For many of you reading this, you may already have an offshore bank account and possibly an offshore company in a place like Seychelles, Belize, Nevis, Cook Islands or Hong Kong.

However, there are clearly a large number of you still sitting on the fence and unsure of why you would ever want an offshore bank account.  There is also quite a few of you who aren’t even sure if it’s legal for Americans to set up an offshore company or offshore bank account.

To respond to the second question first, the answer is simply – yes.  There is a lot of fear propagated from big brother and the media intent on scaring you out of moving money offshore.

This is primarily for two reasons;

1. This is protectionism at its finest and big brother wants to control your money and forcibly take 30-50% of your income through taxation.  If your cash is held offshore, they fear you won’t pay and they won’t be able to collect.
2. With the fractional reserve banking system, for every $1 you take out of a US bank, that removes $10 from the money supply in the US economy.  No politician or central banker wants that.

To answer the first question, I will illustrate with two stories.  Both stories are factual with only the names and some details changed for privacy reasons.

Mike called me a few weeks ago to discuss his financial problems.  You see Mike is facing a $1.2M IRS tax lien.  This may or may not sound like a lot to many of you, but for him, this is a very big deal.

The trouble started over 10 years ago.  Mike was a good ole country boy.  He owned a small house on a couple of acres, a 50 acre farm left to him by his parents, and for income he owned and managed a small used car lot.  His wife worked as a school teacher and their combined income at the time was around $75,000 per year.

Mike and his wife were frugal people and never spent more than they earned, were debt free, yet lived a good comfortable life.

The problem arose from the operation of his used car lot.  Mike’s business was a typical used car lot selling clean, well maintained Japanese cars that were between 3-7 years old.  It was a good niche because the new car dealerships would take them on trade, but wouldn’t sell them on their own lots.  So they went to auction where Mike would pick them up at wholesale prices.

As with most ‘buy-here-pay-here’ used car lots, Mike offered his own financing to his ‘less than credit worthy’ buyers.  If properly managed this can be a pretty lucrative business as they charge exorbitant interest rates, require 30% down payments, and the buyer pays weekly.

If the buyer misses a payment, you shut the car down with a hidden electronic shut off switch and repo in the middle of the night only to resell the car again next week.

In this business it is typical for people like Mike to run into cash flow problems.  If tight on cash, they are unable to restock their lots, so they go to lenders who specialize in buying the book of notes from used car dealers.

This is where Mike’s troubles began.  The ‘businessman’, who agreed to buy Mike’s notes, also took it upon himself to start a new company using Mike’s personal information – social security number, date of birth, etc.

This scoundrel, Lester, was gracious enough to offer Mike a good deal buying these notes at a discount allowing Mike to increase cash flow for buying more cars.

Of course Lester also used this same company he created using Mike’s personal information to buy notes from many other used car lot owners.  After a couple of years, Lester was earning a very nice profit, but as you may imagine he was not reporting any of this to the IRS.

After a couple of years, Mike received a letter from the IRS saying he owed $500,000 in back taxes from his note buying business.  Good ole country boy Mike hadn’t earned enough to owe that kind of money in taxes over the past 10 years combined.

Knowing he was innocent and convinced this would be easy enough to prove to the court, Mike showed up defending himself against the IRS.  Long story short, Mike lost his temper in court and was sent to jail for 6 months for contempt.

During this time, Mike’s bank accounts were seized by the IRS and tax liens were placed on both his house and his farm.  The bank account seizure and property liens were completed before Mike was even found guilty and convicted of tax fraud.

At the direction of Mike’s lawyer, he plead guilty and was released from jail for time served and was required to submit himself to psychiatric evaluation which resulted in a permanent criminal record with an insanity plea.

This record along with the insanity plea prevents Mike from ever getting a US passport and makes it very difficult to find reasonable employment.  Ten years later, Mike is still fighting this battle.

My second story involves a friend of mine, Steve.  Like Mike, Steve was just a normal guy living a normal life.  He was married with 3 kids, nice house, nice cars, and good job in the IT sector with a good low 6 figure income.

Steve was also a frugal guy and had saved up a pretty decent nest egg.  Everything seemed to be going well for him.

Unfortunately Steve did not realize that his wife, Matilda, was not nearly as happy as he was with their normal suburban life.  Matilda was a nurse and happy with her career, but very unhappy with life at home.

We don’t really know what happened, but either she was bored with Steve or was just swooned by Sylvester, but either way she was receiving the majority of her affections from outside the boundaries of her white picket fence.

Sylvester was a sly cat.  He convinced Matilda that she deserved a better life and he was the one to provide that for her.  Together they devised a scheme to boost their own nest egg by depriving Steve of his lifetime of hard work.

Once the timing was right, Matilda registered a complaint with the police department against Steve for spousal abuse (completely false charges) and shortly thereafter filed for divorce under those grounds.  Matilda was a great actress and the police took the bait – hook, line and sinker.

Steve was arrested and hauled off to county jail.  He was held without bond because Matilda convinced the court that if released he would unleash his violent urges in retaliation against her and the children.

During Steve’s ‘vacation’, Matilda maxed out each and every credit card they held jointly.  Most of them were just cards tied to Steve’s credit, with Matilda as a secondary card holder.  She also wiped out their joint bank accounts and in the divorce settlement, Matilda was awarded the house, the cars, and an alimony payment that was 75% of Steve’s previous income.

I say previous income, because as you can imagine once Steve was in county lock up, his old job fired him.  After all, who wants a wife-beating criminal on the payroll?

In just a matter of a few months, Steve went from a happy husband and father with a sizable savings account, great job and nice house to an unemployed, penniless criminal that cannot see his own children and more debt than he can ever possibly pay off.

I am certain many of you are saying to yourself, “Nice stories, but that kind of thing would never happen to me.”  I can tell you that Mike and Steve said the same thing right up until the time it was too late.

Back to the original questions, “Why would you ever want or need an offshore bank account?”  For Mike and Steve, an offshore bank account held in a private offshore company name would have been an excellent insurance policy against the problems that eventually befell them.

Mike could have set up an offshore Seychelles IBC and opened an offshore bank account in the company name to use for his savings account.

This offshore savings account could have been the nest egg he kept outside of the reach of the US court system allowing him a financial backdoor in the unlikely event that he is ever a victim of identity theft.

Steve could have done the same thing setting up a Cook Islands LLC and offshore bank account for his savings and investment portfolio.

This offshore bank and brokerage account could have been Steve’s “Global Escape Hatch” in the unlikely event that his wife went off the deep end with Sylvester the cat.

These are but just two stories I could give out of countless tales from people who thought, “This would never happen to me,” until it did in fact happen to them and they wished they had already set up an offshore company and offshore bank account as a means of financial insurance.

I wrote a recent article titled, “Svetlana Takes Victor to the Cleaners” that discusses a unique opportunity to set up an offshore Seychelles IBC and European bank account.  This is a very low cost way to begin setting up your own asset protection plan.

