What A Successful Diversification Strategy Should Look Like

There’s no time to delay in getting your diversification plan started.

Just look at what’s been in the news in America recently…

Three U.S. banks collapsed and regional bank shares tumbled.

The latest Social Security Trustees report was released, revealing that—starting in the next decade—Americans will receive reduced Social Security benefits, unless our politicians fix the system.

Members of Congress are openly talking about a “national divorce,” splitting America into two separate nations… literally. Eastern Oregon is working with Idaho to switch states.

It was revealed that the number-one cause of death among children in America is… gunshot wounds. An average of one-and-a-half mass shootings per day.

(By the way, I love to shoot… I just don’t know why so many people in America are shooting kids. Something is very wrong.)

I’m an American and I love my country… but our country is failing us.

Do you really want all your “eggs” in this U.S. basket case?

Meanwhile, north of the border, things are just as bad… for different but equally alarming reasons.

Canada has banned foreigners from owning property… Trudeau has brought in the strictest controls on personal gun ownership in 40 years (the long-cherished lifestyle of many hunters and farmers is under threat)…

And don’t forget, the Canadian government last year used emergency powers to freeze the bank accounts of peaceful protestors, who objected to vaccine mandates.

A commission has just ruled that the Canadian government’s actions were completely justified…

What powers will the government decide it has during the next “emergency”?

If you’re not considering moving at least some of your wealth outside the U.S. and Canada… If you’re not considering getting a backup residency, so you have somewhere to escape to during the next emergency… I urge you to consider your options. For the sake of yourself and your family. The time to act is now.

I understand if you don’t know where to start.

This is complicated stuff…

How to get residency (or citizenship) in another country… offshore banking… knowing the right corporate structures to protect your interests…

There are a lot of ways to get “offshore diversification” wrong—and that can cost you precious time and money.

Here’s what I mean…

At one Live And Invest Overseas conference, an attendee proudly commented that he had already taken several key steps toward internationalizing his life.

He had a bank account in Panama… had made real estate investments in Panama… had actually moved to Panama… and was on his way to a Panamanian passport.

On one hand, great.

On the other… not so fast. While this guy has indeed moved his wealth and life outside North America… He hasn’t diversified his life or his finances. He’s simply moved them both from his home country to Panama.

Now, instead of being completely at the mercy of the goings-on in the United States—from its economy and currency to its political situation—he’s in the same vulnerable position in Panama.

Another example…

Years ago, a real estate investor came up to me at a conference to boast that he had diversified his real estate portfolio overseas.

He told me that he had sold all of his U.S. real estate, which had been a sizable portfolio, and bought a bunch of properties in Nicaragua.

This guy hadn’t diversified either. Again, he’d simply moved all of his real estate risk from one country to another. Now he was completely exposed to whatever might come to pass in Nicaragua that could affect his wealth.

Here’s an even more basic example…

I’m reminded of a woman who approached me at a conference to tell me that, five years prior, she had made a trip to Panama and set up a corporation through a local attorney.

“Why did you do that?” I asked her.

The sweet, smiling, older lady looked up at me confused. It was as though she’d never considered the question before that moment.

And, indeed, she had not.

She’d opened the Panama company, she finally admitted, because a friend had insisted she needed one. Everyone should have an offshore corporation, right?

No!

Five years later, the nice lady who came to me for advice at the conference hadn’t done anything with her corporation and wondered how much longer she should continue paying the annual fees to keep it alive.

A Panamanian corporation might make sense for me. It might make sense for you. But did it make sense for this lady? I asked a few questions and concluded that, no, it did not.

I told her to stop paying the associated fees and let the company die. The money she’d already invested in setting up and maintaining the structure was lost.

The important lesson here is: You need a diversification plan that makes sense for you.

It’s about organizing all aspects of your life to your best advantage in a way that accommodates and connects your priorities, objectives, agendas, appetite for risk, taste for adventure, legacy-planning concerns, and so on…

This is not one-size-fits-all.

And it comes with risk… so you need to work with people you can trust… in proven jurisdictions and markets with track records.

The goal is options and opportunities aplenty so that no matter what happens in one place… or even in many places… you’re good. You, your money, and your future are elsewhere… or at least can skedaddle somewhere offering better options and more opportunities in a hurry if need be.

In my 30+ years of traveling, living, and working outside the United States, I’ve met a ton of people who’ve helped me and can help my readers.

I, personally, have done pretty much everything it’s possible to do offshore… from setting up corporations, to dealing with tax implications, to banking, to establishing multiple residencies and getting a second citizenship.

I don’t think there’s a single question about “going offshore” I haven’t answered at some point…

I don’t do this very often… But because I think the situation in the U.S. is so concerning right now, you really need to take action…

I’m making myself available for a limited number of personal consultations with readers.

Stay diversified,

Lief Simon
Editor, Offshore Living Letter