|
Section 4. The
Easton Strategy: A Wealth Preservation & Safe Haven Strategy Designed
To Solve the Old & New 21st Century Threats To Wealth |
|
Chapter 13 - Protect
Your Future and Build Protected Wealth With the Easton Strategy |
|
A. Washington's
"Financial Iron Curtain" Limits Your Offshore Alternatives |
|
B. Overcoming
Regulatory and Solicitation Barriers To Offshore Strategies and
Structures |
|
C. Follow the Rules:
Safeguard Your Wealth and Offshore Strategy |
|
D. Failure to Comply: Risks Your Strategy, Investment, and the Offshore
Provider
|
|
Chapter
14 -
The Easton Wealth Protection and Preservation
Strategy Benefits |
|
A.
Universal Protection From 21st Century Risks |
|
B. Strong
Asset Protection From Litigation |
|
C.
Multi-Jurisdictional Protection From Empire Political Risk |
|
D. Currency
Risk Protection Through Multi-Currency Diversification |
|
E.
Terrorism Protection Through Diversification In Jurisdictions With No
Terrorist Risk |
|
F. Records
Protection Utilizing Safe Physical, Company and Banking Facilities |
|
G.
Protection From Currency Controls, Confiscation, Illiquidity or Market
Closure |
|
Chapter 15
- Specifics of the Easton Strategy For Maximum, Legal Wealth
Protection |
|
A. Legal
Privacy |
|
B. No
Required Reporting By Strategy Provider |
|
C. Unique
Attorney-Client Privilege For Maximum Confidentiality |
|
D. No
Current Government Annual Filings |
|
E. It Can
Be Structured For Tax-Deferral |
|
F. Maximum
Flexibility Allowing Tailor-Made Solutions For Your Unique Situation |
|
G. Estate
Planning Benefit |
|
H. Ease of
Telephone Communication and Internet Access |
|
I. No
Front-end or Rear-end Liquidation Fees or Sales Commissions |
|
Chapter 16
- Innovative Investment Strategies |
|
A.
Conventional Portfolio Strategies |
|
B. Austrian
Economics Portfolio Strategy |
|
C. War
Portfolio |
|
D.
Anti-Terrorism Portfolio |
|
D .Swiss
Wealth Preservation Permanent Portfolio |
|
E. Euro
Blue-Chip Portfolio |
|
|
|
Chapter 17 - Don’t
Delay: Preserve Your Wealth and Liberty for Your Family and Future
Generations |
|
A.
How to
Choose A Wealth Preservation Strategy or Advisor? |
|
B. A Question &
Answer You Never Expected: What Could Go Wrong & the Downside Risks of
the Strategy |
|
C. Action Checklist
To Defend & Protect Your Wealth |
|
D. Declare Your
Independence From Theft, Lawsuit, Forfeiture, Attachment, Political &
Terrorist Risk |
|
E. How To Get
Started? |
|
F. Delay Can Be Fatal |
|
Chapter 18
- Are You Willing To Pay the High Financial Price For Freedom? |
|
A. Restore
Freedom & Liberty in the 21st Century With Tax-Deductible
Contributions |
|
B. How I
Became A Freedom Advocate |
|
C. Never
Trust Your Liberty Or Wealth To A Government or Political Slogan |
|
D. Remember
Government Will Never Defend Your Liberty, Only Take It! |
|
E. Support
the Freedom Oriented Organizations of Your Choice With Tax Deductible
Gifts and Contributions |
|
Appendix |
|
A. Resource Guide |
|
B. About the Authors |
Protecting Our Legacy
(hard core version)
Ron
Holland’s latest book
Protecting
Our Legacy
is a new 21st Century approach to wealth preservation & restoring
Liberty
Get ready for
the new on-line and in-print book,
Protecting Our Legacy. Learn how to defend, preserve & pass on your
personal legacy of wealth and our cultural philosophy of individual liberty
& limited-government to your family and future generations. Ronald Holland
writes how everything has changed in the new post 9/11 Imperial American
world of conflict and terrorism combined with the centralization of global
power, economies and politics.
