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The Q Wealth Report Peter Macfarlane of The Q Wealth Report blogs on Freedom, Wealth and Privacy
One good thing coming out of the recession is that it is making people question
their lifestyle choices, and forcing radical changes on people. You might have
been putting off something you really wanted to do for years, for example, because
of pressure of work or lack of time. Then, suddenly, you lose your job and you
are free to realize your dream! Ironic, huh?
Of course, in real life things aren’t that simple. But on the other hand,
we often make things too complicated. Always ask yourself why. Things that have
just come to be accepted as fact often need to be challenged. And right now
we are all facing challenges. It is up to us to make the best of them, and that
will probably involve doing something new and different.
Remember that in the years following the great depression in the 1930s, many
of America’s greatest fortunes were made, and family dynasties were created
that survive till this day. I believe that over the coming two or three years,
many new fortunes will be created. The people who become rich will not be ‘lucky.’
They will be creative entrepreneurs who saw opportunities and reacted. People
who are open minded. In fact, a lot of it comes down to common sense. And most
of those fortunes will not be made in the USA or the UK. They will be made (at
least on paper) in places like Panama, the Cayman Islands or Taiwan.
They say that “travel broadens the mind” and talking from personal
experience I can say that is very true. You see that in different cultures and
countries, there are different ways of doing the same thing, that work just
as well. As you gain experience of the world, you just begin to see opportunities
that never occur to people who stay at home watching soap operas.
One popular misconception, for example, is that travel is expensive. It’s
not. Add up what you spend right now on rent, mortgage, food, car etc, then
compare it with what it would cost you to rent an apartment in – for sake
of argument – Panama City, Panama (by no means the cheapest location,
but one with plenty of first world amenities). I think one person could live
a comfortable middle class lifestyle in a nice apartment, eating out in good
restaurants most days, for $1,500 monthly. For $2,500 you could live like a
king. For $750 you could live perfectly acceptably.
I mention Panama not by coincidence, but because I’ve known a number
of people who have moved there. Another friend doesn’t like the noise
of big cities, so he moved to an idyllic cool mountain house, in a private gated
community an hour and a half outside Panama City and forty minutes from the
beach, that he rents for $750 per month with his wife and two kids. They live
on fresh and natural local produce. My friend runs his business from there over
the internet. These are real people, and if you have need of computer security
solutions (as every business that handles money online does) you can probably
even go visit him there and enjoy a good cup of Panamanian coffee. And of course,
since his clients are not Panamanians, he doesn’t have to worry about
income or corporation taxes of any sort.
The internet, of course, allows you to run an ‘ideas’ business
like that from anywhere. A new concept for me, for example, was running an onshore
real estate business from offshore over the internet.
So to return to our original question, you just don’t need a million
in the bank to be free, to be your own boss. There are millions of businesses
out there you can start with no money down, and many of them can be run from
a laptop, with the paperwork and banking elements all secured in an offshore
tax haven.
There are thousands of desirable places around the world where you can live
and run your business – quite possibly for less money than your current
lifestyle is costing. Many of them are offshore. Even if you end up with a few
less material benefits, you will buy peace of mind, freedom from stress. Going
offshore is no longer about hiding money – it is about creating wealth
in an environment that is free from burdensome over-regulation. Real free markets.
This applies not to just to financial services, but to so many other fields
of endeavour too.
And most importantly, by freeing up your mind’s creativity, by living
free and hopefully debt-free, you reduce or eliminate the stress and worry that
I’ll bet are the biggest factors holding you back right now. So if you
feel it’s time to change, then go for it! Don’t wait until you have
a million in the bank, or you might never get there!
19 November 2008 You Don’t Know Until You Go! It’s a few weeks since my last blog entry, and the reason for this is
that I have been travelling in Latin America with a small group of investors
– concerned privacy-minded and freedom loving individuals who are concerned
about how our financial and personal freedoms are being gradually eroded. We
had an interesting ten day trip starting in Panama City then taking in Paraguay
and Brazil.
When I talk about “concerned individuals” what I really mean is
that if and when things get worse in the western world – in terms of financial
and political restrictions - it’s important to be prepared. An established
business or residence presence in one of the more remote corners of the world
will be a great fallback or hedging position. Even a second passport or citizenship
might be your ultimate goal.
You might be surprised to learn that Paraguay scores highly on all this –
a free society, no personal income taxes and an economy that is completely self
sufficient with plenty of fresh water and clean, green power. In fact Paraguay
is the world’s largest exporter of hydro electricity, and one of the highlights
of the trip was a visit to the Itaipu Binacional hydro-electric power plant
– the largest in the world, and an incredible feat of engineering and
international co-operation. We also visited the spectacular Iguassu Falls, one
of the seven wonders of the natural world.