Call today for your free 30 minute asset protection consultation.  Until next week, live well.

In future articles I will discuss some of the opportunities that arose from these meetings, but in the meantime, if you have interest in 2^nd passport opportunities, anonymous merchant account services, or private offshore banking and money management services, please send me an email and we can schedule a call to discuss your personal situation.

For those of you not aware, I now host a weekly radio show every Monday from 3-4pm EST on the Overseas Radio Network.  My show title is, “Global Escape Hatch”.  On the show we will discuss various topics ranging from privacy issues, offshore banking, taxation, investments, economics and more.

This week on “Global Escape Hatch”, my guest was a good friend of mine, Roger Arnold.  Roger is the chief economist for ALM Advisors, Inc. – a CA money management firm specializing in income portfolios.  He is also an economics columnist for The Street and has previously hosted his own nationally syndicated radio show called, “The Roger Arnold Show” for 15 years.

On the show this week Roger and I discussed the current state of the world economy and where he thinks things are headed.  He has been very prescient in the past having predicted the housing market crash and the following stock market tumble.  Below you will find the interview from the radio show.

===========================================================================================

Bobby – What do you think is the general direction for global economic activity?

Roger – The US and Europe will continue to slow with both heading into a recession.

Bobby – Where do you see interest rates heading over the next couple of years?

Roger – The long yields in Germany and the US will converge with Japan with 10 year sovereign yields at about 1%, 30 year sovereigns at 2%, and 30 year fixed mortgages in the US at 3%.

Bobby – What about oil and gold?

Roger – Oil and gold could drop by as much as 50% before the end of 2012 as the global recession takes hold – they won’t stay there long and will provide the buying opportunity of the decade if not longer, especially for gold.

Bobby – What about US equities?

Roger – The S&P500 could drop by 30-50% because of the steepness and depth of the recession.  It may catch investors and traders unprepared.

Bobby – What about the Euro, does it survive long term?

Roger – The Germans, Brussels and the ECB are now committed to it.  They are very late in the acting, but the ECB will commence a quantitative easing program similar to the US Fed’s this year.  Yes, I think the Euro survives.

Bobby – What do you think will be the impact of the ECB printing Euros on the global economy?

Roger – The greatest beneficiary of the ECB printing Euros will be the eastern member states; Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, etc.  The eastern states rely on exports to the US for about 3 times as much of their GDP as do the western member states – so a falling Euro is a real benefit to them.  It makes their goods less expensive in the US and boosts their exports.

Bobby – Who is hurt by the falling Euro and the ECB printing?

Roger – Two main areas hurt by it are Chinese exporters to the US and US exporters to Europe.  Chinese exports to the US will become relatively more expensive versus European exports.  Some manufacturers will even switch from China to Eastern Europe.

Bobby – Could China choose to float their currency to compete against a falling Euro?

Roger – Probably not, but maybe.  We are watching very closely.  If history repeats itself, China will become increasingly antagonistic toward foreign governments and investors causing investors to flee China.  It could be disastrous for them.

Bobby – It seems you are fairly gloom and doom for the short term at least.  With interest rates so low, US equities at risk, gold and oil setting up for a fall, where should someone place their money these days?  Maybe you can offer me and my readers 5 or 6 ideas on how to make money in this environment.

Roger – I have only one investment suggestion right now.  Cash.  Short term money market accounts and cold, hard cash.  Just sit and wait for the fall.  The global recession is already underway and it will cause a rush to safety, which means US or German treasury bonds.  Whether or not you feel these are good investments is irrelevant.  When there is a recession and fear in the marketplace, people are ‘risk-off’ and go to cash and treasuries.  Be patient and wait for the drop.  You will likely see ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ investment opportunities very soon.

Bobby – Thanks for your time Roger.

===========================================================================================

There you have it folks.  I don’t necessarily agree with everything Roger is saying here, but he has been very good at predicting this type of thing and it is very possible he will be right this time.

The main point is that right now is a very difficult time to make a decent return on your investment.  As Roger told me, he is now focusing on a return of investment instead of a return on investment for his clients at ALM Advisors.

From my perspective, I wouldn’t recommend liquidating your entire portfolio, but I would certainly put in some automatic trailing stop losses or buy some protective puts as insurance.  In addition, you may want to consider keeping a lot of cash in various currencies like Canadian dollars, Australian dollars, or Norwegian kroners as a way to hedge your country risk.

If you are interested in joining me – and 40 other radio show hosts – on the Overseas Radio Network, please click the link below to register for your free trial subscription.

Overseas Radio Network – “Global Escape Hatch”

Call today for your free 30 minute asset protection consultation.  Until next week, live well.

Regardless of your reason for celebrating, I encourage you to take some time away from the pressures of your job or business to spend with family and friends and to remember the things that are important in life.  And of course, eat yourself into oblivion as this is a winter holiday requirement.

I want to keep this issue short and sweet and address two things I am very excited about.  The first item of interest is the launch of the Overseas Radio Network.

A few months ago I was asked if I wanted to have my own weekly radio show.  Having no radio experience whatsoever, I was a bit skeptical, but agreed to discuss the possibility.  The more we talked about it, the more excited I became.

The Overseas Radio Network is a brand new online program with 40 radio show hosts from around the world.  The shows have some pretty unique titles with incredibly qualified hosts.  Some of them are;

• Global Escape Hatch – yours truly
• IRA Choices – Thomas Phelan
• Food Pilgrimage – Sage Russell
• Girls Guide to Paris – Doni Belau
• Mike’s Gringo Life in Nicaragua – Mike Cobb
• Live and Invest Overseas – Kathleen Peddicord and Lief Simon
• Investment Postcards – Prieur du Plessis
• Expert Expat – Robert Culpepper
• Escape to Mexico – Henry Altman
• Truth and Lies – David Finzer
• Wine Line – Robert Scott
• Yachts: The Perfect Escape Vehicle – Gary Fretz

This is just a few on the schedule, but the others are equally as unique and interesting with very qualified experts in their respective field.  Personally I feel this is an exciting endeavor as I get to be part of a group of like-minded experts discussing issues that are important to us and spreading the word about living an extraordinary life.

For you, this is a fantastic opportunity to listen and interact with each one of us on a weekly basis and get your most pressing questions answered.  Each and every one of us will be hosting a live radio show giving callers the ability to dial in and ask questions about any topic they wish.

Many of you subscribe to my newsletter because you are interested in protecting your assets and have an interest in offshore investments and internationalizing your life.  But many of you are still sitting on the fence and have yet to make the leap.

The Overseas Radio Network presents you with a unique opportunity to engage myself or any of the other show hosts directly and get your questions answered.

Do you want to know how to privately move assets offshore?  Interested in moving abroad but not sure how you would educate your kids in a foreign land?  Does the idea of living in Mexico excite you but you fear the news headlines and think the country is entangled in a drug war?  Do you want or need a 2^nd passport?

