When speaking of diversification, our long-time mantra here at Live and Invest Overseas is: Don’t hang all your hopes on any one country, any one economy, or any one currency.
If you do, you’re putting your future at risk, making your life and your financial situation unnecessarily vulnerable.
Instead, focus your attention in diversifying.
Now, maybe you’ve already taken some steps toward spreading your wealth across different asset classes within the United States. Maybe you hold some stocks… a little gold or silver… an investment property… or you keep a stash of cash at the ready in case of emergency.
Those are the things that most U.S. financial advisors recommend you do to keep a “diversified portfolio.”
And that strategy may have done the trick a century ago. Pulling out of the stock markets and investing in railroads, oil, precious metals, and Hollywood studios is how America’s wealthiest families sailed through the Great Depression.
But that level of diversification doesn’t cut it today.
Frankly, if everything you own is tied to the United States and the U.S. dollar, you’re putting yourself and your family’s future at risk.
To fully protect yourself and your loved ones in the long term, you need to take your assets offshore. At least some of them.
Diversifying at an international level means that, come what may, you’ll never have to give up the quality of life you’ve come to enjoy.
Not only that but you could substantially increase your wealth over the next decade and beyond… and leave behind a tidy legacy for your loved ones.
How do you go about diversifying not only your investment capital but also your lifestyle so that you’re truly in control of your future no matter what happens next?
Let’s break this down…
Open A Foreign Bank Account
Opening a bank account overseas can be the quickest going-offshore box to check. Some offshore banks and banking destinations will still open a bank account long distance, meaning you don’t have to make a trip to meet with the bank in person.
An offshore account not only allows you to get some of your money out of your home country’s banking system, but it also can allow you to hold multiple currencies, meaning additional diversification without any additional effort.
Protect Yourself With A Backup Residency
If you were to adopt just one of these five strategies right now, it should be this one.
Get yourself a backup residency… and get it as soon as possible. This is important even if you intend to continue living in the United States.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that diversification is critical not only for your investment portfolio, but also for your personal safety. Having legal residency in another country allows you to stay there indefinitely should you decide life is too uncomfortable or unsafe where you’re currently living… whether because of a global pandemic, country-wide protests, or something even worse.
Consider Second Citizenship
Faced with a lockdown in the future, where would you hang out? Having a second citizenship gives you more options.
Legal residency allows you to stay in a country. Citizenship does that, as well, giving you additional rights including the ability to work if you so choose.
Having a second passport can also make travel in general easier and safer at times.
Protect Your Assets
Moving at least some of your wealth offshore is wise no matter where you live. Diversifying your investments across multiple currencies and economies protects your wealth long term and reduces the overall volatility of your portfolio.
It also can help protect you from frivolous law suits if you structure the ownership of assets carefully.
This isn’t about hiding your income or assets from the IRS. It’s about keeping others from trying to take away what’s yours.
Move Your Business Offshore
Depending on your situation, taking your existing business offshore or starting a new business in another country could provide huge legal and tax advantages. Incorporating offshore won’t make sense for everyone, but, if you’re operating your own business, for example, or working in a high-risk profession, you should consider an offshore corporation.
If you’d like expand on the topic of diversification and investment opportunities, we invite you to join our Simon Letter newsletter, specially curated by our resident offshore guru Lief Simon.
Simon Letter is an email newsletter covering the latest in offshore topics to help you internationalize your life. It is sent out once per month, directly to your email inbox.
The goal of Simon Letter is not to tell you exactly what to invest in—or where to invest. That would be completely irresponsible of us given that we don’t know your current situation or your future goals.
Rather, the goal of Simon Letter is to keep you up-to-date and informed on all of your various opportunities out there—and there are many.
Simon Letter presents a buffet of options—and you get to pick and choose from the buffet as you like.
