Many of us have lived in a geographic location that may be subject to some form of natural disaster.
Earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and even heavy rain or snowfall can cause very serious disruptions to basic services.
Anyone who has been through a major event like this knows that it’s not just the immediate minutes or hours that present a challenge to survival. Electrical services can be interrupted for days.
Water treatment plants can go offline, so drinking water needs to be boiled. Traffic lights can go out of synchronization or quit altogether. Public transit can be shut down.
It’s very common for families to practice some kind of preparedness for whatever emergency is likely in their community.
How do the kids stay warm in their bedrooms when the heat is off? How do you cook food? All the basic things. It’s a little like camping right in your own home. Fine.
Most of us know how we’re going to deal with that kind of trouble when it comes up.
In any time of disaster and chaos, the government responds with a heavy hand to economically restrict freedoms. If you are a wealthy investor or entrepreneur, we can help you figure out how to employ residents and citizenship as a vessel to be able to relocate, lower your taxes, and protect your assets.
At our annual Nomad Capitalist Live event not only will you learn new strategies and our unique approach to internalization, but you will also have the unique opportunity to network with like-minded people. Reserve your spot on the waitlist today.
What About a Financial Disaster?
Not many of us have been through a financial disaster. Not a real one, anyway. We’re not including losing a job or running out of cash before the end of the month. Most of us have been there at some point in our lives.
The trouble is that the countries with the largest economies are palpably close to serious financial trouble. The dollar, yen, euro, and pound are all underwritten by countries that are bankrupt by normal accounting standards.
They all print money and go deeper into debt to keep their economies going. Substantial swings in the value of currencies, stock markets, and assets are commonplace. Long-term financial stability is a fading memory.
It’s pretty hard to convince yourself that there is zero chance of a financial disaster in your lifetime, let alone in the next few years.
So What’s Your Plan?
If Cyprus in 2013 is any guide at all, you might have to deal with something like this: The country is notified on a Saturday that Monday will be an unscheduled bank holiday. By Monday, it’s extended to Thursday. During that time, you can’t draw more than $300 per week from any ATM. You also can’t log in to your online banking in order to transfer money. What’s your plan if that happens?
It’s revealed that your bank – Citi, Chase, CIBC, HSBC, or whatever, never actually had enough cash on hand and overvalued the real estate assets held by them. The politicians and their paid talking heads show up on TV and declare that “stakeholders” (i.e., you!) should have realized the risks they were taking and should not expect to be bailed out by taxpayers.
A few weeks later, while your money was frozen the whole time, they determined that anyone with more than X amount in an account should sacrifice a certain percentage to the bank because of the shared blame. Poof, a large percentage of your personal money or your company’s operating capital is gone.
What’s your plan if that happens?
So far, both of the above are exactly what was done to people in Cyprus. And Cyprus is no backwater. It’s a European Union country that uses the same euro Germany and France use.
Overnight, €100,000 in a Netherlands bank was worth a lot more than €100,000 in a Cyprus bank. That’s like having $100,000 US dollars in a California bank worth a lot less than $100,000 US dollars in a Hong Kong bank.
It happened with euros in 2013, and it can happen with other currencies, too.
Suppose this ripoff is the breaking point for many of your fed-up fellow citizens. People start leaving the country in droves. The politicians and banks aren’t going to like people slipping under the fence and getting away.
What can they do about it? In 2012, an Act was passed which says your passport may be revoked if the IRS says you owe taxes. But in a financial crisis? What’s your plan if that happens?
A major financial crisis, one that’s much larger than 2008, is going to hurt a lot of companies.
Your company could be doing everything right, but if some other company owes it a lot of money and doesn’t get paid, or if its bank seizes part of its liquid capital – well, there are going to be a lot of pink slips distributed.
Layoffs are the first line of defense for a company trying to survive a long-term downturn in the economy.
What if you’re laid off? What’s your plan if that happens?
We’re not trying to encourage panic. We want to do the exact opposite. People panic when they don’t have a plan.
Here’s the good news: none of these things has happened yet. Now is the time to think about making a plan for when it does happen.
Having all your assets, income, and travel documents tied to one country is far less than ideal. Options exist. Don’t be the one without a plan.
When times get tough, protect yourself by being diversified with different citizenships, different resident permits, and different places where you can go and live to protect yourself as well as reduce your taxes. Don’t put it off any longer; apply to become a Nomad Capitalist client, and we will help you legally go where you are treated best.
