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I receive a lot of subscriber questions, and while I cannot answer them all, I wanted to specifically address three of them that key in on recurring themes in this community– second citizenship, investing, international opportunities, corporate structures, banking, and gold/silver storage. 1) Paul asks– “I was wondering what your 1st choice would
So much for BMW’s run-flat tires. Believe it or not, I’m actually sitting on the side of the A3 motorway in central Germany, about halfway between Frankfurt and Munich, waiting for the tow-truck to arrive. Apparently you’re supposed to be able to drive on these tires even when they’re flat… and with such
I spent a couple of days this week in a fast BMW with Matt, my friend and business partner. We had a meeting in southern Spain yesterday with a key figure in the world of second passports, and we raced at speeds up to 250 km/h so that we could make the meeting
It’s true what they say about the Autobahn… there really is no speed limit. I’ve been in the car all day with my close friend and business partner Matt, racing our BMW from Stuttgart to Monaco. Our goal is to reach Spain by the end of this week where we have some important
Long ago, physical commodities were used as a mediums of exchange… gold and silver were quite popular because they were scarce, divisible, durable, and hard to replicate. If you had a few extra ounces laying around and wanted to store it securely, you would seek out the people who dealt with precious metals
If he keeps this up, they might start calling it Panama, Inc. Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli has been in office less than 6-months, yet to the extent that it is politically possible, he seems bent on running Panama with the same vision as when he ran the chain of supermarkets that made him
Updated 9/23/2009 (thanks JES) People ask me this question a lot– what’s the best way to diversify US dollar holdings into other currencies? Well, ‘best’ is certainly relative… I prefer commodities and precious metals as a way to protect my savings, but I can’t exactly pay my American Express bill with the bullion
Today I found out first hand how much Chinese are looking to avoid taxes. I attended a conference today sponsored by the government of Labuan, Malaysia at the Grand Hyatt here in Shanghai. Labuan is Asia’s newest financial center, and the government there is heavily courting wealthy Chinese investors and businesses to migrate
I’ve explored Singapore in the past, but on this particular trip I really wanted to broaden my understanding of the country’s legal framework and financial infrastructure. With only 72-hours on the ground, I would have to work fast… so the trip was a whirlwind tour of bankers, lawyers, gold dealers, corporate secretaries, and
With tax rates ranging from 5% to 35%, the Philippines can hardly be called a tax haven. And yet, in a very public “guilty until proven innocent” attack several months ago, the OECD black listed the Philippines along with Uruguay, Malaysia, and Costa Rica. The OECD is an aged, irrelevant organization comprised of
LATVIA / SWEDISH BANKS The link between the fate of Latvia and the stock price of Sweden’s major banks became even more apparent this week. On Monday, Latvia’s government announced that it had rejected a bailout deal with the IMF, spurring new concerns of devaluation. In response, investors sold off shares of Sweden’s
As much as I love the city, I’m here in Vienna today on a mission– gold storage. After yesterday’s missive about Panamanian safety deposit boxes, I thought it appropriate to follow-up with a couple of strong solutions for offshore gold storage, and Austria certainly fits the bill. First of all, if you love
Something is afoot in Panama that I want to tell you about. Several banks, including Banvivienda and HSBC, have recently announced that they will discontinue renting safety deposit boxes. Customers who currently rent boxes will have until the end of the year to vacate their belongings. Furthermore, some banks that formerly used to
Today I confessed my sins to Uncle Sam. No, I’m not talking about anything sinister. But in a mad dash through a US stopover today, I dropped US Treasury form TDF-90 in the mail: “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.” It went something like this: “Forgive me uncle for I have sinned.
