The first one is if you are going to purchase a second or a third home, for example, like a beach condo or a mountain cabin that you're going to rent out part of the season, or if you're going to start a business or invest in a family business, hold that type of investment in a limited liability company, an LLC, because it limits the liability. It does what it sounds like it does. That will protect your family's inheritance from potential creditors.

                    

The second is use a revocable trust instead of a will. This will greatly reduce the cost of probate in Florida, and Florida is a high dollar probate state, which means it costs a lot of money to settle an estate when someone passes away.

                    

Third, keep an umbrella policy on your automobiles. This gives you an extra layer of insurance that will protect your family's inheritance in the event that you have a car accident and you get sued.

                    

Fourth, do a plan with a financial planner for your older years. Let me give you an example. Go to a financial planner, analyze your budget, your income, and your cash flow for every five years until you reach 100 years of age. Then look at it a second time and think about well, if I get a little sick, I'm going to need to spend some money on caregivers. If I get really sick, I'm going to have to pay for a nursing home. Help the financial planner work with you to figure out how you're going to pay those bills.

                    

Number five. If you have a lot of assets, consider looking at long-term care insurance and buying a policy to help you pay for a nursing home. If you don't have that much in assets, then talk to an elder law attorney now so that you can learn the strategies for planning to get a family member qualified for Medicaid or yourself qualified for Medicaid if you ever needed it.

                    

Number six. Pay off the mortgage on your homestead. Your homestead is highly, highly protected in Florida from creditors, and paying off your mortgage gives you a big nest egg that you could fall back on that is creditor protected.