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    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
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    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

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  • Home
  • Countries

    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

    • Spain
    • Portugal
    • Panama
    • Belize
    • Colombia
    • Cyprus
    • Mexico
    • France
    • Montenegro
    • Browse All Countries

    Best For:

    • The Best Places To Retire
    • Health Care Abroad
    • Cost Of Living
    • Investing in Real Estate
    • Establishing Residency
    • Gun Laws In The World
    • English-Speaking Countries
    • Safest Places For Retirement
    • Best Places In Latin America
  • Budgets

    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

    • Medellin, Colombia
    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
    • The Algarve, Portugal

    Affordable

    • Valencia, Spain
    • Cascais, Portugal
    • Las Terrenas, The DR
    • Pisa, Italy
    • La Rochelle, France
    • Mazatlán, Mexico

    Luxury

    • Ambergris Caye, Belize
    • Kotor, Montenegro
    • The Panama City Beaches
    • Paris, France
  • Resources

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    Follow Us:

    • Meet Our Experts
  • Real Estate

    Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

    • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

    Explore Our Latest Posts

    • Learn how to invest and purchase property abroad…

    Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

    • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
  • Conferences

    Upcoming Events

    • Explore Our Events Site

    Live and Invest In Spain Conference

    Offshore Wealth Summit

    Greece Workshop

    VALENCIA, SPAIN

    Sep. 17-19, 2025

    PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

    Oct. 15-17, 2025

    VIRTUAL

    Nov. 13, 2025

    LEARN MORE
    DISCOUNT
    LEARN MORE
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    LEARN MORE
    PRE-REGISTER
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    Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
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    Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

  • Store

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    overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
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Home Investing

Diversifying Your Investments And Customizing Your Plan B

The Single Best Offshore Option?

by Lief Simon
Nov 19, 2020
in Investing, Offshore
0 0
Investments and asset allocation concept.

iStock/Bet_Noire

This week I’m hosting my annual Offshore Wealth Summit from Paris.

For the first time ever, it’s a virtual event.

My fellow presenters and I are all signing in remotely—me from Paris, them from Panama, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Belize, Italy, Portugal, Thailand, the United States, etc.—to discuss strategies for navigating our current crisis environment…

As well as opportunities being created by the uncertainties all around.

It’s All About Your Plan B 

Fundamentally, we’re talking about how to conceive a customized Plan B.

How to diversify both your investment portfolio and your life across international borders.

Your Plan B could be as straightforward as opening a bank account offshore where you could hold hard currencies other than your home currency.

At the other end of the spectrum, you could move the bulk of your assets out of your home country, setting up offshore entities—from corporations to trusts—to hold them.

What You’ll Learn In The Offshore Wealth Summit 

The four days of this week’s event are anchored by a series of panel-led workshops. First, with the help of attorneys in key jurisdictions, we looked at options and opportunities for residency and second citizenship.

Yesterday, we talked through when and why to form an offshore structure… and how to determine where to base that structure when you decide you’d benefit from one.

Cost is one factor, of course, but you also want to look at time zones (will everyone at the firm that’s formed your entity be asleep when you’re awake, making it difficult to manage filings efficiently, for example), access (the Caribbean is a quick hop away for anyone on the East Coast, while Hong Kong is a trek), reporting standards (Singapore companies require an annual audit), and formation requirements (a BVI company requires one director but for a Panama corporation you’ll need three).

The BVIs (British Virgin Islands) is home to more offshore corporations than any other jurisdiction. Why?

For one thing, they’ve marketed themselves well.

In addition, though, the Cayman Islands—another classic option—charges more in annual fees for an IBC.

There’s no reason for the Caymans (or any jurisdiction) to charge more than any other jurisdiction… other than their belief that their jurisdiction carries more prestige.

Many entities are similar country to country. However, some jurisdictions have also created unique entities… and not all jurisdictions offer all entity options.

The BVIs, for example, doesn’t do LLCs… yet. They’re working on it.

The Key Is To Always Understand Your Reasons & Goals 

The starting point for deciding where to base whatever entity you decide you need is to understand the reason you think you need it.

What are you trying to accomplish… and where are the assets or the business that the entity will hold based?

Europe doesn’t like entities from what they consider tax haven countries. Use an entity from one of those jurisdictions to hold property in most European countries, and you’ll face unnecessary additional costs from higher transfer taxes to punitive property taxes.