Everyone one of the radio show hosts have lived in at least one country outside of their birthplace.  Most of have lived in several places and have travelled extensively around the world.  Each one of us has tackled many of the obstacles that you feel are holding you back.  You can easily tune in to your show of choice (preferably to mine every Monday from 3-4pm EST) and ask the most pressing questions.

The show has its official launch in mid-January.  If you are interesting in learning more about the Overseas Radio Network and want to be updated with information regarding the show hosts, schedule, call in numbers and other information please click the link below.

Overseas Radio Network
Escape – Retire – Live

The last item that may be of interest to many of you is opening an offshore private bank account in Europe without the need for a personal visit.  Many of you may be aware that opening an offshore bank account is becoming increasingly difficult with countries around the world cracking down on ‘tax cheats’ and ‘criminals’ in an attempt to regain control of the world’s financial system and tax you into oblivion.

Earlier this week I had a face-to-face meeting with a private bank that I feel is an excellent option for many of you looking to establish your own ‘Global Escape Hatch’.  This bank has many benefits to offer including;

• Low set up cost
• Low fees
• No minimum deposit
• Private debit card
• Online brokerage account with stock and derivative trading on many world exchanges
• Wealth management services
• Multi-currency account with 30 different currency options
• No account reporting requirements to your home country
• 2.5-3% interest on cash accounts
• Deposit guarantee of 100,000 Euros
• Very safe bank with 17% capital adequacy ratio and 58% liquidity ratio
• Zero toxic mortgages on the balance sheet
• No branches or offices within the US

The preferred method for opening the account is through an offshore company.  This gives you the utmost privacy and eases the account opening process.  We can assist clients opening an offshore company in Seychelles or Belize (and others) to facilitate the account opening.

With the new FATCA rules enacted as part of the HIRE act in 2010, opening an offshore bank account will get much more difficult for Americans beginning in 2013.  Having an offshore bank account is one of the most important steps you should take in asset protection planning.  I would encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity while you still can.  No one knows how much longer it will remain possible for Americans to open an offshore bank account.

Call today for your free 30 minute asset protection consultation.  Until next week, live well.

Bobby:  Hi Paul, thanks for joining me today.  I appreciate you taking the time to share with me and my readers.  Let’s get started, shall we?

Ok, I am very familiar with your company, Cryptohippie.  I am a devoted customer of yours and find this product to be a necessity in today’s world where privacy has become long forgotten human right.  I also want to thank you for offering my readers a free 7 day trial.  Can you tell me a bit about the product and what makes it so important?

Paul:  Sure.  You have a firewall to protect the data on your computer, and that’s a good idea, but then you send that data through the internet and a wide variety of thieves just pick it up in transit.  It’s actually easier for them that way.  And those thieves include governments, mafia-type groups, advertisers and many others.  We stop all that with encryption, multi-jurisdictional routing, and so on.  Essentially, we make you anonymous on the Internet, with no pain or strain.

Bobby:  How would someone pick up my data in transit?

Paul:  By capturing the traffic at your ISP, or at any the routers that connect to your ISP, or by comprising major Internet routers, or by tapping a cable, or by cutting a cable and forcing traffic through a router you control, or…

Governments simply force telephone companies to feed all their traffic to them.  It has been known for years that the NSA has offices in AT&T facilities and that they simply scoop up all their traffic; it’s easy to do with a fiber optic splitter. [http://www.zdnet.com/blog/ip-telephony/these-photos-illustrate-at-ts-phone-internet-tracking-activities-for-nsa/1103] It’s foolish to think that all the others are heroically defying the state.

Beside all that, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Hotmail and all the rest grab everything they can, whenever they can.  Then, data consolidators take hundreds of these databases and cross-reference them.

Bobby:  Why in the world would someone be interested in my data?  Why is it bad for someone to get their hands on it?

Paul:  Because there’s big money in it… as in many, many billions.  They scam credit cards all the time; you get paid back, but the credit card companies don’t.  Other times they use people’s information to setup bank accounts and move stolen money or criminal proceeds.  Even knowing who communicates with whom can be very profitable when it comes to commercial espionage.  Of course, governments save every email you send, records of every web site you visit, and so on.

They are also getting very good at searching all that data and assembling it.  And, they can use that information against you whenever they like.  Do you remember Nixon’s enemies file or Hillary Clinton’s 900 FBI files?  Those were microscopic, compared to what these guys have now.  By the way, “these guys” includes thousands or millions of bureaucrats.

Bobby:  I think I told you that I recently bought your book, “A Lodging for Wayfaring Men”.  Ironically I bought the book as a recommendation from one of my readers (thanks Jason).  I did not bother looking at the author’s name and didn’t actually realize you were the author until just a couple of days ago.  I have to say, this book was eye opening for me.  I am a huge fan of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead” and your book almost seems like a modern day version.  Were you influenced by Rand?

Paul:  Oh yes.  I think almost everyone who writes seriously on liberty is influenced by Rand in one way or another.  There are areas of disagreement between the two of us, but she brought many excellent ideas to me and I am deeply grateful for her contribution.

Bobby:  One of the things I enjoyed most about this book was the philosophical aspect of being completely unwilling to accept the status quo.  The characters in the book are all bound by their own morality, but that clearly doesn’t seem to fit with society’s definition of good and evil.  Can you expand a bit on the philosophy in the book?

Paul:  Glad to.  Any type of morality that is imposed from without is a cheap replacement for the real thing.  If we are to be moral, it has to come from within us.  That’s why a man like Jesus always talked about ‘planting seeds’ or ‘cleaning the inside of the cup’.  He knew that the only legitimate goodness is that which grows organically within us.  Following external rules is second-hand morality at best, and very often a tool of manipulation.

Bobby:  Interesting concept – ‘morality imposed from without’.  Can you further explain what you mean here?  Also, you talk about Jesus, but from reading your book it seems you are not a very religious person, at least not in the traditional sense.  Can you also discuss this along with your idea that ‘second hand morality is often a tool of manipulation’?

Paul:  Sure.   Morality imposed from without demotes you; it degrades you.  To be a moral person, you must learn to judge rightly, to learn to choose the good, to hold to it even when you will suffer for it, and to spread that way of life.  It sets YOU as the decider, as the moral actor.  An imposed morality says that you are fit to be ordered around and nothing more.  It’s an insult.

Second-hand morality is almost the same, but is made to look better.  Some person or group claims to have a higher moral standing than anyone else and convinces people to take them on as an intellectual and moral partner.  They want you to adopt their moral standard, and they ALWAYS make that standard work in their favor.  That’s how they get people to willingly turn over their income and that’s how they get young men to willingly die for them.

As for Jesus, you are quite right:  I hold him in the highest esteem, although I’m certainly not religious in the traditional, systemic fashion.

Bobby:  Obviously with your company, Cryptohippie and your book, “A Lodging for Wayfaring Men”, this was not exactly a fairy tale fiction story.   There is an element of truth behind your writing.  You obviously believe strongly about this.  I tend to agree and see huge danger on the horizon for the world, but as an eternal optimist, I also see huge opportunity.

