Costa Rica – Investing & Playing Defense

Playing defense is a way of life. Playing defense is a state of mind. As we enter the twenty first century, playing defense has become an essential part of the planning process to build, maintain and protect our financial futures.

In recent years, our government and our courts have gone far overboard on the wrong side of privacy issues, and are now in the process of stripping away every vestige of our personal space and personal privacy, while making our lives and our financial activities an open book to any who would ask.

Did you know that your home state sells your name, address, date of birth, social security number, telephone number and photo, from your drivers license, to a company that shares the information with the Government?

As a prime example, the recent “Know Your Customer” legislation and recent “Deadbeat Dad” legislation sought by the U.S. Treasury Department demands an accounting of all of your personal financial transactions with your employer and personal financial institutions, as well as a record of all those you send money to.

Many states governments, in an effort to raise hard cash, are now selling your name, address, date of birth, social security number and photograph taken from public records. In 1998, the state of Colorado received $5.8 million for the sale of such data to a New Haven, Connecticut based company doing business with the U.S. Secret Service. (Just guess what they can do with this information).

If you have ever been sued in court, you know that sinking feeling of pouring out your heart, soul and life’s information through interrogatories, depositions and document requests, many of which are totally unrelated to the issues in court.

Once produced in court, these documents become a public record to be perused by the IRS, private investigators and anyone else who’s willing to pay $1 a page for your financial statements and tax returns, as well as the most intimate details of your love life.

Are you worried yet? If not, they you either have taken the necessary steps to protect yourself OR you are in for a near broke experience some time in the near future. Show me a person who abandons themselves to chance and I will show you an accident waiting to happen, a soon to be victim of the fickle finger of fate.

How do you avoid or evade the selling of your financial soul by the government and the mega credit bureaus? It can be easier than you think, just move your records and your assets outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts.
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As long as you make your plans and preparations before you incur any legal liability or have any knowledge of pending financial problems or litigation, you can legally create a personal and financial fortress that will exempt you from prying eyes and professional plaintiffs and Uncle Sam. The key word is “BEFORE”.

If you wait until you think that the Government might have a reason to peek under your kimono, then you have broken a law already, as well as forfeited you right to privacy. (We have a new word for you; “BOHICA”. It stands for, Bend Over, Here It Comes Again).

The time to start protecting yourself is NOW, before you even think you need protection. That is what playing defense is all about.

The right plan, done the right way, will help you build a financial fortress and shelter your estate from prying eyes and litigants (or at least the ones with a prior history of such deeds). The wrong plan, or no plan at all, will leave you vulnerable to every swindle on the street and make you feel like the line out of P.T. Barnum’s quote, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

If you believe in protecting your privacy, let me recommend a few steps that will help you gain and maintain your personal privacy and protection.

As a starter, consider incorporating yourself or your business entities. Through incorporation, individuals and businesses can create an invisible shield from individual or personal liability by limiting responsibility for acts to within the entity created for conducting those acts. In other words, if you incorporate your on-line trading activities into a business created for that purpose, and do business within that entity, then you cannot be sued individually unless you have signed a personal guarantee, with the party doing business with you on that account.

Create a Trust: Once the exclusive domain of the very rich, today anyone with access to a legal mouthpiece or legal computer program can create a Family, Children’s or Personal trust that owns, shelters and protects its assets from outsiders while reducing their taxation dramatically (we will talk in detail about such trusts in a later article).

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Buy a Personal Umbrella: I’m not talking about the metal and fabric rain guard, but an insurance policy that provides personal insurance coverage for a wide variety of acts and incidents that could get you sued. Today, personal umbrella insurance is very inexpensive and is a good investment, particularly for high-dollar, high-exposure individuals who run hard in the fast lane.

Look Offshore: Many countries, like Ireland, The Isle of Man, Belize, Bermuda and The Cayman Islands offer a haven for the privacy-minded individuals and businesses that wish to keep their business information their own.

Many of these countries offer trust and financial services, as well as the set up of International Business corporations (IBC’s) and Offshore Asset Protection Trusts (OAPT) based on bearer shares. (Bearer shares are like cash, the holder of the paper can cash the stock or assets in at any time.) There are many advantages to officing offshore, including lower taxation, greater privacy and access to new financial markets that offer higher interest rates and international business opportunities not available in the US.

Foreign Citizenship: Many third world countries, in an attempt to raise foreign capital and commerce, now offer residence, citizenship and tax-free status to individuals and companies doing business under their national umbrella. By simply depositing money in their banks, and applying for resident status, many third world countries will grant residency or citizenship (in any name you want) and a passport to their offshore benefactors and entrepreneurs. (Expatriate communities have popped up all over the world.)

As you can see from looking at the very rich, the notion of becoming a citizen of some banana republic to keep more of what you have earned certainly isn’t new. If it’s good enough for the heir of Campbell’s Soup, it should be good enough for you!
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Another essential part of playing defense is the maintaining of your personal privacy by limiting the amount of information broadcast on your daily activities. At the very least, we should not advertise our social security number, driver’s license number and home telephone number through our personal checks, correspondence and e-mail.

When asked by the grocery store clerk or retailer to submit your social security number as a means of identification, the answer should simply be “no.” The only agencies legally entitled to your social security number are the Social Security Administration and the Infernal Revenue Service.

What can someone do to you, just knowing your social security number, home address or driver’s license number? They can access your driving history, your employment history, property ownership and the recorded history of your financial transactions with banks, brokers and business associates. With a few strokes of the keyboard on a PC, your life is open to anyone who has your personal identifiers. They can steal your identity, ruin your credit or mess with your mind (and money).

When a head of state, foreign dignitary or highly influential business executive plans their itinerary, either for a trip abroad or their daily schedule, very few are made privy to their plans. If you doubt this, just call the White House travel office and ask for the President’s itinerary for the next week. Not only will you not get the information, but you will be visited by the Suits, who want to know why you want to know.

Now that you have learned how to play defense, you can see that the best defense, is a good offense. When that golden opportunity comes in your door, you know, “the deal that sounds just too good to be true”, and then you can use this system on them.

If you are reading the paper or watching TV this month, you have heard about Marty Frankel, and his investment scam that may be the biggest financial fraud of all time. This slick little con man, a former securities broker (they pulled his ticket in 1992), has ripped off at least eight insurance companies for millions of dollars and funneled as much as a Billion $$ into a phony charity that Marty created as his personal piggy bank. (The FBI just found forty four million dollars of his in Switzerland).

If anyone had checked him out with the SEC or run a search of his litigation background, they would have found that Marty’s empire was all based on lies and deceit and saved themselves a ton of grief and money.

So, when it’s your turn, let’s learn to play defense wherever your assets and your privacy are concerned. Not tomorrow, not when you feel at risk, NOW! You won’t be sorry that you did!

Edmund J. Pankau, is an internationally recognized security expert, author and financial investigator. He has been featured in such publications as Business Week, Time, Kiplinger’s, USA Today, BBC London, CFO Magazine and the New York Times. Mr. Pankau has been highlighted on CNN, Fox TV, ABC and MSNBC as an expert in the field of investigation. He has authored numerous articles for the investigative industry and has contributed substantially to the development of the investigative industry. His website is at www.pankau.com

If you would like to see more about the offshore investment book written by Scott Oliver please visit Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore or, if you would prefer to read a client’s letter please see Costa Rica Investing in Offshore Funds.

This offshore investment book and the offshore strategies implemented are available to non-US citizens/residents and non-Canadian residents only. Canadians legally resident in Costa Rica and other nationalities may apply.

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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.