But the most important thing I think we all learned from this trip was the
importance, even in this internet age, of actually getting on a plane and seeing
things for yourself. We all know the comfort of familiar places and people,
but that often also comes with a feeling of frustration, a feeling that we are
not in full control of our lives as we should be. On the other side, we all
have a natural fear of the unknown. This internal fear is perpetuated by the
mainstream media. But by confronting and overcoming it we can open up a whole
new world of opportunities.
For example, one of our delegates, a successful UK businessman, said TV and
press coverage had led him to believe he would find machete-wielding individuals
a mile or two from the financial district of Panama City. But by going there
and getting a feel for the place by visiting local and expat-owned internet
businesses, he found instead that it’s a great place to do business. Now
he is making plans to move his operating base down there instead.
Here at The Q Wealth
Report our business for over a decade has been writing about not just how
to preserve your assets offshore, but how to create wealth and develop opportunity
by actually living offshore. As a famous offshore author once said, “You
don’t know until you go.” The instability in the world right now
means that you truly need to know about safe places and new opportunities. Right
now would be the time to start, and here on lowtax.net you will find a lot of
information to begin your quest.
Peter Macfarlane is joint editor of The Q Wealth Report an established newsletter
dedicated to informing readers about creating, protecting and growing wealth
in a secure offshore environment. It also covers international living, banking,
retiring and investing. Visit www.QWealthReport.com
to see more.
28 October 2008 Why the Financial Crisis Doesn't Really Matter Well I needed an attention grabbing headline! Maybe I’m exaggerating
a little if I say it doesn’t matter. No disrespect to the many financial
services professionals who read this blog. What I really wanted to say, is that
it’s time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Does it
have to matter to you? Do you want it to matter?
For weeks now we’ve been glued to our screens, watching the latest news,
share prices, currency rates and so on. In this article I want to suggest a
different approach. It took me a long, introspective walk on the beach last
week to figure this one out, and now I will run it by you.
It’s easy to get drawn in by mass media hysteria. That’s what happened
to me as the bailout plans unfolded. But at the end of the day, why get stressed
by things we can do nothing about? Let me restate two facts we all know already:
The market is no longer free, nor is there even any pretence of a free market
economy. A huge part of the global financial system is now in hands of governments.
Apart from the obvious intervention (bailouts) you don’t have to be
a conspiracy theorist to see there are lots more political factors playing
out behind the scenes. Lots of special interest groups. Lots of infighting.
The media is in business to make news. There was a time when reporters
reported. Now, they don’t. They take stories from the internet and rewrite
them, changing them a little so as not to stand accused of plagiarism.
It would be hard for anyone to dispute these two facts in isolation. The conclusion
I draw from these two facts combined is that it is simply not worth participating
in the financial markets anymore – not unless you happen to be a central
bank, maybe.
What we need to do is concentrate on living. During that walk on the beach,
I thought back to some decisions I made years ago. They have stuck with me and
served me well ever since. I decided I wanted quality of life – a healthy
life with friends and family. Time to do things I believed in, that pleased
me. In other words – I wanted to be in control of my life.
That is why, back when I was a business student in London in the early nineties,
I didn’t jump on the bandwagon and apply for a job with a big American
investment bank. I knew a lot of people who did, and sure they made a lot more
money than I did. But their lives didn’t seem to me to be complete. Or
maybe it just seemed too much like hard work for me.
That’s why now, I don’t want to be a slave to the TV and the endless
market watching sites. If I can’t do anything about it, I might as well
look for better things to do with my time.
When times look tough, the Americans talk about ‘heading for the hills.’
I headed for the beach in Latin America, with a few stopovers in European cities
on the way. And I’ve never regretted it for a moment.
Now, just in the last few weeks, I’ve talked to a lot of people who have
been dreaming for years about a “new life offshore” but now they
are really taking concrete steps towards that goal. It is really possible to
live better, live healthier, at lower cost, make money using the internet, and
– best of all – you can hedge against the effects of the financial
markets in a way that you would never achieve with even the most sophisticated
derivative!
Maybe now is really the time to do something about it, if you are one of those
people. If the financial situation is pressuring you, it could be time for that
radical change you have been putting off. Don’t doubt your abilities.
Grab your spirit of adventure, stop gambling on rigged markets, and move yourself
offshore!
If you are interested in this topic, I’ll be addressing more specifics
of how to achieve this in my blog entries here over the coming weeks. I’ll
also talk about more recession-proof investments and businesses you can start
from scratch – all in a low tax environment of course! No promises as
to specific dates, but I will certainly cover this topic more! And if you would
like to investigate this through a more in-depth approach (i.e. peek ahead),
you can read articles in this vein by myself and others at www.QWealthReport.com
Peter Macfarlane is joint editor of The Q Wealth Report an established newsletter
dedicated to informing readers about creating, protecting and growing wealth
in a secure offshore environment. It also covers international living, banking,
retiring and investing. Visit www.QWealthReport.com
to see more.
Penelope Wise
Penny Wise but not Pound Foolish! But remember: I am not offering investment advice. My comments are just for your general information; I do not recommend investments, and you should take professional advice before entering any investment contract.
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