If You Don’t Have Your Assets Outside of the US Yet, What Are You Waiting For?

The trajectory is clear.  Painfully clear.

The US government is so beyond bankrupt it isn’t even worth belaboring the point.  We’ve spent the last five years here doing so.

What is more important, if you are an American who still has most of your assets inside the US, is that the walls are closing down around you at an unprecedented rate.  Nearly daily the proof continues to mount.

After the US financial system collapsed in 2008 it is now only being held up like Bernie of Weekend at Bernie’s with money printing and holding interest rates at nearly 0%.  In fact, today, December 16th, is the sixth anniversary of the Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) of the Federal Reserve.

Many people began to see the writing on the wall after 2008.  One of them was Edward Saverin, a co-founder of Facebook, who renounced his US citizenship in 2012 and moved to Singapore.  In response, the US Senate tried to pass the “Ex-Patriot” act which even considered not allowing those who dare leave the US ever to return.

Since then a record amount of Americans have renounced their citizenship to the point where the US government just recently raised the “fee” to renounce by 400%, to $2,350… and it will likely go higher and more laws will be put in place making it more difficult for people to legally disassociate from the bankrupt US government.  That, of course, is in addition to the “exit tax”.

Put into effect in June 2008, US citizens who renounce their citizenship are subject under certain circumstances to an expatriation tax, which is meant to extract from the expatriate taxes that would have been paid had they remained a citizen: all property of a covered expatriate is deemed sold for its fair market value on the day before the expatriation date, which usually results in a capital gain, which is taxable income.  In other words, if you have substantial assets and wish to escape the US tax system you will still end up paying a large amount of tax just to leave (there are ways around that however – read below).

And that’s if you can even get out at all.  We are starting to hear word from numerous sources that Americans who have applied to get their US passport or to renew it, in order to expatriate outside of the US, are experiencing very long delays and in at least one case a person was told to “just ask for a refund because we aren’t going to issue it”.

As far as your money in the US goes things continue to get tightened down.

Barely reported in the mainstream media, on November 16th, at the G20 meeting in Brisbane the Financial Stability Board’s “Adequacy of Loss-Absorbing Capacity of Global Systemically Important Banks in Resolution” was rubber stamped.

Russell Napier, writing in ZeroHedge, called it “the day money died.” At the very least it may have been the day deposits died as money. He stated that deposits are now “just part of commercial banks’ capital structure.” That means they can be “bailed in” or confiscated to save the megabanks from their ludicrously low capital ratios.

Now, if any bank has problems (which is nothing but inevitable) deposit holders are the last man on the totempole and depositor’s funds can (and will) be used to keep the bank solvent… Just like in Cyprus, but now it is fully legal and approved across the G20.

Theoretically deposits in the US under $250,000 are “protected” by federal deposit insurance (FDIC).  But banks in the US currently hold $9 trillion+ in deposits and the FDIC has… wait for it… $25 billion to cover them.  Or, about 0.27% of the total.

And that is forgetting for the moment that such a potential massive collapse of the banking system will likely result in such a massive sell-off of the US dollar and US Treasuries that what remaining dollars are left will be nearly worthless.

Thomas Jefferson warned about having institutions like the Federal Reserve in charge of the nations money centuries ago, “If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered.”

That is already well in process and, realizing that, the US government is doing everything it can to stop Americans from taking their money and assets outside of the US.

FATCA

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has been in process for years but began to come into full effect on July 1st of this year… and it’s just getting started.

FATCA was launched with the intended goal of making sure no American, anywhere, has any financial assets not reported directly to the US government.  Unlike most countries, Americans are some of the most globally enslaved in that they must pay tax to the US government no matter where in the world they live, for how long or even if they have only spent a few days in the US in their life (as many who were born in the US and then moved abroad found out).

This, already, is bad enough.  But the results of FATCA, as with all government programs, come with a massive amount of unintended consequences (whether they were unintended or not is something for another day).  What it has meant is that it is becoming nearly impossible for Americans to open bank or brokerage accounts outside of the US.  

In fact, many companies around the world won’t even accept investment from Americans (meaning Americans are dramatically limited in their investment options) nor even employ or have an American as a partner or executive of the company as it entails an incredible amount of paperwork and filing in order to comply with all the regulations brought about by FATCA and other arms of the US government.

And all of this is just the beginning.  Wait until the next shoe drops in the US and the next 2008 happens… but much, much worse.

Is There Any Way Out?

Where there is a government created problem there is always a solution.

In the past high level solutions were only financially feasible to the very wealthy like Warren Buffet and George Soros who already have their financial affairs set-up in a way in which they are internationalized and outside of the purview of things like FATCA and other regulations.

Now, the cost to completely internationalize your assets and in such a way so as they are not FATCA reportable and able to do business internationally without problem is much cheaper than it used to be.

In fact, we have spent most of this year dealing with US legal counsel and high level accountants finding ways to avoid most of the roadblocks put in the way of Americans via FATCA and other legislation and have come up with a comprehensive solution that makes financial sense for Americans who want to internationalize their assets as pain-free as possible.

Some of the benefits include:
• An extremely high level of asset protection from creditors and frivolous lawsuits
• Investment restrictions are eliminated
• Complete control over the assets
• Significantly reduced FATCA reporting requirements
• Capital gains taxes on appreciated assets are eliminated
• Estate tax is completely avoided (for you and all future generations)
• Exit Tax if you wish to renounce US citizenship is avoided
• No probate
• Generous tax deductions may be realized
• Tax on future investment returns minimized
• Qualified plan assets such as IRAs can be protected from creditors and future rule changes

As far as we know, no one has come up with a complete solution such as this anywhere in the world.  Most wealth management firms are still scrambling to understand FATCA much less tailor solutions for their clients outside of its purview – all legally and signed off by high level and reputable lawyers and accounts in the US.

On January 15th we will be holding a one day workshop in Cancun, Mexico, to reveal our solution and to consult with high net worth (at least $1 million in net worth is necessary to make this solution cost-effective) individuals to tailor a process for them.

If you are American and still hold a substantial amount of your assets in the US and see the writing on the wall and want to receive the best financial, tax and planning advise on protecting yourself you owe it to yourself, and your family, to take steps now to protect yourself.  You’ll never hear this on CNBC, the mainstream media or from your government registered financial advisor.

It is up to you to take your financial future into your own hands…

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.