Two Steps To Creating Your Ideal Plan B
In my inbox this weekend, I had this email from a reader:
“Kathleen, I am a 58-year-old American citizen currently witnessing the decline of America.
“Face it, we now have made more enemies as a nation around the world than friends. What was once a great, caring nation of like-minded citizens has become a melting pot of people with polar opposite political views and attitudes.
“I am worried about the future of my country and of the U.S. dollar.
“I am currently at the beginning phases of formulating my ‘Plan B’ exit strategy. I realize that this will be a major undertaking for which I will need help.
“What should be my first point of focus? Please advise…”
This reader’s sentiments reflect those of many Americans, I’d say… including the Americans in the room with us in Panama City for last week’s Emergency Offshore Summit.
An urge… perhaps an urgent urge to put a Plan B in place is understandable right now. It’d be unsmart not to be thinking about options for navigating your future post the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election and beyond.
At first, yes, as the reader who wrote me this weekend suggests, this can seem a daunting… even a paralyzing prospect.
How does one go about formulating an exit strategy?
First, I propose that you flip the idea on its head. Don’t approach this as an exit strategy… but as a chance for a new-and-improved life.
Don’t conceive a plan for fleeing a bad situation… but for moving toward one that for you qualifies as better.
A Plan B shouldn’t be something you feel forced and threatened into… but an opportunity you’re excited to be able to take advantage of.
From that perspective, consider the world map. In the context of a Plan B for a better, safer, more private, more resilient, more secure, more adventure-filled, more profitable life, my team in Panama and I this week suggested that those in the room with us consider the following options right now specifically:
- Argentina
- Belize
- Cayman Islands
- Colombia
- Dominican Republic
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Portugal
- Thailand
- Vanuatu
This isn’t an exhaustive list. Your ideal destination could be elsewhere, but, if you’re just getting started feeling your way through the idea of a Plan B, these 13 countries are a good starting point.
Step 2 is to make your Plan B Checklist. Here’s mine:
- Immediate Financial Security
- Have three months of expenses available in cash and precious metals that are kept with you, not remotely…
- Longer-Term Financial Security
- Place some of your liquid assets in one or more offshore bank accounts…
- Lifestyle Security
- Establish a second residency in a country where you can go when you decide you want or need to…
- Set a path for a second citizenship…
- Create a personal retreat with secure water, food, and energy…
- Wealth Security
- Place your larger precious metals holdings in an overseas jurisdiction safe from confiscation…
- Asset Security
- Protect your assets offshore using structures and trusts…
- Portfolio Security
- Diversify your investments by investment type, economic risk, political risk, and currency…
- Manage your tax obligations…
- Take control of your IRA…
- Build a portfolio of overseas real estate holdings…
- Legacy Security
- Invest in long-term income-producing assets you can pass on to your heirs…
Again, I strongly recommend that your Plan B begins with lifestyle. Where could you imagine yourself well and happy, able to engage in the activities that you enjoy most, forming friendships and becoming part of a like-minded community while also living as safely, privately, and comfortably as possible on the budget you have in mind?
At the same time and perhaps in the meantime, you must organize your financial security, both immediate and longer term. Thus, I include those two items first and second on my to-do list.
Your list might be briefer than mine. For example, maybe a list more like this better reflects your Plan B agendas:
- Immediate Financial Security
- Have three months of expenses available in cash and precious metals that are kept with you, not remotely…
- Longer-Term Financial Security
- Place some of your liquid assets in one or more offshore bank accounts…
- Lifestyle Security
- Establish a second residency in a country where you can go when you decide you want or need to…
- Portfolio Security
- Diversify your investments by investment type, economic risk, political risk, and currency…
- Manage your tax obligations…
- Take control of your IRA…
- Build a portfolio of overseas real estate holdings…
The key items on any Plan B list are immediate financial security (having enough liquid assets on hand, in hand, to cover three months of personal expenses)… establishing backup residency in a country where you think you’d enjoy spending time… and opening at least one offshore bank account so that your assets are not at the mercy of any one country, market, economy, or political regime.
Focus on those three priorities… then let your Plan B evolve organically from there over time.
That’s part of the fun.
Kathleen Peddicord
