In my 30-year consulting career, I’ve met a fair number of clients who are paralyzed by fear. They believe that no matter what they do, disaster lurks around the corner.

One such client was a successful businessman I’ll call Fred. At our consultation, I suggested that he consider placing a portion of his savings in an international LLC (limited liability company). The LLC in turn could hold accounts at safe banks in Switzerland and elsewhere. The money would be out of his name, out of the US, and most important, off the “radar screen” of domestic asset tracking services. But, I emphasized, he would need to report the accounts to the IRS.

Fred rejected this suggestion out of hand. He was convinced that if the IRS knew about the account, he would be the target of an audit. Now, it’s true that the IRS is cracking down hard on US taxpayers who fail to report their international accounts, but as long as you file the required forms every year, the IRS will pretty much leave you alone. Indeed, I’ve been filing a “foreign bank and financial accounts report” (the FBAR, now designated as Form 114) for nearly 30 years. Filing them has never led to an IRS audit.

I lost track of Fred, but I ran into him at a conference several years later. Grim-faced, he told me that he was being sued by a disgruntled customer. Was there anything that I could do to help him protect his assets at that point?

Sadly, there wasn’t. Anything Fred did at that point to relocate funds internationally probably would have violated his state’s “fraudulent transfer” rules. These rules prohibit gifts or other asset transfers that are intended to “hinder, delay, or defraud” creditors.

The result of a fraudulent transfer in most states is a civil sanction ordering you to repatriate the transferred assets to a court’s custody. The court then distributes the funds to your creditors. In some states though, a fraudulent transfer is a criminal offense.

All I could do at that point was to put Fred in touch with an asset protection attorney in the state he lived in. I explained that it might not be too late to take advantage of some of the creditor exemptions in his state. But he would need to take action only with the assistance of an attorney. Even then, the attorney would need to operate very carefully to avoid possible sanctions against Fred – and himself.

This background came to mind more recently when I met with another client. This client, whom I’ll call James, thought it was too late to internationalize or otherwise take protective measures to insulate himself from legal threats. His paralysis, though, was for very different reasons. James was convinced that within a matter of months – perhaps days – President Obama would declare a national emergency and impose martial law. Domestic prison camps would open, and anyone who opposed Obama or who had anti-government leanings would be herded into them. James warned me that I would surely be targeted. In fact, he was surprised that I hadn’t already been imprisoned or even assassinated by what he called the “Illuminati.”

I told James that I hadn’t been arrested or imprisoned for my activities due to the fact I was very careful in selecting clients. If I’m not comfortable with a client, I will turn that person away. That’s especially true of those who want to enlist my aid in evading taxes or defrauding their spouse or business partners.

That wasn’t good enough for James. He gave me the URLs for some YouTube videos he thought I should watch. They would prove to me, he said, that martial law was imminent. Indeed, James was convinced that the Illuminati wanted to reduce the world’s population by at least 90%. Most of the remaining 500 million or so people would be slaves to a few thousand billionaire-masters.

I couldn’t tell James that the scenario he presented was impossible. A killer asteroid could come out of nowhere and obliterate our world. Russian President Vladimir Putin might drink too much vodka and launch ballistic missiles at the US, starting World War III. Terrorists could nuke Washington, DC, leading President Obama or his successor to invoke the numerous emergency powers that Congress has given the chief executive to shut down US borders, confiscate privately owned assets, and herd dissidents into death camps. Jesus Christ himself could appear and send billions of sinners to their fiery end in Hell.

On the other hand, the world might not end tomorrow. It might not end until next week, next month, next year, or even after you die. And if it doesn’t end and you’re paralyzed by fear or indecision, then what will you lose?

You might lose quite a bit. If you’re in Fred’s shoes, your indecision might lead to huge losses from a judgment that could be avoided if you have the appropriate legal structures in place. In James’s case, his fear led to paralysis that trapped him in the US when, because of his personal circumstances, he might be much happier living in another country.

Yes, it might all turn out to be a waste, if ___ (fill in your favorite disaster scenario) comes to pass. But otherwise, you might also wind up being healthier, happier, more fulfilled, and with a great deal more money than if you do nothing.

And despite the ever-present potential for asteroid strikes, terrorist attacks, emergency regulations, death camps, etc., I think 2016 will be an outstanding year to internationalize, especially if you’re a US person generating income in US dollars.

The US dollar is on a tear. The US Dollar Index, a weighted average of the dollar’s value against a basket of currencies, stands near its highest level since 2003. That means when you convert your US dollars to Swiss francs, euros, Thai baht, precious metals, investments denominated in foreign currencies, etc., you’re receiving greater value than any time in the last 12 years.

Sure, the dollar could go higher, meaning that any investments outside the dollar might lose value. But the dollar won’t go up forever. And even if your international investments don’t make you rich, they’ll help insulate you from real-world threats like judgments, civil forfeiture, and bail-ins of US money-center banks.

It may be time for asset protection. It may be time to protect your money with offshore company formations, out of sight in offshore banking accounts and transferred into offshore investments.

I ask you what I asked Fred and James: what are you waiting for?