Offshore Investing: Smart Ways To Keep Your Money Safe

According to the World Bank, more than half of the world’s personal wealth - over $50 trillion - is stashed in about 60 or so asset and tax havens worldwide.

More than a third of it is in Switzerland, comfortably secure in that nation’s bank vaults.  The rest is stashed away in Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands, Panama, Bermuda, the Isle of Man and other protected havens.

What do all these rich people know that you don’t?

Plenty. But their secrets are finally revealed in a fascinating new book by Erika Nolen and Shannon Crouch of The Sovereign Society. It’s called “Offshore Investments That Safeguard Your Cash: Learn How Savvy Investors Grow and Protect Their Wealth.”

Reasons for Offshore Investing

Why would you even consider going offshore with your investments?  Let me count the ways:

• Are you worried about potential claims against your assets?

• Are you having troubles with difficult business associates, angry ex-spouses or greedy children?

• Does the lack of privacy in your personal financial affairs bother you?

• Are you interested in gaining access to the tens of thousands of publicly traded securities that are unavailable in the U.S.?

• Are you interested in creating an ironclad estate plan for your loved ones?

• Do you want greater asset protection than an American safety-deposit box offers?

• Are you worried you may not have enough money for retirement?

If you answered yes to any one of these questions - and especially if you answered yes more than once - you should read this book, if only to understand your options.

Let’s say, for example, that you are a physician, businessman or comfortable retiree (or that you will be one day). In our litigious society, someone can trip over their own feet on your property and have an ambulance-chaser on the line before they even get up off the floor.

Even if the “plaintiff” has no case whatsoever, you can spend tens of thousands of dollar defending yourself and your assets.

But as Nolen and Crouch write, “many U.S. lawyers hesitate or refuse to take cases involving defendants who have their cash and assets secured offshore. They recognize the difficulties - indeed, the impossibility - of gaining access to those offshore assets.”

Some people, out of a misplaced sense of patriotism, refuse to even consider moving assets offshore. Think again.

Theres Nothing Illegal with Offshore Investing

There is nothing illegal or immoral about moving assets offshore. And there are many, many benefits.

Offshore bank and brokerage accounts offer you a wider selection of investments (especially in stronger currencies than our perpetually weak dollar). Estate planning is often smarter and more efficient than what your local lawyer can set up. Taxes are significantly lower than what your state and federal government demands. Business regulations are less cumbersome. You may even want to consider the advantages of dual citizenship and a second passport.

Sound too good to be true?  It isn’t.

“There are no -we repeat, no - outright and explicit prohibitions against American, British or Canadian nationals engaging in a slew of offshore financial activity. It is legal and legitimate to invest offshore,” write Nolan and Crouch. “This book tells you how to obey U.S. tax law and file all the required reports, but ensure that a substantial portion of your assets and investments are located in the place where the best profits are - offshore.”

In the end, only you know whether offshore investing is right for you. But you can’t be sure until you have all the facts.

Nolan and Crouch’s new book is the best I’ve read on this subject… and a great place to start.

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