He warns how we
too must change and update how we save, invest and defend our wealth as well
as how we view government, politics and the bureaucracies now in control of
so much of our lives if we hope for our wealth and remaining liberties to
survive very long into the new 21st century.
Learn how and
why in less than one generation, the American Republic has been transformed
from a nation representing our Founding Fathers ideals of honest money,
free-market capitalism, frugality in savings and government into a debt
ridden, world empire abroad and a centralized bureaucratic nightmare at home
with religion and culture replaced with rampant consumerism and conspicuous
consumption.
This is no
simple financial book promoting the latest trendy investment or financial
scheme to generate commissions from Wall Street or legal fees based on the
standard flawed, temporary snapshot of markets, regulations or conditions
soon to be outdated, illegal and ill-timed. Holland explains how like it or
not, this is a new 21st century financial world requiring full
reporting, complete transparency with invasive due diligence ‘know your
customer rules’ forced on the entire world by Washington. Total privacy,
financial freedom or confidentiality no longer exist and many of the
old-style methods, along with non-reporting and illegal wealth preservation
structures today often place you, your wealth and your property at even more
at risk than if no action had been taken in the first place.
Neither is
Protecting Our
Legacy another how-to manual providing
quick-fix legal, accounting, investment or political solutions to complex
and interrelated threats to your wealth and liberty. It is an evolving and
updated, flexible strategy based on understanding the history, politics,
economics and philosophical foundations of wealth and freedom confiscation
in America and how we must defend both in order to have either.
Holland takes the reader beneath the false propaganda
from historians, politicians and the Wall Street establishment to the core
of theft, wealth confiscation and the loss of liberty in America today.
This is the book that could not be written or published inside the United
States after the 9/11 tragedy because it shows how domestic legislation,
regulations, police-state powers, foreign policy and national politics have
become incestuously inter-related in order to continue and enhance the
expropriation of wealth and power domestically and internationally.
If your goal is to effectively defend your wealth and
liberty today so that future generations may have an opportunity to restore
and live The American Dream, then sign-up today for the
Protecting Our Legacy
E-mail Alert. Be the first to have the
opportunity to buy this book and read the on-line version which will be
available free for only a limited period of time!
2
Forward by the Author
Every American will always remember where they were on that clear fall
morning of September 11, 2001. The day our world shook and we wondered if
life would ever be the same again?. Well, we have now found out that the
answer is no. In foreign affairs, our troops are now fighting guerilla
wars in both occupied Iraq and Afghanistan. All of the goodwill and
support which flooded into the United States after 9/11 has now turned to
distrust in Europe and Asia and outrage throughout the Middle East. At the
beginning of November a poll here in the European Union among our former
strongest allies found the United States tied for second place along with
Iran and North Korea as the world's greatest threat to world peace.
From foreign affairs to wealth and financial privacy, the world has indeed
turned upside down. Life is certainly not the same for the world of wealth
preservation, asset protection, global diversification or personal and
financial privacy. The resulting War on Terrorism has raged around the
world with attacks at home and abroad on privacy, confidentiality, safe
havens and asset protection jurisdictions with a cold disregard for
personal freedom and civil liberties. The Patriot Act, as well as
continued terrorist threats and the almost complete capitulation of every
money center jurisdiction regarding privacy means that the "old ways" of
hiding or protecting money offshore no longer work. In fact, investors
who unwisely decided to break the law in the past are now at increased
risk of jail terms, terrible fines and penalties in addition to the
confiscation of the assets they originally intended to protect.
It is no secret that the offshore financial
services industry has taken a beating over the past three years. The
combination of low (or no) taxation, financial privacy and asset
protection, which has traditionally been the foundation of the offshore
financial industry, is slowly being chipped away. With new direct
legislation aimed at curbing tax evasion, money laundering and terrorism
the appeal of many offshore jurisdictions is starting to dim as all are
starting to make concessions to transparency and reporting that once would
have been unthinkable.
