Practice tip of the week: Asset protection for physician crypto investors

With all the useful information available on Physicians Practice, it is easy to become overwhelmed.

With this in mind, the tip of the week is a chance to reflect on some of the wisdom found all across the site. In a May 2021 story on asset protection for physician crypto investors, Ike Devji, JD writes the following:

“Crypto currency is all the rage and continues to make some physician coin investors small fortunes even as prices swing widely and scams emerge. These are some basic defensive measures to keep your digital wallet safe:

1). Failure to report crypto gains is criminal tax evasion and that includes holdings you may be holding through an offshore trust, LLC or similar device. It has come to my attention that physicians have been targeted by marketing that pitches such schemes as being secret, tax free and creditor remote, they aren’t.

2). Your estate plan should include your valuable digital assets including your crypto holdings. At a minimum, it should allow the trustee of your estate to identify, take control of, and manage those assets.

3). You may have seen horror stories about wallets ranging from thousands to millions of dollars in value being lost when a password is lost or physical device is lost, stolen or destroyed. If you are using a physical device, it should be stored in a water and fire-resistant document safe to protect it from basic, recurring risks like flood, fire, hurricane or burglary.”

Check out the article for the rest of the tips. Be sure to come back next week for another Tip of the Week!