Today we have nearly every major world government spending more than it makes in tax revenue and borrowing the balance.  We are clearly on a path to some of the superpowers imploding due to their own socialist policies.  Nearly every day we are hearing news stories about the European Union countries, the US and Japan having significant budgetary issues and wanting to raise taxes on the wealthy – because they should pay more – in order to fund their agendas.  It seems like the “Atlas Shrugged” predictions are coming true.  But in today’s globalized economy, the solution seems to be ‘Gamma’ (from “A Lodging of Wayfaring Men”) instead of ‘Galt’s Gulch’.  What are your thoughts on this?

Paul:  Yes, I do think the Gamma solution – invisible commerce, communication and identity on the Internet – is our greatest tool.  Encryption is nearly free and it provides superb protection.  It can’t protect everything, but it seriously tips the balance in our favor.  That’s why governments world-over are promoting reasons to capture and regulate the Internet.  They massively screwed-up by allowing it to get started in the 90s.

Bobby:  So Cryptohippie is essentially someone’s entry point into Gamma as discussed in your book, correct?  And if so, what would you recommend for someone who is just becoming enlightened to this world of private digital commerce?

Paul:  Yes, Cryptohippie would function much that way. I definitely recommend that people learn about digital currencies.  The best starting point is DGCMagazine.com.  There’s a lot of good information to pickup there.  People have to start using encryption, if they haven’t already.  Many types are free, for goodness sake, and they are not that hard to use.  Mostly, however, I want people to start doing something.  Talk is cheap.  People must act if they want the world to change.  Waiting for someone else to do it is a waste of life – we must act.  I barely care where they get started, so long as they do get started – pick a spot and start exerting your will in the world.

Bobby:  As I stated before, I am an eternal optimist.  I truly believe that we are living in a pivotal time in history.  Imagine the opportunities available in Russia in the early 1990’s.  They emerged from communist rule and within just a few years entrepreneurship flourished.  I personally have some friends and clients there who have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams due to the turmoil during this era.  I see a similar situation today, but on a grander, more global scale.

Those that are intelligent, hard working, and opportunistic will be alert to new opportunities and will drive the world economy forward from the doldrums we have been experiencing over the past few years.  With technology advancing at such a rapid rate, there is no reason why people cannot live, work and play wherever they chose.  We aren’t shackled by geographical boundaries anymore, but many people are still afraid of change so they stick to the old norms.  Tell me your thoughts on where you see the opportunities of the future.

Paul:  The future is absolutely golden, if we can get through this next passage without global tyranny taking hold.  The situation is actually much, much better than people understand already.  But we’ll have to go through a very dangerous passage.  I actually wrote a long piece on this in my newsletter this month.  If you look at the right economic data, you’ll see that scarcity is slowly dying in the Western world – we just don’t feel it because our prosperity has been skimmed away from us even faster.  We stand at the edge of a tremendous economic boom; far bigger and better than anything in history.  We have just a few insanities to reject and a few simple virtues to return to.

Bobby:  Is there anything else you would like to share with my readers that we haven’t already covered?

Paul:  Hmmm… I guess not, but I would like to elaborate on something we discussed earlier:

Live your life.  Most of this world is designed to keep you within limits that other people have drawn. Even good people will try to keep you within pre-defined limits.  Ignore all of that.  Live your life.  Yes, get the best input you can find, ask advice of people who are able to provide it, live peaceably, live reasonably, live with kindness, but live your way.  Step outside the prescribed paths.  Try new things.  If you make mistakes (and you will), figure out why and avoid them next time.  Take some risks, accept pain when you must, and refuse to merely exist. Live.

Bobby:  I want to thank you again for your time and willingness to share.  Take care.

Paul:  Thanks for having me.

In my consulting business, I frequently work with real estate investors who are interested in creating a bulletproof asset protection plan to shield themselves from predatory litigation.  From my viewpoint, real estate investors have one of the highest risk profiles of any business person.

Clearly the world is more litigious today than it was just 10 years ago.  I call this phenomenon ‘wealth through litigation’.  It is a sad state of affairs when the average American now believes his path to riches lies not with hard work, but with winning a big lawsuit or the lottery.

The litigation problem real estate investors face is twofold – huge exposure and ease of collection.  Later in this newsletter I will provide you with an option to virtually eliminate both of those risks, but for now, let me explain with a hypothetical story.

Mike Smith is an average guy who has worked hard, saved money, and invested in residential rental properties in his hometown.  Mike has spent the past 10 years building a sizeable portfolio of rental properties that now totals 25 homes.  His average rental is valued at $100,000; therefore he is controlling $2.5M in assets.  With $1M in various mortgages, this gives him a net worth of $1.5M.

Mike pays about $7000 per month in mortgage payments, puts aside another $7000 per month for repairs and vacancies and collects $20,000 per month in gross rents.  This leaves him with $6000 in net profit.

At his job, he earns about $150,000 per year.  This gives Mike a net worth of $1.5M and an annual income of $222,000.  Sounds pretty decent, right?  The problem is Mike has a huge bull’s-eye on his back now.  While he may not be rich in today’s standards of Wall Street bankers and political lobbyists, he does has a sizeable net worth and income level.

With this target painted on Mike, he is now financially susceptible to every potential future creditor.  The list of predators is virtually endless.

However, right now is quite possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity to become a residential real estate mogul.  As you can see from the graph below, housing prices were climbing steadily from 2000 until the crisis began in 2007 where there was a rapid decline and now it appears an uptrend is firmly in place.

There are other demographic issues here that may also provide a tailwind to the rental real estate market.  With millions of people having their homes foreclosed on over the past couple of years, there are a lot of people with bad credit scores which place them outside of the realm of bank financing.

We are also seeing an idealogical shift much like the transformation that happened after the great depression in 1929.  During this era people began to dramatically cut back their spending habits and focus on self-sustainability.  Even the wealthier folks who lived through that time decided that there was no need for their previously opulent lifestyles.

This shift in thought process is happening today as well.  I’ve had conversations with several highly successful entrepreneur friends who have made dramatic shifts in their lifestyle even though it wasn’t financially necessary.

In addition to this shift, technological advances over the past few years have provided the ability for workers to be much more transient than before – moving from city to city chasing job opportunities as well as working from a home location more conducive to their lifestyle whilst working remotely.

These various trends have already begun and are creating a shift from home ownership to home rental.  I see huge opportunities over the  upcoming years for those real estate entrepreneurs willing to work hard and take advantage of this economic transformation.

Of course, herein also lies the problem.  Once you begin to develop this portfolio of assets, like Mike Smith, you also increase the size of your bull’s-eye.  Do not lose sight of the pitfalls while pursuing the opportunity.

