> There needs to be a strict separation between the corporation and the people behind the corporation. As part of this, the LLC's finances need to be kept rigorously firewalled from personal finances — never pay a corporate bill from your own pocket, for example, or vice-versa.

This is true about all formal business structures. They should always be separate from your personal finances.

> You also need to follow the formalities of a corporation by keeping formal records (minutes, shareholder acts, etc.).

Not true. LLCs do not require the record keeping that corps require. The only formal records you need to keep are contracts / member & manager agreements.