You have your retirement funds in a IRA or 401k but are concerned about the US market and want to diversify to foreign bank accounts, precious metals, stocks and real estate. Perhaps a villa by the sea in Costa Rica for vacations, rental income and retirement. But how do you keep these kind of investments in an IRA? It can be hard to get answer to this question from most US financial advisors I have gather together three articles/websites that include referrals to a book on the subject, a tax planner who can help and a Swiss precious metal storage facility that takes self-directed IRAs.

Caveat investor: When you control how and where you invest your own money you become responsible for all the gains, losses and due diliagence that you want. There is no Nanny State (or at least not your own Nanny) to prevent you from making enormous gains or lossing the lot. Also not every foreign market is the same as each other or the US market - you will need to do some research and in the case of real estate visit the country. By hey a deductible foreign trip is not such a bad thing!

Here are three articles that I have read about self-direct IRAs. I am working with Swiss Metal Assets and Sovereign Man. The last one references a book on the subject and the second one gives a tax planner who can help. And if you have a 401k you probably know how to transfer it to a regular IRA to get started.

FYI I cashed out my IRA a few years ago and paid the 10% penalty plus tax. That was the only way I knew how to get the funds for a business investment at the time. Now I know more.

1. Metals storage abroad

Investing in Physical Strategic or Precious Metals through a Self-Directed IRA is a practical, bona fide way of taking control of your future financial security. This is achieved by utilizing an offshore LLC vehicle which is fully compliant with IRS regulations. An offshore LLC also provides stringent liability protection, allowing an individual a greater level of comfort from fear of law suits and judgements.
from http://www.swissmetalassets.com/wealth-vistors#page--E-page-1

2. How to using your IRA to invest in foreign real estate

If you are looking for a way to safeguard your retirement and for a way to support health and health freedom, this letter is of enormous significance to you. Off shore investing is risky for novices. Off shore investing through a qualified investment vehicle and an experienced Custodian is simple, well-established and, at this time in fiscal history, a very, very good idea.

As the global economy prepares to spiral into hyperinflation and the collapse of the now-nearly-worthless dollar, the United States Government is going through a step by step process to steal your retirement. Their plan? To “protect” your hard-earned IRA and 401 money, leaving you with a “guaranteed” annuity paying you a whopping 3% – backed, you will be delighted and relieved to know, by the strength of the US dollar and the impeccable honesty of the US Department of Treasury.

Under current law, it is legal to move IRAs and, under some circumstances, 401 funds out of the United States (a process called “expatriation” while preserving the significant tax advantages of such funds. Using a “self directed” IRA and/or, if permitted by your 401 plan, a “self directed” 401 structure, you can direct where you would like to have your money invested. It is still, after all, YOUR money, although that will change shortly, according to the Federal Register of DATE [give citation] when your money is turned into a worthless annuity. Once that happens, the money itself will no longer be available to you, even if you are willing to pay a heavy tax penalty like the one you would incur if you took your money out of your IRA or, if allowed, your 401. You probably will not be able to access your annuity funds and you certainly could not put them into an off shore investment vehicle.

At this point, however, if you [wisely] want to get your money out of the reach of greedy, crazed and fiscally demented Uncle Sam, you can still do so by making sure that your funds are in a self-directed program and that the investment vehicle you want to put your money is has been closely examined and approved by an approved Custodian.

Once the investment vehicle is approved, the Custodian will complete the necessary paperwork to move your money into the offshore investment. Your money is now outside the United States, very difficult for the US Government to get its hands on and still within the tax deferred structure of your retirement program.

Why are the Trustees of the Natural Solutions Foundation telling you this? Our Valley of the Moon Eco Demonstration Project, www.NaturalSolutionsFoundation.org, in Volcan, Chiriquí, Panama, is an approved investment vehicle. Every Custodian who has examined it for a potential investment of a self directed IRA or 401 has concluded that it is a properly constructed corporation which meets all of the necessary requirements and has invested the money of their client as the client directed.

There are rules and restrictions to this way of investing your money, but they do not interfere with your participation in the Valley of the Moon Eco Demonstration Project as either a Beneficial Interest Certificate holder who can live in Panama as part of the project or as an investor whose money is “living in Panama”. In either case, your money is earning interest, safely tucked away offshore where the US Government would have a very difficult time reaching it and you are helping the work of the Natural Solutions Foundation.