I work with many real estate investors today and one of the biggest problems they face with a properly structured asset protection plan is cost.  Asset protection planning can get expensive and it rarely offers any immediate benefit.  It’s like buying disability insurance for an Olympic athelete, it’s just hard to justify.

I always advocate getting your personal assets out of your own name as well as segretation of the assets themselves.  However, when you are talking about a house that may only cost $50,000, spending $2,000 on a properly stuctured LLC can get cost prohibitive.  Especially if you own 25 rental houses.

Using LLC’s is a great way to go as long as they are properly structured, but this requires cafeful planning, registration in the right state and a bulletproof operating agreement.  This really isn’t a DIY task.

Another option that is rarely discussed and used almost exclusively by the uber-rich is to have a land trust hold title to your property and use this same properly structured LLC as the trustee.

A land trust can be created for significantly less money than an LLC and because a land trust is not recorded in any public record, it offers you complete anonymity for your real estate holdings.

In the  above example with Mike Smith, you could implement a structure using 25 separate land trusts and one or two LLC’s as opposed to 25 LLC’s.  This would be significantly more cost effective and equally (if not moreso) as beneficial.

You would create a separate land trust for each property owned and then use the same LLC as the trustee for each of them.

A land trust is a legal entity that exists solely for the purpose of holding assets.  A trust has three main elements:

1. Beneficiary – the individual(s) who control the trust and its assets.  As a beneficiary, you have control of the property held in trust just as if you were the owner and are entitled to profits from the rental or sale of the asset.
2. Trustee – The individual (or other entity like an LLC) who actually owns the property in trust.  The trustee has the management responsibility of the assets distributing profits according to the terms of the agreement.
3. Trust agreement – This contract outlines the terms of how the trust is managed and administered.  It spells out the responsibilities of the beneficiaries and the trustee.

The benefits of using a land trust are;

1. Privacy of ownership – The property owner of record is only disclosed in the trust agreement.  The trust agreement which lists the beneficiaries is not a matter of public record allowing you to retain full control of the asset without creating a public record of your beneficial ownership.  This is an ideal asset protection planning tool for real estate holdings because it makes it very difficult for potential creditors to track down your holdings.  Frequently attorneys take cases on a contingency basis.  If the attorney cannot find any asset of value in your name, he is much less likely to want to pursue a lawsuit against you on this basis.  By establishing a veil of privacy around your assets, this frequently is enough of a deterrent to keep the wolves at bay.
2. Ease of transfer – Transferring a property held in trust is much easier than transferring a property you own in your own name.  The beneficial interest in a trust is considered personal property, not real property therfore you can assign your beneficial interest to another party without a formal closing.
3. Ease of control by multiple owners – If there are mulitple partners in a real estate investment, the owners can place the asset in the trust and assign themselves as beneficiaries.  Then only the trustee’s signature is required to execute documents as opposed to each and every beneficiary.
   
4. Comined with an LLC as trustee – If you use a properly structured LLC as the trustee, you have created an additional layer of privacy between you and the real estate asset.  The LLC, as trustee, effectively serves as property manager keeping all banking records in the name of the LLC as it relates to the property.  Additionally, you can also create a 2^nd LLC to use as beneficiary as an additional layer of asset protection if so desired.

With a properly developed asset protection plan using land trusts and an LLC, you remedy the investors two biggest dilemmas – huge exposure and ease of collection.

The land trust creates the veil of privacy around the assets making it virtually impossible for creditors to determine the beneficial owners of the real estate.  When backed up with the legal asset protection benefits of the properly structured LLC, you create a very cost effective, easily scalable, and bulletproof proof plan that is ideal for residential real estate investors.

If you are a real estate investor and would like to schedule a free 30 minute consultation to learn how we can help you properly structure your bulletproof asset protection plan, contact us today.

This week I want to share with you two separate news items that are both frightening and disgusting.  The first one occurred just about two weeks ago and involves a court case where the CA appeals court approved cell phone searches during traffic stops.  The details of the case can be found here.

It all started with a traffic stop and a driver that had some photos of guns on his phone.  The man was pulled over for speeding in Santa Cruz County and the officer suspected him of driving under the influence of drugs.

Upon further inspection the officer found the driver had an expired driver’s license and decided to impound the car.  The officer refused to allow the car to be parked roadside and await a friend of the driver to pick up the car.  At that point, the officer decided to conduct an inventory search of the car.

Upon the inventory search, the officer found a fully legal Glock pistol and the driver’s Blackberry phone.  On the screen of the phone there were pictures of two men holding AR-15 rifles.  At that point, another officer went through the contents of the driver’s phone.  It wasn’t until much later did they get a search warrant for this action.

Based on the info found on the phone, the sheriff’s office sent a SWAT team to execute a search warrant at the driver’s home 10 days later.  The SWAT team confiscated a cache of weapons, marijuana growing paraphernalia, and $15,000 cash.

In summary, the driver’s lawyer argued the search was a violation of the 4^th amendment and all evidence should be disallowed.  The judge agreed and ordered the information to be suppressed.  However the appeals court overturned the judge’s ruling on the grounds that the phone was part of the inventory check needed to process the vehicle impound.

Ironically the driver died of an unrelated incident before he went to trial, but the decision was released anyway solely for the purpose of creating a precedent for future cases.

I ask you dear readers, do you feel it is legal and moral for the police to have the right to confiscate and search your mobile phone if you are stopped for speeding or running a red light?  Is it legal and moral for the police to take this information acquired through unconstitutional means and raid your personal residence and confiscate your personal property?

If you can answer yes to either of these questions, you have clearly subscribed to the wrong newsletter.  Or you are a fascist troll lurking in the shadows trying to gain the perspective of freedom lovers in an attempt to shut down the party.  Either way, please unsubscribe at the bottom.

The second news article involves a bill the House Judiciary Committee passed on October 6^th, 2011 that would make it a federal crime for US residents to discuss or plan activities on foreign soil that if carried out in the US would violate the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

Essentially this is saying that if a US resident makes plans to use a controlled substance outside of the US, he or she would be subject to federal law even if the event took place in a country where the act is legal.

For example, let’s say you are planning a bachelor party for your buddy who is getting married in December.  The bachelor party is to be held in Amsterdam and the group decides that you all want to visit a couple of cafes and smoke some pot.

Keep in mind, you have not bought or consumed marijuana in the US, only made plans to do so in a country where the substance is legal to own and use.  But low and behold, your entire bachelor party group is now subject to prosecution.

What if you have been successfully running your medical marijuana dispensary in California for the past 5 years and have formulated a unique method to increase yields for other growers.  You may decide to provide consulting services to growers in other countries where marijuana is legal to grow and buy.

By providing this service as a US resident, you would now be in violation of this new law.  If interpreted broadly enough, doctors, academics and policymakers could even be charged criminally for contributing their expertise to companies or other agencies outside of the US.

Let me be as delicate as possible here – what kind of arrogant bastard thinks he can legislate the morality of its citizenry as well as regulate the actions of those citizens abroad?  House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), that’s who.

