And start doing it today…
This in from Doug Casey at International Man.
Remember, your government… considers you a milk cow. And history has shown, if they need to, they’ll use you as a beef cow, as well.“
If you’re alarmed by the growing threat—from your own government—to your financial health and personal freedom, I can’t blame you.
You’ve seen the crowded parade of new laws, taxes, and regulations recently passed or now in the works. While many of those measures seem small, together they threaten to clog the arteries of the economy. Prospering—or just holding on to what you already have—won’t be easy.
In fact, I’m afraid that as financial resources shrink and government deficits rise, the grab for money will become more desperate. Governments will go beyond taxation and reach into retirement funds and into depositor accounts at banks to ask for help.
Events around the world show that capital controls, income tax hikes (to rates as high as 75%), debt monetization, nationalization of private pension vehicles, bail-ins and bank deposit confiscations, and other futile but destructive options aimed at your money will be used by cash-strapped governments.
No matter how well protected your government tells you your money is, how comfortable can you really be if it’s all in one country?
Fortunately, it’s not too late to diversify your assets internationally to protect yourself from an out-of-control government… and there are many practical, low-cost strategies you can put into place without ever leaving home.
Too Naive and Inexperienced to Manage Your Own IRA?
We’re from the Government,
and We’re Here to Help…
“If you knew what’s good for you, you’d buy risk-free US Treasury bonds for your IRA and 401(k). Just in case you don’t understand that, we’re making an investment in US Treasuries mandatory for your retirement account.”
That’s my plain-English translation of the Obama administration’s argument that it should be handling our pension funds for us. (To be fair, the Bush administration made a similar move, but it died in Congress at the time.)
Retirement USA is basically an effort that amounts to nationalizing 401(k)s and IRAs.“
The first step toward putting a government harness on your IRA has already been taken by the Service Employee International Union (SEIU), which has mounted an effort to create government-mandated worker retirement accounts as an entitlement program.
In other words, US companies, already bogged down with Obamacare costs, would be required by law to provide retirement funds for employees—with workers paying half the tab.
Under this program, cheerfully named “Retirement USA,” the government could then demand that part of the retirement contributions go into a government-created annuity funded by purchasing Treasury debt.
To see the flaws in this plan, we only have to look to Hungary, which in November 2010 gave its citizens an ultimatum: move your private-pension fund assets to the state or lose your state pension. The real purpose of this extortion scheme: reduce the country’s public debt.
Bloomberg reported that “workers who opt against returning to the state system stand to lose 70 percent of their pension claim.”
Do you really want to bet your retirement fund on the hope that nothing like this will get imported to your home country?
The 8 Pillars of International Diversification
Mainstream investors think that using a few mutual funds or buying a couple of stocks trading on Canadian exchanges adds up to diversification. They’ll be the ones hurting the most when the economic tsunami hits.
But your name doesn’t need to show up on the list of victims.
Most people understand that it’s foolish to keep all their eggs in one basket. Yet they fail to go far enough in applying the principle. Portfolio diversification isn’t just about investing in multiple stocks or in multiple asset classes. Real diversification—the kind that keeps you safe—means holding assets in multiple countries, so that you’re not overexposed to the economic and political risks that are present in every country.
Doug Casey, founder and chairman of Casey Research, has said pointedly that spreading your political risk beyond a single jurisdiction is the single most important thing he can recommend today.
In short, international diversification is prudent because it frees you from absolute dependence on any one country. Achieve that independence, and your life can never be dominated by events or policies in any country.
Wealthy families have been diversifying internationally for centuries. Today, with modern communications, international diversification is within everyone’s reach.
You don’t even have to leave your living room to do it.
Whether it’s opening an offshore bank or brokerage account, owning physical gold in Singapore or Switzerland, or setting up a foreign company to hold your investments, low-cost solutions are within everyone’s reach.