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Over the last few months, I have heard from more and more clients how hard it is to send money of larger quantities to Costa Rica. We actually had a client have 3000 euros seized in Customs while arriving from spain. Sure, he got it back after a few days of fighting, but what law did he break?
There are reasons for this.
Including the US governments intent to TAKE OVER 401k and IRA accounts
The effort is being spear-headed by Mark Iwry of the Treasury and Phyllis Borzi of the Department of Labor
Here is a link the paper written by Mark when he was at Brookings University http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2008/06_annuities_gale.aspx
as well as an article in
Investment News
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20090607/REG/906059955The Investment Journal Whisky and Gunpowder says:
Will the Feds Fund Deficits with 401(k)s?The writing is on the wall for retirement assets held in conventional ways. A report last week in Business Week shows that the U.S. Feds have 401(k) assets in their sites.
“The U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comment as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are spearheading the effort.
“Annuities generally guarantee income until the retiree’s death, and often that of a surviving spouse as well. They are designed to protect against the risk that retirees outlive their savings, a danger made clear by market losses suffered by older Americans over the last year, David Certner, legislative counsel for AARP, said in an interview.”
how did customs find out about the 3000 euros. are there limits to how much you can bring in. for dollars it’s less ten grand. everyone i know brings is just a little less than that to avoid any hassle.
[quote=”kordan”]Over the last few months, I have heard from more and more clients how hard it is to send money of larger quantities to Costa Rica. We actually had a client have 3000 euros seized in Customs while arriving from spain. Sure, he got it back after a few days of fighting, but what law did he break?
There are reasons for this.
Including the US governments intent to TAKE OVER 401k and IRA accounts[/quote]I’m sorry, I am afraid I don’t understand your points.
I read both articles closely and disagree with the conclusion that the government intends to ‘take over’ 401Ks and IRAs. Even if this interpretation were correct, (which would require a healthy leap in imagination, in my view), what do IRAs and 401Ks have to do with your client being stopped in Customs with 3,000 Euros?
To borrow a line from an old Tom Lehr song, “Smut”,
“When correctly viewed,
everything is lewd.
I could tell you things about Peter Pan
and the Wizard of Oz
who’s a dirty old man.”The lesson: Always seize upon the least likely interpretation. It fans the flames of one’s paranoia.
The reasoning in the instant case follows the logic train of the death panelists.
There were 3 different issues noted.
the 1st being that people are having a hard time simply sending money for real estate transactions.
The 2nd was the funds siezed frm my client in customs
And the 3rd was the issue with nationalizing IRA accountsOf course some people will choose to simply address these issues individually. However, they all related to the exact some issues–it is begining to become more and more difficult to cross borders with money
Even WITHIN the USA a man was stopped and questioned for more than 1/2 an hour for carrying $4500
http://www.conservativeforchange.com/2009/04/ron-paul-organizer-detained-by-tsa-in.htmlBelow is the complete article from Whiskey and gunpowder
Will the Feds Fund Deficits with 401(k)s?The writing is on the wall for retirement assets held in conventional ways. A report last week in Business Week shows that the U.S. Feds have 401(k) assets in their sites.
“The U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comment as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are spearheading the effort.
“Annuities generally guarantee income until the retiree’s death, and often that of a surviving spouse as well. They are designed to protect against the risk that retirees outlive their savings, a danger made clear by market losses suffered by older Americans over the last year, David Certner, legislative counsel for AARP, said in an interview.”
Now ostensibly, the plan to offer an annuity option for 401(k) plans will seem sensible. But don’t be fooled.
This is the beginning of a money grab by the Feds for the $3.6 trillion in assets held by U.S. 401(k)s. The Feds need that money to finance the deficit. This is where some of the money to fund the deficits may come from, answering a question we asked earlier in the week. What you can’t take, you’ll have to print.
But right now, the Feds can’t just take that 401(k) money. Well, they could. But it would crash stocks and infuriate the public, leading to some civic violence. What’s more, it would feel like theft as well as looking (and being) like it. So they have to dress the plan up as something that’s better for savers.
They’re trotting out the idea that a defined benefit pension plan is better than defined contribution plan (which is true, if it’s funded well). A defined benefit plan guarantees you income in your old age years. A defined contribution plan (what we have now) just guarantees money flows into the stock market (which is good for the financial services industry, but don’t guarantee you’ll have any money when you really need it later in life).
The U.S. Treasury Department and the Obama administration are exploring ways to encourage U.S. savers to buy more annuities or investment vehicles composed of “safe” assets. What constitutes safe? Why 30-year U.S. government bonds of course! Thus, the government can encourage people to buy what the Chinese and the Japanese and most other U.S. creditors don’t want to touch any longer.
The trouble with an annuity or 30-year bond is that you get crushed by inflation. In principle, it’s not different that a zero coupon bond. You get your nominal investment back upon redemption. But you are not compensated for inflation and your money is tied up, instead of working harder for you elsewhere.