Welcome to the United Fascist States of America.

How many of you are continuing to keep your head in the sand thinking the United States is still a free country?  In what bizarre universe does running a police state that directly violates the core foundation of the country constitute freedom?  When does criminalizing the citizenry for actions outside of your home country become the moral obligation of the ruling class?

I sincerely hope you are doing something to protect your assets and ensure your wealth for the future.  Please take the time to assess your own personal and financial situation and make sure you are prepared to prosper in the coming years.  Putting your head in the sand doesn’t make the problems go away.

Finally, I want to address some reader comments over the past couple of weeks.

I have received numerous questions about recent emails promoting the Chuck Hughes Cash Flow Trader trading service and the John Thomas Macro Millionaire trading service.

First of all, I made a mistake in the most recent email when I stated that John Thomas doesn’t use options.  I meant he is not a net buyer of options, but he does frequently sell options.  John looks at macro economic conditions and makes trades accordingly.

He is not tied to the stock market, bond market, currency market or the commodities market.  He will trade where the opportunity lies at any given moment.

Chuck is more of a technical trader that looks at individual stocks and trades options as both a buyer and seller.  Both services use options and both services are frequently traded, although Chuck’s service is a bit more actively managed.

I have lost count how many people have asked me if I personally use either of these services.  Let me be perfectly clear, I only recommend products that I have personal experience with.  So to directly answer the question, yes, I use both services.

I have been a trader and investor myself for many years.  I don’t follow every single trade from either service.  I use them both to further my trading education and unearth opportunities I may have not seen.  But I don’t trade someone else’s recommendations blindly and I wouldn’t recommend that you do as well.

I’m a huge advocate of personal responsibility so if I lose money trading, it’s my own fault, not the fault of some hedge fund manager who made a recommendation.  Accordingly if I make money, he doesn’t get the credit either.  I am the one that pays my bills and thus I am responsible for me.

I will mention that there is a 90 day money back guarantee on both services.  I personally spoke to my contact at the company on Wednesday to verify the policy and they honor the policy as long as you can send in proof (like a computer screenshot) that you have attempted to make the trades recommended.

If either service appeals to you, go for it.  They stand by their product.  But clearly this is not for everyone.  Rest assured that I will continue to make you aware of opportunities that I have personally vetted.  I do not blindly recommend anything just because it looks pretty.

Over the past week I have been working with one of my asset protection clients developing a strategy for him to minimize his risk.  He is a commercial real estate entrepreneur with a fairly large 8 figure net worth.  Every time I work with successful entrepreneurs like him I can feel my optimism growing.

The world truly revolves around entrepreneurship.  You are the dreamers, visionaries and ultimately the creators of economic growth and prosperity.  You are then ones responsible for constantly improving the welfare of the billions of inhabitants on this planet.

So while I may seem doom and gloom at times, it is all in an effort to awaken you to some of the harsher realities in today’s world.  Truth be told, I am an eternal optimist.

I guess you could say I am bullish on the ingenuity and creativeness of entrepreneurs, but very bearish on governments and politics in general.

I found this recent statement by Lon Fuller, a noted legal philosopher and Harvard professor.  I thought it was relevant to what I call ‘The Great Reset’;

Lon Fuller argued that in order to create and maintain a system which can properly be called a ‘legal system’; a certain procedural requirement should be satisfied.  These are (1) that there should be rules in the first place as opposed to ad hoc judgments; (2) those rules must be made known to all those affected by them; (3) rules should not have retrospective effect; (4) the rules should be understandable and; (5) consistent and; (6) should not require the impossible of people; (7) the rules should not be changed so frequently that people cannot orient their actions by them; (8) the rules as announced should coincide with the actual administration of those rules.  Fuller claims that the absence of any of the 8 basic premises of a legal system do not just result in a bad system, but no legal system at all.

America was established as a place where people could come to be free from overzealous governments, religious persecution, and economic constraints.  America was founded as a Republic; or rule by law.

If you take a look at just the US tax code, we are failing miserably with our legal system.

Regardless of the failure of the political machine in America, I am very optimistic about the future.  If there were an option trade to be made here, I would be buying calls on entrepreneurship and puts on stupid statist political agendas.

Right now is the best time in mankind’s history to be an entrepreneur.  I’ve said it many times; ‘Where Turmoil Exists, Opportunity Persists’.

With the explosion of the internet, you can now work from anywhere in the world.  Just five short years ago, it was very, very difficult to earn a living online.  Today, the opportunities are unlimited.

Just this week my 15 year old daughter got a freelance job (using Odesk) working for a clothing company promoting their blog, writing articles, and posting product pictures.  I was bagging groceries at that age hoping some desperate housewife would tip me for bringing groceries to her car.

A friend of mine, MJ Demarco (author of the book ‘The Millionaire Fastlane’ – highly, highly recommended!), says that in today’s world it’s all about providing value.  While that may seem a bit cliché, most people seem to just want to make money.

MJ recommends finding an unfulfilled or under-fulfilled need in the marketplace and adding value.  The majority of people today follow the traditional path and just want to find a job that pays money.  They seem to forget the part about providing value.  (MJ also runs a forum called ‘The Fastlane Forum’ for people looking to connect with other like-minded people).

My daughter found a way to provide value to her employer by offering her services.  Every day I see opportunities where a need is unfulfilled or under-fulfilled and providing value in this marketplace could give you freedom from the traditional 9-5 life.

Here in Eastern Europe, I have noticed that nearly everyone either speaks English or wants to.  Of course the best time to learn a language is when you are a child, so an English language pre-school would be ideal.  I’ve yet to find one.  They may exist, but they are few and far between.  Need?  Check.  Value?  Check.

A business associate of mine runs a law firm in Panama.  He has found that Americans are becoming more and more leery of the US financial system.  He has negotiated a deal with a credit union in Panama to accept US clients (very few accept foreigners).  This credit union pays 4% interest on basic savings accounts and up to 9% on retirement accounts.

If you put $100,000 in a retirement savings account today and added $10,000 per year for the next 20 years, you would end up with over $1M.  Keep in mind, this is held in cash, no risky investments – no stocks, bonds, options, real estate, etc. – only cash.

Where else can you get 9% a year risk free?  Did I mention there has never been a credit union failure in Panama?  Ever!  (If you would like a free introduction to my lawyer friend, email me here and mention Panama credit union in the subject line).  Need?  Check.  Value?  Check.

Another friend of mine, Jason, found there was a sever lack of quality in the investment research business.  He found there were a lot junk newsletters written by inexperienced traders and investors.

So Jason decided to find some of the top traders in the US with a long and verifiable track record of success and publish their research.  I am personally using one of his publications with much success (click here if you want to watch his free intro video).

For those of you that have chosen to live an expat life, you know that your ability to earn a living abroad was a very critical part of that decision.   If you have the knack for trading, this becomes a viable option for work.