My objective in writing
Protecting
Our Legacy - A new
21st Century approach
to wealth preservation & restoring liberty in a post 9/11 world
is to present some
new innovative ideas and wealth preservation strategies that have worked
for other high net worth investors on the cutting edge of financial
technology, banking and insurance. The focus of this book is based on the
new 21st Century regulatory environment forced on the world by
Washington incorporating full transparency, a decrease in financial
privacy and a strict interpretation of offshore investment marketing,
sales and offering rules. The benefit to existing offshore investors will
be maximum protection and investment flexibility without the regulatory,
legal and reporting problems often encountered with the old "hide and
confuse" products and strategies.
The sad truth is that assets
and wealth cannot be 100% protected and safeguarded in the United States
any longer. Although this has been the situation for some years now, the
threat is getting worse. The American legal system has been transformed
from one that rightfully and historically defended and protected property
rights and personal wealth into a giant wealth transfer scheme for the
financial benefit of the legal profession and those that are out to take
your wealth. With the outrageous damages and penalties in court cases
today and with multiple defendants it really matters little whether you
are guilty or not in the American legal system since guilt or innocence is
often decided more upon who can afford to pay than the facts of the case.
This is a frightening time to be a high net worth individual in America
and many concerned citizens are taking actions to remove as much of their
accumulated wealth from the risk of the U.S. legal system as possible.
Our government, which
originally was established to protect and defend us, has been degraded
into one of the greatest threats to our property. Between the War On
Drugs, the War on Tax Havens and now the War on Terror, every activity in
the United States could possibly infringe on one of the hundreds of
thousands of laws, which no one understands but which allows any
government agent or policeman to make an accusation and confiscate your
assets. It is then up to you to prove your innocence. Sadly, in regard to
your property and wealth, the proud American legal tradition of innocent
until proven guilty has been twisted into "guilty and we hold your
property until you can prove your innocence."
2
Now I well
understand that writing
Protecting Our Legacy
is not exactly the best way to
make friends with of the U.S. financial establishment, the American legal
profession and some questionable third world offshore jurisdictions.
Neither will I win many popularity contests with existing, expensive "old
style" asset protection structures, promoters or those crooks, salesmen
and scam artists which inhabit some of the less regulated havens. The same
for those "financial experts" on the fringe of legitimate financial
services in the U.S. out to offer illegal structures and tax evasion as
the solution to every Americans desire to escape our lawsuit and asset
forfeiture nightmare with a portion of their wealth.
Finally, I need to make an in
your face warning to those of you who have formerly indulged in
questionable offshore illegal activities, the non-reporting of income or
required foreign financial accounts. This will not be a message you want
to hear but rather one you should listen to now and take action. Total
privacy, secret accounts, hiding money and tax evasion have no place in
the new 21st century. Like it or not, this doesn't work anymore
and actually places you and your wealth at a far more extreme risk of
confiscation, fines and loss than if you had done nothing in the first
place. Still, after all is said and done, Uncle Sam and his bandit
agencies are minor players in the field of wealth confiscation.
Surprisingly, despite its many
excesses and the War On Terror, the government still is not the major
threat to your wealth today. Believe it or not, the number one threat is
your spouse, business partners, closest friends and confidants. They are
the people who know your secrets and your business and are most likely to
sue you.
In fact, your assets are
sometimes more jeopardized from risky investments pushed by greedy
investment firms and high commissioned sales people, than even your worst
litigants and scandalous lawsuits. Often the greatest loss to offshore
investors and participants in asset protection schemes has been from the
promoters themselves who have squandered or stolen the funds. On the
other hand, if you have already followed bad advice in the past by
attempting to protect assets through non-reporting and evading taxes you
can expect eventual disclosure and harsh government penalties including
total confiscation of the assets and maybe even jail time.
Our message is that the major
threats to your wealth in this new century are not just the government or
lawsuits but other individuals and concerns that you would be wise to
prepare for. A timely case in point is the growing threat to U.S. based
wealth and investment portfolios from possible future terrorist attacks
against our investment markets and financial infrastructure. We will
discuss this risk and how to protect your wealth in some detail as well as
the longer-term risk of our nation's gradual transition to becoming a
world empire.
The strategies presented in
Protecting Our Legacy
will be the key to legally safeguarding your
private wealth for yourself, your family and for future generations. But
this is not just a financial, accounting or legal battle to defend solely
one's wealth and property, as the basis for wealth confiscation and theft
is, after all, an intellectual, philosophical and ultimately a political
war between those who value property and those out to steal it. Remember,
no man is an island in the 21st century struggle in defense of
liberty, property and individual freedom.