How much time is left before you will no longer be allowed to expatriate your savings? We received this information from an Internet source:

Index

Are There Any Government Documents To Prove It?

* In Chapter 3 of the Annual Report on the Middle Class released in February by Vice President Biden and the White House Task Force on the Middle Class, the Obama administration calls for enhancing the “retirement options” The plan, as sketched in the 43-page document, calls for the creation of something called “Guaranteed Retirement Accounts” (GRAs).
* U. S. Federal Register; -”annuitization” of Individual 401(k)s. set forth in a set of “Proposed Rules” published on February 2, 2010.

What Government Agencies Are Involved?

Department of Labor and Treasury… among others. The last meeting took place September 14th and 15th 2010, where they laid out the Course of Action. The agenda is now called “Lifetime Income Options for Retirement Plans”

Why Do They Want Our IRAs & 401(k)s AND What Will They Do With Them?

The Treasury Department has (worthless) Bonds to Sell… and Foreign demand is drying up. China no longer wants our Debt.. Do You?

This will be Done in an attempt to balance the U.S. Deficit and Once Again make the U.S. Credit Worthy to China and Other Buyers of our Debt.

The Federal Government will Manage and Control an estimated $3.613 Trillion Dollars in IRAs and $2.350 Trillion Dollars in 401(k)s.

The Equity will be placed in U.S. Treasury Bonds that will Pay out an estimated 3%. One major clause is that upon retirement, the value of the Individual’s Account will be placed into Annuities. Once the individual Dies, the Value of
the Account will automatically become property of the Government. The Program will be structured much like Social Security Accounts (the biggest Ponzi Scheme ever created).

What Financial Firm Will We Need To Trust, In The Handling Our Money?

The March 9 edition of Business Week, notes that new federal regulations designed to “promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams” would help drive cash into government-controlled entities such as American International Group (AIG).

Trust AIG?!

For an in-depth personal discussion on How To Protect Your Retirement Funds and Support Health Freedom at the same time, please contact Ralph Fucetola, JD, our Counsel and Trustee, at Ralph.Fucetola (at) usa.net or Skype him at “vitaminlawyer”.

from http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=8481

3. How the US government will seize your retirement account

from http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/how-the-us-government-will-seize-your-retirement-account-4311/

This entry was posted on September 27, 2012 at 1:28 PM and has received 2160 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

I have been following the stock market this year (via various economic newsletters and feeling the energy that is changing). And while the markets have not crashed yet in my opinion they are not being held up by much more than air at this point. The latest QE was mostly priced into the markets over the summer. And now that the Fed has committed everything with $40 billion per month of money printing and near to zero interest rates promised for years ahead of time there is not much else that they can do. (The European central bank and Bank of Japan are doing similar things). There are a lot of leading bad economic indicators right now - from the crash of the dry Baltic shipping index, to Chinese orders for raw materials down, even the German economy which was growing until the summer is now contracting. There is also the fiscal cliff in the US in January. I would say it is pretty likely the US and other major stock markets will collapse this year.

Here is some data on corporate earning and the slowdown. Fedex is a bellweather of the economy because so many sales are shipped by them...

FedEx Corporation (NYSE/FDX) has cuts its corporate earnings forecast for the upcoming year after announcing sluggish results from its previous quarter. The reason for the decrease in corporate earnings: weakness in the global economy and customers are moving towards cheaper alternatives. United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE/UPS) is in a similar business to FedEx and I will not be surprised if we see troubles in its corporate earnings as well.

As I have been writing in these pages, it’s not only corporate earnings that are declining, corporate revenue at the S&P 500 companies are declining as well. Historically, when there is negative revenue growth in S&P 500 companies, a recession usually follows.

Intel Corporation (NYSE/INTC) has slashed its forecast for third-quarter revenue—a decline that was eight percent more than expected. The fall in revenue is directly related to less demand for its chips—customers reduced their inventories and businesses bought fewer computers. Intel will also be scaling back its capital spending because of its weaker-than-expected business. (Source: Reuters, September 7, 2012.)

Similarly, HNI Corporation (NYSE/HNI), one of the largest office furniture makers in the world, has also cuts its sales growth forecast projection for 2012 by almost 50%. (Source: Business Week, September 18, 2012.)