I am personally using Chuck Hughes’ research.  I have been an options trader for several years.  Chuck’s trading methods are very similar to my own, and I have learned a lot about minimizing my own risk and maximizing gain using his options strategies.  For me, this was an investment in my trading education.

Yesterday I made a trade using his recommendation (by the way, I don’t make blind trades on someone else’s recommendations – I always do my own research to verify).  For every $5800 I put into the trade, my maximum gain was $796 and my maximum loss was $170.  This is for a maximum of a 9 week holding period (basically 2 months).

If it reaches max gain, this is over 82% annualized return.  If it reaches max loss, this is about a 17% annualized loss.  For most traders, this is a very, very good risk/reward ration.  If you are interested in learning more, click here to watch Chuck’s free video.  Need?  Check.  Value?  Check.

Day after day I speak with clients and friends who constantly amaze me at their capacity to reengineer their lives and their businesses to provide more value in today’s marketplace.

One friend is taking advantage of recent law changes related to medical marijuana and opening a high tech grow center to supply the local dispensaries.  Trust me; he’s not your ordinary farmer – or pothead for that matter.

Another friend just emailed me about the difficulty he has experienced in finding long boards (skateboards) in Finland.  He has done some research and found there is demand, but very little supply. He is talking to some US manufacturers about importing their product.

I provide value (or attempt to anyway) by offering you an alternative insight into the world of economics.  I help clients minimize their risk through customized asset protection planning.  I also inform you of various opportunities as they arise that can be of great benefit to your quality of life.

What is your value proposition?  Are you one of those people that just want to make money, or are you truly looking for ways to add value to the lives of others?  What are you doing today to improve upon what you did yesterday?

For those of you that have been reading my articles for any length of time, you should be aware by now that I am an ‘equal opportunity political hater’.  I am happy to rant on the stupidity of Mit Romney’s socialized healthcare plan, GW Bush’s destruction of privacy, or Barry O’s massive growth of the public sector.

Apparently last week’s newsletter struck a chord with folks.  I received the largest amount of hate mail ever.  When going through my email box, I felt like Tiger Woods’ personal assistant after he was busted for playing on the wrong green(s).

Below are a few of the responses I received (viewer discretion advised):

• I don’t care for snarky, smart a$$ed, know-it-all email assessments of others by a$$holes intent on separating me from my assets.  Take me off your f*****g email list.
• You are a naïve simpleton
• It’s all BS including you with the scare tactics. Remove me from your list.
• I’ve read your garbage email… If you don’t like what’s happening to our country.. Get The Hell Out!!!
• Rubbish!
• Do not contact me again ever!  F*****g dirty rotten c**t!

In addition, I received a record number of people unsubscribing from my email list.  To those that unsubscribed or took the time to send me hate mail I say, “Thanks you”.

I know I am doing something right when the vitriol runs so deep.

A few other emails (I deleted most of them) stated that I should not be so disrespectful to the President of the United States.  My response is that respect is earned, not granted through a position of power.  No one is owed my respect (or yours) without first earning it.

This week the leader of the free world has unveiled his plan to cut the national debt by $3T over the next 10 years.  A big part of that plan involves increasing the taxes on those that earn over $1M per year.

If he would just learn by the example set by a few of the states, he would realize that increasing tax rates on the wealthy only decreases tax revenue.  Just ask MD, NY, IL and OR.

Or just ask Vladimir Putin about how tax revenue soared in 2001 when the high progressive tax system was replaced with a low flat tax of 13%.  Russia’s GDP grew by 5% the next year and tax revenue increased over 25%.

It seems Keynes has been resurrected and now sits on Obama’s advisory board.  His economic policy is firmly planted in the short term and focused on the government’s ability to solve its people’s problems.

Keynes once famously stated, “In the long run we are all dead.”  While he was certainly correct, the fallacy of this thinking is that the long run does matter eventually.

In the past 50 years the US has only seen an annual budget surplus 5 times.  That means we have been pyramiding debt for 45 years.  Imagine how your finances would look if you spent more than you made in 9 out of every 10 years.

Bloomberg recently reported on an audit of the US Justice department spending habits for conferences held between 2008 and 2009.  In 2008 the bill rang up to $47.8M.  In 2009 it ballooned over 53% to $73.3M.  During these conferences they were buying muffins for $16 apiece and beef Wellington appetizers at a cost of $7.32 per serving.

At the conference of the Office on Violence Against Women, one of the breaks consisted of Cracker Jacks, popcorn and candy bars.  The cost was $32 per person.

Keep in mind our government was burning through cash buying $16 muffins and $32 candy during the deepest recession since the Great Depression.

Another interesting story that arose this week was the bankruptcy of Solyndra.  Solyndra is a solar panel manufacturer based in CA.  Two years ago Obama granted the company low cost government guaranteed loans in the amount of $535M.

The idea was to create 1,000 new jobs and move the country towards energy independence.  If my math is correct, these jobs came at a cost of $267,500 ($535M / 1000 jobs / 2 years).

Solar energy companies are only in business because governments are subsidizing their existence.  If there were no subsidies available, there wouldn’t be one single solar panel in the world.  It is just not economically viable.

Ironically one of the Obamessiah’s biggest supporters, billionaire George Kaiser, owns 35% of Solyndra.  Coincidence?  You be the judge.

All I know is that most entrepreneurs spend considerably less than $267,500 to create new jobs.  When government involves itself in business, it has the nasty habit of misallocating capital.  Do keep in mind that taxpayers are actually the ones who are paying this bill although Obama was the one who made the decision.  Did you vote for that?

We all know that economies move in cycles.  The problem with governments is how they chose to deal with these cycles.  Of course in my view they should just stay out of the way, but that is not a realistic solution.

The second best option would be to adopt a counter cyclical economic policy.  Basically what this means is that in good times when the economy is booming and tax revenues are high, governments should save for a rainy day.

This way when the economy reaches its low points, this cash can be used to stimulate with infrastructure projects and incentives for businesses.

The opposite of the counter cyclical economic policy would be to adopt a pro cyclical policy.  This means when the economy is booming, the government spends every last penny (and then some) to ride the wave.

Of course when the economy turns down, the government’s coffers are much lower due to lower tax revenues.  This only exacerbates the highs and the lows of the economic cycles making them much higher and then much lower.

The biggest problem with idiotic politicians is they tend to be pro cyclical when the economy is good (spending every last penny and then some), and counter cyclical when the economy is bad (spending in an effort to stimulate).

Guess what folks?  You cannot have your cake and eat it too.  At some point you have to either pay back your debts, or default.  And neither solution is good.

Earlier today I was having a spirited debate with a friend of mine – let’s call him Mike.  Mike is a successful small business owner who is firmly planted in the middle income class.  He is a great guy and a very hard worker.

Today he wanted to make the point that he agrees with Obama’s idea to increase the tax burden on those earning over $1m per year.  My argument is that this tax is utterly useless as the very high earners employ armies of accountants and lawyers to minimize their tax burden.