Ludwig von Mises stated our
world situation best when he said,
"Society lives and acts only as individuals;
it is nothing more than a certain attitude on their part. Everyone carries
a part of society on his shoulders; no one is relieved of his share of
responsibility by others. And no one can find a safe way out for himself
if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own
interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle.
None can stand aside with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the
result. Whether he chooses or not, every man is drawn into the great
historical struggle, the decisive battle into which our epoch has
plunged."
In order to help achieve final
victory in this historic struggle and in intellectual and philosophical
agreement with Ludwig von Mises, I have made arrangements to contribute 5%
of the profit of each book sold to selected 501(c)3 organizations for the
promotion and defense of liberty and limited government. It is our wish
and prayer that the new information and strategies presented in our wealth
preservation and protection handbook will help you defend your wealth and
liberties in our new 21st Century world.
3
I have done my best to present
the threats to your liberty and wealth as well as new solutions to counter
each threat and improve on the problems associated with the old style
attempts to defend wealth. Do I have all the answers to the financial
needs and concerns of high net worth investors? Of course not, but I have
shared many of the same needs for asset protection, global and
jurisdictional diversification and a real desire to find a legal,
transparent defense strategy for my wealth and liberties as most freedom
loving successful Americans.
I personally reviewed all of
the remaining legal offshore alternatives and found that none met my needs
or those of most of my clients so working with a team of global financial
experts, we took the best aspects of each product and created our own
unique strategy. It has worked for us and we would like to share it with
you. The rest is up to you.
For a prosperous, free and
financially secure 21st Century,
Ronald Holland
Geneva, Switzerland
AN INTRODUCTION & EXPLANATION
OF THE VIRTUAL LIVING BOOK CONCEPT
First of all, Protecting
Our Legacy isn't even in the usual discussion, a book. Books are
something with a beginning and an end both for the author (I wish) and the
reader. Second, I don't know what to call this and virtual living book sounded
appropriate. work to your benefit. This book (the internet version)
will be changed, updated and adjusted with new text, links, products, solutions,
threats as the world changes and I author feel more material needs to be added,
deleted and changed. My goal is to make the book like a combination online
newsletter and internet course where the material changes to meet the needs of
the readers.
Those buying the print version will also have the
opportunity to sign up for our "Protecting Our Legacy" e-mail updates which will
be a timely notification of all changes, additions and editorial changes to the
book. If you are reading this book online for free, and have either not
bought a copy or paid to subscribe to the closed update service, then you'll
just have to guess and reread the online version periodically to determine the
new material, our recommendations etc.
I'm not writing this book just because I'm a good guy.
I want to make some money for my time and effort and if you don't understand
this capitalist concept then quit reading now and go back to your computer
screen in whatever federal, state or local government agency you happen to hang
your hat in as an employee. Notice, I didn't say worker as in my opinion,
"worker" is only an appropriate term to describe productive labor in the private
sector.
Yes, Protecting Our Legacy
is an unusual online book but I have written one book and quite a few reports
like this before and the book was picked up by an independent publisher. Of
course you have the opportunity to order a print version online as there is no
question the reading and retention of a print version book is far superior to
online reading. Still, today, news and information flow so quickly on the
internet, informational books like Protecting
Our Legacy often become obsolete even before
they are published, printed and sold to the regular retail market.
This is the new internet centered 21st Century world we live in and any nostalgia for what once
was is just that, nostalgia as we can not turn back the clock. Just as
Gutenberg's printing press changed Europe and the world forever, so have weapons
from the machine gun, to nuclear weapons and now to terrorist war tactics.
History shows us that once any genie is out of the bottle, neither government,
free-enterprise, philosophy or religion can ever put him back in the bottle
again. While I question using the word "progress" here, this is the ongoing march
of time, events and change and there is nothing we can do about it. If I have
any suggestions, they are to hold on to your cultural, heritage and religious
values and traditions as little else will remain real and true during this new
century as events unfold at a faster and faster rate. More importantly, all of
this will unfurl in full view of the public with wired and electronic
communications.
