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03 June 2008
The Freedom to Create Real Value and Wealth in the Offshore World This being my first entry on a new blog, I thought
it would be a good idea to set the scene. Why I am motivated to write about
Freedom, Wealth, and Privacy? And perhaps more importantly, how can this benefit
you the reader?
The offshore and wealth management business has
changed completely since I first became involved in this sector. The reasons
for going offshore back then were basically tax mitigation and asset protection.
It was taken for granted that Wealth had to be created onshore, then stored
and protected offshore. Certainly these motivations are still major factors
in sophisticated offshore planning, but that’s not what I’m going
to be writing about here. Others have already covered that more than adequately.
Today there is a real potential to generate wealth
completely offshore: to name a few examples, through e-commerce, writing and
consulting, investing, real estate and so on. More and more people are physically
leaving countries like the UK and the US, sometimes on a part-time basis, sometimes
permanently. These smart individuals, the new brain drain, are taking their
earning power directly offshore. (Taking the broad definition of offshore: any
country other than your own!)
They have discovered how they and their families
can live a better quality and healthier life internationally – for a lot
less money than back home. It just makes good sense.
Freedom is something we all crave, and the more
entrepreneurial characters in our ranks feel stifled and restricted by big onshore
government these days. Certainly taxes have something to do with it, but there’s
a lot more to it than just taxes. I’m going to blog about how we can find
the freedom to live our lives the way we want, and create wealth in the process.
How we can escape stress to release our maximum potential for productivity and
creativity.
Because wealth is something we can create, nurture
and grow, anywhere in the world. It’s interesting to look up wealth in
a dictionary. The word wealth stems from the Anglo-Saxon “weal”.
It has three definitions:
Wealth, riches, possessions
Welfare, well-being, happiness
The welfare of a country or community: the
general good
So, wealth is all those things that we normally
think of: riches and possessions. But it’s also a lot more than that.
It includes a sense of well-being. Obvious if you stop to think about it…
no point having money if you do not have health and happiness to go with it.
I’ll be writing more on this matter in future blog entries.
Finally, privacy. Privacy is, to my mind, an essential
element of freedom and security. It’s about the freedom to choose what
you want other people to know about yourself. It’s about data security
and protecting access to your wealth. Privacy is another reason more and more
people are choosing to move business offshore, even if there is no tax advantage.
You may have nothing to hide, but that’s still no reason to publish your
financial and personal information on the internet. When I’m talking about
this subject at seminars, and I feel the audience needs shaking up a bit, I
refer them to Henry Porter’s Channel 4 documentary Suspect
Nation about surveillance of individuals in the UK and USA. If you
haven’t seen it yet, you should.
So, look forward to more blog entries about Freedom,
Wealth and Privacy. I hope you enjoy them and that you can use the information
here to benefit your business and your life. In turn I would much appreciate
your feedback, comments and questions. I can be contacted via info@petermacfarlane.net
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.
You have been
reading an entry on the following blog:
The Q Wealth Report Peter Macfarlane of The Q Wealth Report blogs on Freedom, Wealth and Privacy
Other recent
entries in this blog:
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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