Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Investing for Survival


 Investing for Survival

            From the Sovereign Man

Offshore Bank Account: How To Get One And Why

Having an offshore bank account is a fundamental part of international diversification. It’s especially important in times like these when currency controls and government regulations are getting stricter, supposedly, “to battle money laundering and international terrorism.”. Offshore banking enables a way of having part of your wealth outside of your country, so that you never risk having one government freeze or confiscate all your assets.

Governments, especially the US Government, can freeze and confiscate your assets without even having to prove their case. They might just act on a hunch. How would you feel like waking up one day with your credit cards not working and finding out all your accounts are frozen indefinitely? It can take months, or even years, of lengthy court hearings before you get your money back. How are you going to afford a lawyer if your bank accounts are frozen?
A foreign bank account is an important diversification “flag” to plant abroad. You should consider jurisdictions with low taxes, a strong and stable financial sector, and one without a history of plundering the banks in bad times.

A point worth mentioning is that offshore banking is not about hiding your money from the tax man, it is about diversifying your sovereign risk.

Often you’ll also find that offshore interest rates are far better than domestic ones — if this comes as a surprise for you, it is not your fault. For obvious reasons, domestic banks are not going to tell you that you can get a much better return just by having your money in a foreign bank account, not to mention the fact that foreign banks are likely to be stronger than banks in your home country.

Places where you will find the best offshore bank include countries like Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, Qatar, and a few others. An ”Offshore” bank doesn’t necessarily have to be located in a so called ”tax haven”. Several of the countries mentioned above are spared of the tax haven-stamp that many other low tax countries have.

Offshore Internet Banking: Getting Started Remotely

Most of the time a foreign bank requires you to come to their office in person to open an account, as well as provide a seemingly endless array of notarized documents, stamped papers, and letters of reference. It is possible though to open a foreign bank account without leaving the country and manage your foreign account online from all over the world. Offshore online banking is an excellent way to manage your finances, no matter where you live in the world.

“This is the fastest and easiest way to open a foreign bank account without having to fly to a foreign country and go through the process on the ground.”

Read more about this easy way to open a foreign bank account. You can go about opening a bank account overseas, for example in Hong Kong, by going to an international bank with branches in both Hong Kong and in your country.

There are some international banks that will be willing to open an account on your behalf in their foreign branch, and take care of all documentation requirements without you having to leave the country.
So what does it cost to open a foreign bank account?

Some banks require you to deposit and maintain a balance of at least $5000 in your account, but there are also banks where you can open an account and deposit as little as a few hundred dollars.

No comments:

Post a Comment