoming | New Mexico | Delaware |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public owner info | No | No | No |
| Charging order protection | Strong | Weak | Strong |
| Formation cost | Moderate | Cheaper | More expensive |
| Best for investments | Yes | No | Yes |
Key takeaway: Wyoming LLC gives both anonymity and strong asset protection, beating New Mexico’s weak legal shield and Delaware’s high costs for most people.
Setting Up Your Wyoming LLC Structure
- Choose a Name Make it generic—no link to you. Example: “Crazytown LLC.”
- Use a Third-Party Organizer Don’t use your own name. A firm like Anderson Business Advisors can handle all filings.
- Obtain an EIN and Virtual Office Address Avoid linking your home to the company.
- Open Investment and Bank Accounts At your broker (like Schwab or JP Morgan), open a new account in the LLC’s name using the operating agreement and EIN.
Moving Your Assets
- Transfer your bank savings into the LLC-owned account.
- Move investment assets into the LLC brokerage account.
- Include cryptocurrency in the LLC if desired.
Now savings and investments are removed from your personal profile, hidden behind strong legal walls. If a creditor runs your name, nothing pops up.
Benefits of the Wyoming LLC structure:
- Anonymity: Your name doesn’t show up in public records.
- Legal protection: Assets inside can’t be seized by personal creditors.
- Tax simplicity: Properly set up, the LLC does not create extra income tax filings.
Caution: Don’t use New Mexico LLCs for investments—creditors can still break through with weaker legal tools.
Make Your Home Invisible: Use Residence Trusts or a Wyoming LLC
Your personal residence is the prize jewel for many would-be creditors. Judgments get recorded at the county. If you’re on title, your home is a sitting duck.
Why Keep Your Home Off the Radar?
- Privacy: Hides where you live, your equity, and deflects unwanted attention.
- Judgment protection: Prevents a lien from sticking to your main asset after a lawsuit.
Making a Mortgaged Home Invisible: Residence Trusts
A residence trust (similar to a land trust but customized for homes) shields your ownership, keeps your tax perks, and doesn’t risk mortgage acceleration.
Critical differences from basic land trusts:
- Keeps your homestead exemption safe
- Preserves your mortgage interest deduction
- Lets you keep the IRS 121 capital gains exclusion
Steps to set up a residence trust:
- Form the trust with a generic name (like “Fuzzy Trust”).
- Appoint a nominee trustee (often an attorney or trusted third party).
- Transfer title using a warranty deed (never a quitclaim deed).
- Once recorded, the nominee trustee immediately resigns and ownership shifts—privately—to you as the new trustee.
- Keep a trustee’s deed ready so the trust can quickly switch trustee if needed for a sale or refinance.
Warning: Avoid nominee trustees who demand annual fees or refuse to resign. Get the process clearly in writing before you start.
House Paid Off? Try a Disregarded Wyoming LLC
If your property is paid off, another simple method is to put your home in a Wyoming LLC that’s disregarded for tax purposes. This means the IRS treats you as the property owner for taxes, so you don’t lose the capital gains exclusion.
Note: You may lose your homestead exemption in some states by placing your main home in an LLC. If you have a strong homestead law, stick with a residence trust. If the protection amount is modest, a Wyoming LLC can offer better security.
Checklist for hiding your residence:
- Trust or LLC based on mortgage / exemption rules
- Proper transfer deeds with the right signatures
- Nominee trustee resignations and backup documentation
Protect Investment Real Estate with Layered LLC Structures
Owning rentals or commercial property in your name exposes all your holdings to search, seizure, and liability. One judgment can ruin a whole portfolio.
Layering for Protection and Anonymity
Smart investors use a simple but effective setup:
- Each property is held in its own LLC formed in the state where the property is located.
- All these state LLCs are owned by a single Wyoming LLC, which acts as the holding company.
Example:
- Utah Rental 1: Owned by MountainView LLC (UT LLC)
- Utah Rental 2: Owned by HighPlains LLC (UT LLC)
- Both LLCs: Owned by QuietPeak Holdings LLC (Wyoming LLC)
Now, if a tenant, lawyer, or anyone else investigates, the only owner they see is the Wyoming LLC—with no public trail back to you.
Sometimes Use Land Trusts
In some cases (especially with property loans or to avoid transfer taxes), it makes sense to place property into a land trust first, then assign ownership to the Wyoming LLC. The key is keeping your name off every public record.
Why This Works
- A creditor targeting one property can’t pierce through to the others.
- The main owner on record is a company whose details are almost impossible to uncover.
Table: Basic vs. Layered Ownership
| Setup | Public Traceable Info | Isolation of Risk | Privacy Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Your Name | Direct | None | None |
| Single State LLC | Likely | Some | Some |
| Layered State + WY LLC | Very difficult | Strong | High |
Achieving Business Owner Anonymity
Not every business needs to hide its owners. Some, like law firms or public-facing companies, benefit from owner visibility. But for side ventures or companies where privacy matters, you can use the same Wyoming LLC structure.
Example: Hiding Ownership in Practice
Suppose you and a partner want to start a business without announcing it to the world.
- The operating business (e.g., “Green Point Funding, LLC”) is set up as an S Corporation.
- Its two owners are separate Wyoming LLCs—one for each partner.
- Each Wyoming LLC is itself owned privately by you and your partner.
On public records, nobody sees your name tied to the company. Only the Wyoming LLCs show as members.
Always get professional advice on structure, taxes, and filings to ensure full compliance.
Table: Standard Business Setup vs. Anonymous Setup
| Setup | Public Owner Info | Tax Simplicity | Anonymity Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| You in public records | Yes | Yes | None |
| LLC or S Corp w/ WY LLC | No | Yes | Strong |
Final Thoughts on Making Your Assets Invisible
Asset protection is about more than paperwork. It actually changes your risk profile in the eyes of attorneys, creditors, and opportunists. When nothing appears in your name, you simply don’t look worth suing.
Start your invisibility plan by:
- Reviewing your checking account setup—move it to a privacy trust.
- Shielding savings, stocks, and crypto in a Wyoming LLC.
- Protecting your home with a residence trust or, if paid off, a Wyoming LLC.
- Setting up layered LLCs for every investment property, all owned by a Wyoming master LLC.
- Structuring side businesses or low-profile ventures so their ownership traces back to anonymous LLCs, not you.
If you’d like real help building a plan tailored to your situation, schedule a free consultation to discuss asset protection strategies and entity setup.
Asset Categories and Their Most Invisible Structures:
- Personal checking account: Privacy trust
- Savings and investments: Wyoming LLC
- Personal residence: Residence trust (with mortgage) or Wyoming LLC (without mortgage, depending on state law)
- Investment real estate: Layered LLCs, top-level Wyoming LLC
- Business ownership: Anonymous LLC structure, S Corp for taxes if needed
Want more? Leave a comment with your questions, and consider subscribing to my Youtube channel Clint Coons Esq. | Real Estate Asset Protection for in-depth guides and continuing education on asset protection and anonymity strategies.
Protecting your assets isn’t just for the ultra-rich. With smart structuring, anyone can make their wealth invisible and safe.
Start today so you aren’t anyone’s easy target—be invisible, stay protected, and keep your peace of mind.