As a group, the corporate earnings of the S&P 500 companies are expected to drop 2.2% in the third quarter of 2012 from the same period in 2011—the first quarterly drop in corporate earnings for the S&P 500 since the third quarter of 2009. In this third quarter, corporate earnings are expected to slide three percent from the second quarter of 2012. (Source: New York Times, September 16, 2012.)

While the rally in the stock market and the politicians will have the majority of Americans thinking the opposite, the evidence clearly points to the U.S., much of Europe, and now China all witnessing an economic slowdown. In an economic slowdown, corporate earnings and revenue decrease as demand for products and services declines.

Even if you don't believe this 100% but say 50% it would still be worth diversifying any investments that you have (401k, IRA, stocks, bonds, bank accounts etc). And I would include in that diversification cash, foreign bank accounts, gold and farm land. (All of these can be held in a self directed IRA if that is important to you for tax reasons)

More details and ideas at:
http://abundantmichael.com/blog/index.cfm/2012/5/3/9-steps-to-prepare-for-a-financial-crisis--your-crisis-insurance

PS If you REALLY want to see what's coming -- and you can stomach it -- watch this mind-blowing trailer for a film project called "Gray State." WARNING: Extremely disturbing images, but probably quite accurate, too. Less of a wake up call and more like a bitch slap for the slumbering...
http://abundantmichael.com/blog/index.cfm/2012/9/13/What-will-living-in-the-Gray-State-in-April-2013-be-like

This entry was posted on September 27, 2012 at 1:25 PM and has received 1158 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Even if the S&P goes up in dollar terms has it gone up in real terms? Have you noticed the price of gas and food recently...

It's now officially a 3-way race to the bottom between the dollar, the euro, and the yen.

It started on September 6th with the ECB announcing a new, UNLIMITED bond-buying program. A week later, the US Federal Reserve officially announced QE3, another open-ended (de facto limitless) bond buying program. One week after that, the Bank of Japan announced it was adding another 10 trillion yen ($128 billion) to its already massive bond buying program.

The mainstream financial media calls this a 'coordinated offensive', as if these central bankers are brigadier generals in combat. What a bunch of baloney. (though maybe this would make Ben Bernanke the COBRA Commander from GI Joe...) If they really want to use a military analogy, it's as if these central bankers are waging war on their own economies... and SAVERS.

For anyone who borrows money to spend or invest now (which includes governments and big financial institutions), the race to the bottom is a wonderful gravy train to be riding. But for anyone sitting on a pool of savings, it's highly destructive.

In the long-run, shares of best companies in the world will be solid hedges against such intense monetary inflation. But deep down, stocks are inherently risky.
Company fundamentals no longer matter very much; it's all about the debasement of the currencies in which those stocks are priced. The stock market isn't really rising, it's really the currency that's falling. In fact, as I am fond of reminding my friends, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange did exceedingly well during that country's hyperinflationary meltdown.

Moreover, the system risks in the stock market are no longer trivial.

As a small investor, most people only have a claim to the shares that they buy. Brokage houses often use 'street name' registration, which means that if you buy Apple shares through your broker, your broker is actually listed as the shareholder on Apple's books.

This works fine and dandy as long as the system is functioning normally. But if your broker goes down in a sea of flames, what then? Government guarantees backed by insolvent agencies are hardly comforting.

Of course, you won't really hear about these issues in the mainstream financial press; I can just imagine getting laughed off the set of CNBC for suggesting that central banks are manipulating the stock market, or that most small investors don't actually own the shares in their brokerage account.
...

Other ways to preserve your purchasing power include tangible, physical assets. We all know about gold and silver bullion... but rare coins, stamps, art, fine wine, and other collectibles are also excellent stores of value.

Productive real estate is also a great option, especially cash flow positive rental property or fertile agricultural land. As my partner Simon Black frequently points out, owning FOREIGN real estate is one of the best ways to legally move money out of your home country, and it always gives you a place to go in case of emergency.

The strategic consideration in all of these options is PRESERVING the purchasing power of your hard-earned capital, safeguarding your standard of living, and minimizing systemic risk. Sure, I might miss a 50% rise in the S&P or Hang Seng... but I'll sleep soundly knowing that my capital is safe and earning a solid return, no matter how bad the storm.

from http://www.sovereignman.com/finance/its-officially-a-3-way-race-to-the-bottom-8887/

This entry was posted on September 27, 2012 at 1:23 PM and has received 950 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.