It’s obvious what the Fed’s get out of this: a ready source of new funds to buy their bonds. This kicks the can of unsustainable deficit spending down the road a few months, or perhaps a few years. But it doesn’t change the fundamentally destructive path of U.S. fiscal policy.
What it does tell you is that mischief is afoot among the wealth stealers of the modern nation state? Faced with a failed funding model, they are beginning their cash grab. This takes the form of higher taxes. But the big bounty is the retirement savings of millions of Americans.
This solves the problem of having to sell the debt to foreign investors. And it solves the problem of having to make tough budget deficits. Just issue more debt and make the super funds buy it with your money.
If you think that’s balderdash or won’t happen, you’re being naïve. It won’t happen overnight. But it will happen gradually. It’s evolving towards that already. If they can’t get it through tax or royalty revenues, the tax posse will get it by any means necessary, which means your super assets are an obvious target.
Alarmist? Irresponsible? You decide. But we can see the evolution of this as clear as day, even if saying it in public is bad form or taboo. But now is the time to say the taboo things.
Happy investing
personally, i wouldn’t believe a word that is uttered on fox news. second, $4500 is little more than a wad of cash that can be put in a pants pocket. me thinks this is more right-wing propaganda. things are bad enough as it is. just watch Zeitgeist or Zeitgeist Addendum, both of which can be streamed on your computer. both will scare the hell out of you, and if you’ve done even a scintilla of research you will already know a lot of what is in the videos, such as how the Fed was formed (read The Creature from Jekyll Island), and how they and the WB and IMF have been manipulating currencies for years. as a final note, don’t believe everything you think.
Thank you Kordan! Wake up America, Virginia, New Jersey and I believe Massachusetts before the day is done, have seen the the light. Drogan,Dodd and there will be more are heading for the exits. Thank you progressive liberals for showing your true colors. We “Americans” are coming for you.
What I read in these stories are that the government wants to supply investors with the OPTION to invest in annuity plans. That’s a far cry from appropriating our personal IRA and 401K savings, isn’t it?
And what one believes about the state of U.S. debt, (and whether it’s a good idea to buy U.S. bonds), is true whether or not our government decides to offer a Government sponsored annuity pension option. You either believe Treasuries are good investment and buy bonds, or you don’t and you don’t invest. Period.
A government annuity OPTION would be just that, an OPTION. There may well be people for whom that option is a viable and sensible retirement plan.
If the U.S. government were to suddenly decree that investments other than the pension OPTION being described are no longer allowed in retirement plans, our whole financial system as we now know it would collapse. Obviously. So, if anyone here believes that this is going to be the case, well, I have some guaranteed to skyrocket Florida condos to sell you! LOL!
Hey Clayton! I am one of those progressives that you “Americans” are “coming for”! REALLY?! Well, I’m also one of “those Americans” who also have a very long family history of military service (including my only kid) and we put our money where our mouth is. As tired as I am of goofy right-wing conspiracy theories, I am more tired of having shots taken at my commitment to the U.S. taken by folks who can hide behind the anonymity of the internet. As my dad would have said, let’s take it outside, buddy. Otherwise, you might want to dial down the rhetoric.
Sueandchris:
Hear hear! I have five immediate family members who have given military service who I am very proud of I am VERY far away from being a left-wing liberal. I get exceptionally bored with being labeled this way whenever I try to poke holes in the latest ‘tin foil hat’ brigade theory – most of which can be debunked simply by READING and COMPREHENDING the links their purveyors provide. If you want to label me, call me a disciple of the cult of reason. Nothing else you try to call me will stick, I’m afraid.
In today’s ‘TXTME’ communication environment, it seems that reading comprehension has given way to skimming for sound bites.
I am still waiting for evidence that supports the title of the thread. Are there new laws restricting the flow of funds into Costa Rica? Has anyone got real, documented cases where such transfers were blocked, for example, transfers of funds to buy properties or businesses, and the circumstances surrounding such blockages? I’m very interested as I’m hoping to invest in C.R. shortly and I’m always interested in facts.
sstarkey, what I can tell you is that sometimes there are obstacles to transferring money to Costa Rica. You’re aware that you must declare any transfer of $10,000US or more, right? It’s a declaration, not a prohibition. If you move less than that amount, there should be no problems.
While building our house, we wire transferred more than $10k down here. It left our U.S. bank and then . . . [nothing]. After several days, we began bugging our local HSBC branch who discovered that the money had, in fact, reached the main office. But they were waiting for us to complete some silly form that asked us to identify ourselves (like we hadn’t already), tell them the source of the money (like they didn’t know), what it was to be used for, and what we were doing in Costa Rica anyway.
So we dutifully filled out the silly form and the next day the money was in our account. A hassle? Yup. A real problem? No.
Here is a question….we will probably be transferring a BUNCH of money when we buy our house. The deposit funds (more than $10K) will go to our real estate attorney and then the balance on close of contract (WAY more than $10K) I assume will also go thru our attorney to the buyers. What was the “official form” that you completed and was that available from your bank, or……? Thx.
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