The problem will not be too little information or government barriers to
information as in the past, as this is impossible today. It will be too much
information, (information overload) both from the daily news TV and internet
channels and everywhere else in between. Of course, no news is unbiased
especially in this day and age with governments, politicians and corporate
special interests controlling most of the establishment media outlets.
Readers
will still have the alternative to pick and choose the news, editorial content
and views most preferable to them over the internet. Still do not belittle
the power of the media, government or political establishment to increase the
manipulation of public opinion though the establishment news channels as their
power and scope will increase even with alternative news and views available on
the internet. We are now and will be leaving in a time only Joseph Goebbels,
Hitler's chief propagandist could have dreamed about in the ability of those in power to
manufacture, manipulate and control news and public opinion to the vast majority
of the public and more importantly voters many of whom have never questioned
authority or had an original thought in their lifetime.
I believe the mob rule of democracy Thomas Jefferson warned the young
American Republic about will reach its zenith in the coming decades. This
will be a scary time to be an American, even more frightening to be a wealthy,
high net worth American as we will be forced to pay for the high cost of a world
empire in monetary terms while the poorer classes will pay with their lives
during perpetual war and economically in a vanishing opportunity for prosperity and the
chance to pull themselves and their families out of the confines of
institutional poverty and under class impoverishment. Sorry, I am unable to
paint a rosy future for the next couple of decades unless the philosophy of
limited government and personal liberty again takes hold in the United States.
The above isn't just idle chatter, we are living in a new
paradigm of information, news, regulations and wealth attacks which will flow at
warp speeds around productive Americans and investors in a firestorm of
misinformation, investment losses and lost opportunities.
Protecting Our Legacy is
written in such as way as to give you the best chance of staying one legal jump
and skip away from the parasitical adversaries who are out to destroy your
remaining freedoms and steal your heard earned wealth.
Each chapter starts out with a brief description of the points covered in the
chapter under "Talking Points." Although I strongly suggest reading the
book from beginning to end, I can't control your reading habits and many of you
will want to skip around. This should help a bit.
We also have an extraordinary number of quotes in the book. There is no
mystery here as I love quotes to help be get an idea or point across. Some
people simply hate quotes because they break up the readers concentration.
So here is a compromise, if you like quotes, pay close attention to the quotes,
always in red print. If you hate quotes, and find them making it difficult for
you to stay with the material, then skip everything in the book printed in red.
Next I always write with a quite a few sub headings. This helps me organize
and get my point and information across.
Finally, at the end of each chapter, we have a number of study helps and
guides. First we have the section titled: "For Additional Reading and Research
Regarding This Chapter" . Here are some basic internet links to get you
started should you want or need to further research and investigate some of the
strategies and information in each chapter. Note, some of the links will go bad,
others we will delete and others will be added as information and current events
move forward. Try to google out your own research as my goal here is just to
provide a starting point.
Following this is a sample power point presentation for slides on each chapter.
Again, this is to help me in creating the book and in talking about specific
chapter material. We show it in the book just to help you see visually what I
think is most important in each chapter.
Finally, we close each chapter with Chapter Quiz Questions. Feel free to
skip them but I try to make each question bring out a thought or idea a little
abstract or not specifically covered in the written text. Here you sometimes may l have to
think, ponder and or go to the research links.
I hope you like, enjoy and find the book beneficial both in protecting your
wealth and in helping to restore the American Dream of limited government and secure wealth and ordered liberty to our nation.
This is not so much for me or my generation, as I no longer live in the United
States but more importantly for our children and future generations.
My prayer is they will have the opportunity to again live the American Dream and
have reason to feel safe, protected and secure in what was once the land of the
free. After all, unless we accomplish this, all the asset protection and wealth
preservation strategies and investment profits will be for nothing.