A trust is a common law structure. Civil law countries generally don’t recognize them. This can make it difficult for a trust to hold title to a piece of property, even if another entity is layered between the trust and the asset.

I formed my first offshore structure 17 years ago. It was a Panama corporation to hold a piece of Panama real estate. Turned out, that wasn’t the best choice… though it took me years to understand why.

I’ve formed dozens of entities in a dozen jurisdictions since. Still, in the discussion I hosted yesterday with two guys who eat, breathe, and sleep offshore entities, I learned a few things. This landscape is constantly changing.

What We’ll Discuss Tomorrow 

Tomorrow I’m convening a banking workshop. For the past several years, this panel has been the most difficult to pull together. Many bankers worldwide responded to FATCA legislation by deciding not to do business with Americans.

Easier to kick us to the curb, they figured, than to invest in what’d be required to remain compliant with the long arm of U.S. regulatory agencies.

That tumult has played out now, with most banks, in the end, putting systems in place to be able to manage the reporting requirements that come with American clients… meaning, finally, this year, they feel free to participate in a conversation with me.

I’m looking forward to it. I’m in the market for a new bank in Europe. The customer service at my current European bank isn’t cutting it.

Lief Simon
Editor, Offshore Living Letter

Tags: 'residency'diversifydiversify assetsFATCALLCoffshore bank accountoffshore entitiesoffshore structureoffshore wealth summitplan bsecond citizenship
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Lief Simon

Lief Simon

Lief Simon has lived and worked in 7 countries on 5 continents and traveled to more than 75 countries. His real estate investment career began with a $5,000 down payment on a three-flat building in Chicago. Less than three years later, Lief sold the building for a leveraged return of 3,000%—$150,000 in profit after closing costs and commissions.

From there, he turned his attention overseas and has bought property in 24 countries including France, Croatia, Portugal, Ireland, Belize, Spain, Argentina, Cyprus, Romania, and beyond. Thanks to his decades-long career as a global property investor, Lief has built a multi-million-dollar portfolio that includes rental properties, significant land holdings, and 7 personal residences.

Lief has established residency in 3 countries and acquired a second passport from Ireland.

In 2008 Lief and wife Kathleen Peddicord made the most important investment of their lives—a 215-acre oceanside finca, known as Los Islotes. There, on Panama’s largely undiscovered Veraguas coast, they’ve installed underground electricity, water, and internet and built a forever family home that sits at the heart of their ultimate vision: a gold standard private residential community for those in search of a true safe haven escape.

Lief’s latest book, “Cowboy Millionaire—The New American Pioneer,” collects all the wisdom he has learned in three decades of living and investing outside America.

He offers advice on international diversification in his twice-weekly Offshore Living Letter and monthly Simon Letter dispatches. For real estate investment opportunities, check out his monthly Global Property Advisor service.

If you’d like to meet Lief in person, join him for one of our upcoming in-country conferences. You’ll find further details here.

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HOME

Top Countries

  • Spain
  • Portugal
  • Panama
  • Belize
  • Colombia
  • Cyprus
  • Mexico
  • France
  • Montenegro

Best For:

  • Health Care Abroad
  • Retirement Living
  • Cost Of Living
  • Investing in Real Estate
  • Establishing Residency
  • Gun Ownership
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  • Safety
BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

Budgets

How Much Will It Cost
To Live Overseas?

Super Cheap

  • Chitré, Panama
  • Santa Marta, Colombia
  • Phuket, Thailand
  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

Cheap

  • Medellin, Colombia
  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

  • Valencia, Spain
  • Cascais, Portugal
  • Las Terrenas, The DR
  • Pisa, Italy
  • La Rochelle, France
  • Mazatlán, Mexico

Luxury

  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
  • Kotor, Montenegro
  • The Panama City Beaches
  • Paris, France

Resources

Global Living

  • Living & Retiring Overseas
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Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

READ MORE

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EXPLORE

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Live and Invest In Spain Conference

VALENCIA, SPAIN Sep. 17-19, 2025
LEARN MORE
DISCOUNT

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PANAMA CITY, PANAMA Oct. 15-17, 2025
LEARN MORE
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VIRTUAL Nov. 13, 2025
LEARN MORE
PRE-REGISTER
MORE EVENTS

Contact Our Events Team:

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Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

Store

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Conference Kits

  • Hours of coverage  from our latests conferences

Lahardan Books

  • Titles on living and investing around the world

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