How to shelter financial assets?

Friends of mine are discussing moving out of the U.S. due to the current political situation.

Even without making that drastic move…

What are methods to shelter financial assets from confiscation by the government in the event of a fascist (or communist) takeover?

Wendy

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Crypto?
Gold?
Swiss insurance policy that could be cashed out at a later date?

DB2

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My and husband’s strategy has been to buy solid substantial assets (land! with solid water sun rights)(bonus if with undervalued structure[s] on it)(in a location relatively benefitting or neutral rather than likely suffering from future GCC or governmental chaos cupidity!!)(newly attracting affluent people!!!) in your own name as a private person (corporation etc is more vulnerable to later confiscation, but personal private ownership is de facto far more protected in most locales where I have investigated).

Few things beat the USA securities markets if invested undisturbed for the long haul, but land in places where affluent people from around world want to live — kaboom.

E.g., Marbella, Spain; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Cartegena, Columbia(?!); have all in the last 30 years had stunning increases in land and historic structure value while roughly maintaining security and quality of life.

Need I remind that major shifts in investment style always carry significant risks and so stay brisk and mildly paranoid while proceeding with deliberation rather than haste. I would never have proceeded if I was not reasonably fluent and husband utterly fluent in Spanish and an eternal student of culture and laws.

I maintain significant investments still in the USA as still the safest bet for capital preservation with significant upsides.

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Crypto probably is, by far, the easiest to move across national boundaries. It carries significant risk in terms of volatility however. Easily portable, lousy store of value.

As for gold, perplexity.ai did some math for me, and $1M in gold is about 28 pounds, with a volume of just under a quart. It’s an exercise to the reader on how easy that would be to get across national borders.

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I agree land ownership is probably safest. Its a limited supply asset and can be valued currently no matter what happens to currency.

Best is land that earns enough to cover expenses especially property tax. Farm land, ranch land, timberland all can work but ups and downs in product markets can be frustrating. Long term hold and eventual inheritance mean no capital gains under current law.

One of the easiest things to get across a border would be a rare stamp or two. They are very easily concealed.

DB2

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Not if the land is in Venezuela or any country taken over by Communists.

The Captain

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No, and also not by self-serving oligarchs of all stripes spoouting whatever nonsense.

However, some of the basket case post Red disaster nations might be emerging into opportunities for the bold and analytic. Romania suffered horribly under the commies and the first sets of “reformers” and “saviors”, but the situation is changing and the good influence of EU membership is enormous. Smart Romanians are still leaving to work everywhere from Ireland to Greece, but in nowhere near the numbers as in the past, while still sending money home to rebuild old homes. More and more young Romanians are seeing real opportunities at home, including one of my adopted godsons.

I have rarely seen a more gorgeous long time screwed up place than (literally) Romanian Transylvania. If I were younger I would nose around there.

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Land ownership rights are hallmark of democracy and sound legal system. Land ownership is not the best hedge against the failure of those systems. For millennium why Gold is an asset? Because you can carry with you, while you leave your home behind. I am pretty sure we are not looking at such a situation in USA. But, if your goal is to walk away overnight, land is not the best option.

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Unfortunately, it is not very portable.

DB2

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Portability of wealth comes second. First should come finding a place(s) to port the wealth to, as your primary “investment” is the safety of your and your family’s own bodies, minds, and spirits.

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Moving it to a different, trustworthy jurisdiction. Preferably one with a government not likely to be bullied by your own government.

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The original post is about sheltering wealth. The individuals make decision what is best at the given moment. But, whatever decision they make how to protect the wealth or move it, take it with them.

If they have significant liquid assets, then they can consider taking life insurance with Swiss companies. Originally they are used for tax evasion. However, you can apply the same strategy, not to avoid tax, but to have assets outside of US, while paying US taxes, still outside the US tax authorities reach. This requires certain amount of wealth.

The easiest is Bitcoin.

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I would think that land is the easiest to confiscate, since you can’t take it with you if you need to flee.

Just ask the Palestinians.

intercst

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Foreign accounts denominated in foreign currency. I recommend the Swiss Franc or Norwegian Krone.

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Jews throughout thousands of years have been forced to flee for their lives, including my grandparents. You can’t roll up land and take it with you.

Wendy

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As a chemist, I have a collection of very heavy chemistry textbooks. It wouldn’t be hard to glue gold coins into the spine of the books without making a noticeable difference in their weight.

Wendy

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I think you make an excellent point. A diversified strategy once again is probably best as it is hard to know what situations will come up over coming years.

As to Swiss bank accounts, do you think Swiss banks will survive nuclear war?

How many banks burned in Los Angeles? What was in their safe deposit boxes? Insured? In St. Louis we went through a big flood in 1993 when a levy failed flooding Chesterfield Valley. A banker tells of the efforts they made to dry the contents of safe deposit boxes.

Nothing is absolutely safe.

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Transporting hard valuables in an age where you can wire money anywhere in the world in seconds is so last century.

Wire your money to your destination and then buy the gold there if you feel the need.

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