Ronald Holland
Chapter 11:
Rediscovering the Dream – Offshore
"Switzerland is most armed and most free." - Machiavelli in 16th Century
Ronald
Holland's Declaration of Independence:
July 4th. 2003 Geneva, Switzerland
Today
on July 4th. 2003, I am now in the process of moving apart and separate from the nation of
my birth, The United States of America. I think back to the Declaration of
Independence celebrating this date back in 1776 when the Continental
Congress met in Philadelphia and issued the Declaration for the original
13 colonies. We all know how it starts:
"When
in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and
to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation." - The Declaration of
Independence
What
has led me to this personal separation, secession or declaration of independence
like our Founding Fathers 227 years ago and why have I have left America?
First of all, am I running from the taxman? No, I have paid all of my
taxes and probably could have been far more aggressive with my business
deductions but I'm not much for keeping receipts. Was it because of our
aggressive foreign policy abroad which seems to only generate more hatred
and risk of terrorist attacks from around the world, No, let's face facts,
Asheville, North Carolina where I formerly lived would never be on
anyone's terrorist list.
How
about the tax benefits of living offshore? There is an exclusion on the
first $80,000 of income earned offshore but when you look at the cost of
living here in Geneva, one of the wealthiest and most expensive cities in
the world, the savings certainly aren't enough for me to move. What I save
in taxes, I pay out in higher food, housing and transportation costs but
at least here most of my money goes to the private sector instead of the
government because taxes are far lower here in Switzerland.
**is it too soon to discuss this?**
I am
here in Switzerland because my good friend Terry Easton and I have
developed what we believe to be the ultimate, legal asset protection and
wealth preservation strategy available to freedom loving people around the
world. As an American, I would like to be able to offer this strategy
directly to Americans with complete information by mail, in meetings
and at investment conferences but in order for it to defend your wealth
and to legally promote the strategy, it must out of necessity not be
registered for sale in the United States nor marketed into the USA in
person, by phone, e-mail or fax. It is for this reason that everything
about the entire strategy is offshore and outside the United States. It is
also not available for purchase by individuals and only may be bought by
offshore structures and trusts.
Today, I found myself here in the middle of the largest July 4th
celebration outside of the United States held each year here in Geneva,
Switzerland sponsored by the American International Club. Their URL is
http://www.amclub.ch It is by far
the largest open-air event of its kind outside the United States; where
over 30,000 attendees come to enjoy the fun. Geneva is my new home and for
the first time in years, I'm actually looking forward to celebrating our
independence day. Let me contrast Geneva, Switzerland to a recent visit I
made to the birthplace of our nation and the Declaration of Independence
in Philadelphia, PA.
A
Tale of Two Cities: Philadelphia and Geneva
- In fact, I'm feeling down-right patriotic unlike a year ago when I had
the fortune or misfortune to visit historic downtown Philadelphia while
attending an excellent conference there put on by The Heritage Foundation.
http://www.heritage.org It is a good
organization and their worthy goal is to
"build an
America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society
flourish", and I support their efforts but I must confess that I sure
didn't see much evidence of that taking place in downtown Philadelphia
where our patriot Founding Fathers met so long ago.
The only
freedom I saw was the free-market buying and selling on the streets of
illegal substances and raw sex. I certainly did not have either freedom
of association or the freedom to walk the streets of this once beautiful
city due to the horrific downtown crime problems. As for opportunity, it
consisted of watching the street lights at night and trying to determine
the closest nightspot or restaurant I could walk to without unduly risking
my chances of being mugged and robbed. I'm 6'3" so at least I had the
opportunity to risk the trip, while most of the women remained huddled and
imprisoned in the fancy hotel while peering out at the crime-zone just
outside.
Yes,
prosperity was there if one looked at the pimp cars constantly prowling
around downtown but it appeared that most of the remainder of the
inner-city were underemployed at best in some government sanctioned
"make-work" project, local minimum wage jobs or they were
unemployed on welfare.
There was certainly no civil society in downtown Philadelphia as it had
become an outlaw society with crime, drugs, prostitution, robbery and
murder going on right under the noses of the local cops whose job appeared
to geared toward defending the chain hotels and their wealthy convention
cliental directly in front of each establishment. Walking the streets of
Philadelphia during the daytime and of course the evening was much like my
scuba diving in the Caribbean ever since the movie "Jaws" came out. I
spent my time looking ahead, looking to both sides and then back behind me
to see who might be following. I believe our Founding Fathers would simply
cry if they saw what has happened to William Penn's great city of
brotherly love.