The legislation does nothing but complicates an overly complex tax code and gives the administration an excuse to hire more IRS agents and buy more guns.

Right now Americans already spend over 7B hours per year doing their taxes.  Quick math tells me we have spend an average of nearly 24 hours for every man, woman and child doing tax returns.

For an average person who makes $50,000 per year and works a 40 hour workweek, this means your cost of compliance amounts to $600.  But keep in mind, the cost is 24 hours for every man woman and child.  So if you prepare the tax returns for your family of 4, your cost is now $2400.

I am well aware many of you will say that you don’t really spend this much time completing tax returns.  I also know there are many of you that say this is a very low estimate.  But on average, IRS compliance now costs each American about $600 per year.

I told Mike earlier today that the US economy has now reached a point of no return.  He chastised me a bit for leaving the country, but I told him I didn’t want to be on the ship when it hits an iceberg.

For me, internationalizing my life was the right thing to do.  Minimizing my risks through proper asset protection planning, diversifying assets outside of the country and creating a veil of privacy are all things anyone should consider.

What are you doing to protect yourself and position for prosperity in the future?
Call today to schedule your free 30 minute asset protection consultation.  Until next week, live extraordinary.

I’ve known Tres now since 2005.  We both started (and finished in ‘07) a Master’s in Entrepreneurship at MIT at that time and have remained good friends since.  Tres works on the trading floor at the CME and runs his own futures brokerage firm in Chicago.

He is also a frequent guest on CNBC, Fox Business and Bloomberg News every week.  Today we are going to talk about what Tres calls his ‘retirement trade’.  The webinar is going to be held today at 7pm EST.  If you are interested in joining us, click here.

In addition to the webinar later today with Tres, I also need to squeeze in play time with my 4 year old son, the daily download of school and social issues with my 15 year old daughter, and taking my 12 year old son to lacrosse practice.

After lacrosse, I think my son and I are going to ride bikes over to the bmx park and I will see if I can clear the big ramp jump.  Don’t worry; my son can call the ambulance if necessary.

You see, while I may be a workaholic, I am also a playaholic.  One of my all time favorite songs is Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself’.  If you haven’t heard the song, or haven’t listened to it in awhile, click the YouTube link and give it a listen.

My favorite line is right at the beginning of the song – “If you had one shot, or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it, or just let it slip?”  What would you do?

My nephew John, who passed away in June, reintroduced me to this song which I had long since disregarded as just another rap song.  He lived a great life and seized every moment.   I know what his answer was.  (Read my article ‘Homeless and Happy’ for more on this topic).

This song is truly powerful.  I listen to it frequently to remind me about living life to the fullest and never having regrets.

Nearly every day I have a conversation with friends and family inquiring about my own life choices.  They question my sanity about living outside of the US, not owning a home, not owning a car, sending my kids to school in a foreign country, working until 3am but riding bicycles during the day, and many other things that don’t fall in line with the status quo.

One of my unnamed family members was even so kind as to tell me that I was immature and irresponsible for riding motorcycles at my age (I’m 37) and that I needed to grow up and act like an adult.  Maybe he needs to try acting like a kid.

A friend once told me, “I want to be just like you when I grow up.”  I told her, “If you grow up, you will never be like me.”

For me though, I question the sanity of living the comfortable, mediocre life doing the same thing day after day, living in the same place for decades, going on holiday to the same place every summer, and traveling the same road to the same job in the same car at the same time day after day after day.

As Einstein so famously stated, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

How do you live your life?  Is it exactly as you want it?  Or do you constantly dream of what could have been?

As Eminem said, “You only get one shot, do not miss your chance…”

Call today to schedule your free 30 minute asset protection consultation.  Until next week, live extraordinary.

He called me the voice of anarchy.  We were discussing the state of affairs in the world today and the worldwide debt crisis that is causing an economic meltdown; or what I call ‘The Great Reset’.

While some people talk about how we will soon enter these tumultuous times, I would argue that ‘The Great Reset is in Full Swing’.  As an eternal optimist, these types of major structural changes are a positive going forward.  It will lead to smaller governments and more personal responsibility.

My new title given to me by my friend, Scott, reminds me of a book I read a few years ago titled, ‘Market for Liberty’ by Morris Tannehill.  Tannehill makes the case for a society completely devoid of any government influence.  In his utopian world, every problem is solved by the free market.

So while I am not a complete anarchist ala Tannehill (the book is very thought provoking), we could certainly use a massive cut back in governments around the world.

For productive members of society, there is little argument that government has far out stepped its boundaries in everyday life.  We have reached a point where it sometimes feels we are creating government programs, and their necessary tax increases, merely for the purpose of employing government workers.

Two days ago I was walking through a park near my flat in Riga and noticed there was someone working there collecting a small fee for usage of the public restroom.  Almost no one was using it, yet this woman was there all day just collecting these toilet fees.

While observing this, I just couldn’t help but think that the cost of paying her to collect fees was probably more than the amount received every day.

When you consider the huge deficits the US, Europe, Japan and many other countries are running these days, is there really any difference here?

We are just hiring workers to collect taxes, but the taxes don’t even come close to paying our bills.  So we borrow, borrow, borrow and destroy the productive capacity of future generations for the sake of ballooning the government payrolls.

At least the lady collecting toilet fees knows her job is shitty…

This week I am keeping the newsletter short and sweet.  This is the deadline week for publishing our monthly EscapeWealth Ezine, so this has consumed an enormous amount of time.  You can view this Ezine here.  We have articles every month from experts in the financial world about asset protection, investing, trading, and international living.

Nearly every week I get requests from readers looking for sources of more information about becoming better investors or traders.  While you can certainly get your master’s or PhD in finance or go work for an investment firm, in reality the easiest way to improve your skills is to learn from those who have a verifiable track record of success.

As one of my mentors once told me, “Leaders are readers.”  So below is a list of a few books I consider required reading for anyone interested in making a lot of money as an investor.

• The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham
• One Up on Wall Street, by Peter Lynch
• Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, by Edwin Lefevre
• Market Wizards, by Jack Schwager
• The Mystery of Banking, by Murray Rothbard
• Winning on Wall Street, by Martin Zweig
• Investment Biker and Adventure Capitalist, by Jim Rogers

These authors all have a long history of success; they aren’t just academics writing theory.  If you add these books to your repertoire of knowledge, you will certainly improve your odds of success as an investor.

If you are interested in getting a direct line to one of the best trader’s I know, I am hosting a free webinar for my readers next Thursday, September 8 at 7pm EST with Tres Knippa.

You can register for the webinar here.

Tres is a good friend of mine and a very accomplished floor trader at the CME.  He frequently appears on CNBC, Fox Business, and Bloomberg News.  You can view some of his appearances here, here and here.

Join Tres and me next Thursday for this free webinar where he will discuss the current economic environment and what he personally calls his retirement trade.

On a somewhat unrelated note, we are offering a 20% discount off the regular price of our Wealth Fortress Trust for the month of September.