5 Ways To Protect Your Wealth
You’ll recall the story from earlier this year about the latest fad in European banking: charge bailouts to big depositors to avoid fallout for politicians. You may also remember our story from a few weeks back about the U.S. nailing American deposits in Swiss banks. So you know the threats to your savings are numerous and multiplying, with fewer places to hide from the long reach of Uncle Sam.
With heavily indebted (and very unpopular) governments looking to cash in wherever possible, it’s good to have a general idea of the options available to you when you think about what to do with your money. Bottom line: your money isn’t safe. Taxes will take it. Inflation will take it. Now even banks can steal from you if you have over €100,000 in a European bank, barely enough to fund a retirement these days. Similar policies in the U.S. may not be far behind.
Here are a few legal options for keeping your money safe from desperate governments, courtesy of estate lawyer Alfred Polizzotto and mybanktracker.com.
1. Prepaid Cards: This is an innovative idea you don’t often hear about. Prepaid gift cards can usually hold money leaving no paper trail and don’t require identification. You might be limited to $250 per card for most, but only four adds up to $1,000. Not bad! Buying foreign debit cards, such as the Sovereign Gold Card, can get you around onerous PATRIOT Act paperwork requirements and enable you to load up to $10,000 at a time.
2. Trusts: If you have serious money to protect, you can put a ton of it in your child’s name and still exert some authority over it while avoiding the gift and estate taxes. It can also protect your assets from creditors. “For asset protection purposes” says Polizzotto, “irrevocable trusts are the way to go.” Sidenote: this was how the Kennedy family fortune was maintained through five generations.
3. Offshore Accounts: Yeah… Switzerland isn’t so great these days. According to Polizzotto, the Isle of Man, a tiny Island off the coast of Britain, is the new offshore hotspot. Be forewarned: offshore banking is getting to be a tricky space to negotiate for Americans, with renewed crackdowns on the practice in both the U.S. and U.K.
4. Homesteading: Certain states have exemptions for homesteading that protect home equity up to a certain amount from creditors. Rules on this vary widely by state. Florida has among the best exemptions on the East Coast. Lawcheck.net has a great list for those interested.
5. Precious Metals: Gold and silver are cheaper than ever these days, so buying opportunities abound. Yes, the markets are down but they may not stay that way forever. Central banks around the world don’t trust the dollar to maintain value and are buying up gold by the pallet. Supply is still extremely limited, while demand for physical is surging. Check out our Zero Hour Scenario for the full story on why gold will rebound in the future.
P.S.–It may be unconventional, but the digital currency revolution has produced a new and very popular safe haven for stashing money. Want to learn more? Click here to sign up for The Daily Reckoning and receive out our free report “The Top Alternatives to Fiat Money.”
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