I
want to contrast the fear and loathing I felt in Philadelphia, the
original birthplace of our republic, which by the way died at Appomattox
Court House in 1865 and replaced with the cancerous seeds of empire, with
Geneva, Switzerland. First of all, there is little or no crime and poverty
here and although prostitution and drugs exist but they are
quite legal to obtain. Marijuana is treated much like cigarettes, alcohol
and prostitution and are legal but only Swiss citizens can legally sell
sex for money. The minimum drinking age in Switzerland is 14, and since
its no big deal most of the teenagers drink Coke. Surprisingly, most of
the illegal activities in the United States are legal here, consequently
there is little under-the-table money for corrupt law enforcement and not
much crime necessary for mafia types to make a good living. My six year
old daughter Heidi is expected to take the train, bus and walk to school
along with all the other little children her age. There is no fear of
kidnapping or harassment as here in the United States.
Nuisance
lawsuits are almost unknown here and taxes are far lower than in the
United States. Snow skiing is wonderful and unlike in the United
States one can ski out of bounds or basically where ever they choose but
one is responsible for his actions. The costs of liability and health
insurance are low here without the excesses of the failed American legal
system. We certainly aren't a terrorist target because I hear most third world
politicians from Saddam Hussein and other current and former Middle East
leaders, Osama bin Laden, the Clintons to African dictators keep their
private wealth safely hidden and protected here in Switzerland.
All
income taxes are taxed at the source so paying one's taxes is a simple
matter and, in fact, the Swiss central government really could care less
whether you file or not because they already have your tax money. Here the
cantons, like our states collect most of the income tax with far less
going to the very limited federal government.
I guess
you could say I'm living the American Dream our Founding Fathers had in
mind when they seceded and declared their independence from the British
Empire. Their fundamental concept was that the individual and the individual
states had the right of sovereignty and the central government
should be constrained with very limited powers so it could not interfere with that
sovereignty. To them the American Dream was freedom to pursue a better
life without government intervention. It meant opportunity.
Here in
Switzerland, I have no fear of out of control government agents swooping
down on me and my property for a misfiled form or an environmental
offense. I have total financial and personal privacy and we live under a
very limited central government in a confederation which first served as
the model for our own original Articles of Confederation. We have low
taxes, good public services and a well balanced economy.
Of
course, all is not perfect here in Switzerland or Geneva, the original
birthplace of the Protestant Reformation and John Calvin. First of all,
there is little trash in Switzerland and my biggest risk of assault would probably
come if I improperly disposed of a candy wrapper etc. like I was sometimes
guilty of doing back in North Carolina. Food prices are high but
Switzerland has made the decision not to exchange their family farms for
multinational agricultural conglomerates like we have in the USA. No one,
crosses the street unless the light says walk even there isn't a vehicle
in sight and roudiness is really frowned upon. Also at night, its really
boring because you never hear any sirens.
Finally,
I feel totally safe, not just from the thugs and petty criminals in
Philadelphia but also from the politicians and seizure obsessed law
enforcement officials at the local, county, state and federal government
level who now are hard at work supplementing their budgets with seized
cash and property for so called victimless crimes. I know what is
expected of me here and I follow the petty rules about parking, crossing
the street, cleaning up after my dog and I keep my car clean.
But in return I get personal,
financial and economic freedom, a legal system that is respected and works
to defend my property and wealth. Finally, I get a government that works,
delivers needed services at a reasonable price. Here the citizens are the
masters of their politicians and the government. This is the way our
Founding Fathers planned it. So today, July 4, 2003, I'm celebrating the
American Dream and my only sadness is I have to do it in Switzerland
rather than the United States.
I'll
wave the American flag for the pride I have in the American people and our
history and pray that one day soon, millions of Americans will be able to
again live the original American Dream of our Founding Fathers back in the
United States. Until that day, I'm proud to be an American but far happier
to be a Confederate in the Swiss Confederation. This is now my home while
I work here.
I do not live in fear of IRS
agents, criminals, crooked cops and lawyers, politics, special interests,
terrorist counter attacks for our foreign policy, horrendous fines and
penalties, attacks on my wealth and property or someone falling in my
front lawn and suing me. In summary, I live without fear of government,
thugs, politicians and terrorists and, for this, I am most thankful.
For this is the American Dream. I only wish most Americans could
also celebrate and enjoy the American Dream of our Founding Fathers.
Besides,
in the future, I'm starting a new holiday to celebrate called the
Swiss/American Confederation Day on November 15th. This is the day in
1315, when Switzerland won its independence, in 1777 when in America the
Articles of Confederation were adopted by the Continental Congress in the
13 states and again in 1860 when South Carolina circulated a petition
among the 13 Southern States to create a new Confederacy modeled after the
1777 confederacy and the 1315 Swiss Confederation.
Today on
this July 4, 2003 only one limited government confederacy remains in a
world full of centralized tyranny, corrupt dictators and aggressive
empires and this is now my home. I do not live in fear of IRS agents,
criminals, crooked cops and lawyers, politics, special interests, distant
military service for my kids outside of defense, terrorist counter attacks
for our foreign policy, horrendous fines and penalties, attacks on my
wealth and property or someone falling in my front lawn and suing me. In
summary, I in short I live without fear of government, thugs, politicians
and terrorists and for this I am thankful for this is really the American
Dream. I only wish most Americans could also celebrate and enjoy the
American Dream of our Founding Fathers back home in my country, the United
States of America - Ron Holland
"November
15, 1315: In the Battle at Morgarten, the Swiss beat the powerful Austrian
empire. This was the first great military triumph of the Swiss
Confederation against the reigning Austrian Hapsburgs. In that battle, the
men of Schwyz (canton) lured the Austrians into the hills, then ambushed
them in a mountain pass, killing 1500, driving hundreds more into Lake
Lucerne, and putting the rest to flight. Less than a month later, the
Swiss confederation of three cantons decided to name their young nation
after the men who fought so well at Morgarten. That's how "Helvetia" came
to be called Switzerland.
On November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation were adopted by the
Continental Congress, modeled after the Swiss Confederation, which
likewise contained 13 states (cantons), since 1513. These Articles vested
the conduct of war and foreign policy in a federal government (Congress)
and left the rest to the states. Article II stated, "each state retains
its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every power, jurisdiction
and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated to
Congress."
On November 15, 1860, just nine days after Abraham Lincoln's election,
South Carolina circulated a petition among the 13 southern states
regarding creation of a new Confederacy, modeled after the 1777
confederacy, and, in turn, on the 1315 Swiss confederation. The odds
against secession didn't faze them. The South justified their rebellion by
analogy to the American & Swiss revolutions. Just as George Washington was
painted as America's William Tell, Robert E. Lee soon became the south's
Washington." --Gary Alexander's speech at New Orleans Investment
Conference, 11/15/2000
Our
Search For the Ultimate, Legal Protection Strategy -
Considering the investment options in the world of financial services
outside the mainstream, narrow view of the Wall Street establishment can
sometimes bring tremendous profits and also help diversify one's portfolio
and thereby reduce overall portfolio risk and market volatility. Big
government, big business and big financial service conglomerates are often
noted for making the wrong business moves at exactly the worst possible
time. For example, in 1996 I created the first variable annuity based
Swiss Franc Bond Portfolio available in the USA. In 2001, the corporation,
Pioneer Mutual Funds, decided to close the portfolio at almost the exact
low of the Swiss franc at around 55 cents. Now the currency is over 76
cents, which has resulted in a missed 38% gain during the two-year period
when the DJIA and the Nasdaq both crashed and burned. This is also typical
of the entire Wall Street financial services industry that brought you the
tech bubble and Nasdaq collapse several years ago.
My
point is everyone always talks about the vast majority of the investment
public often making the wrong investment decisions at the worst possible
time. This human failure also carries over to the so called Wall Street
experts and this has certainly been shown for all the public to see over
the last couple of years.
There
are basically 4 components to defending your investment wealth and
purchasing power. First, you have to be in the right nation's stock and
bond markets to achieve an adequate investment return. Second, you need to
be in a currency moving up verses your home national currency in order to
provide a double kicker to the return of currency gains plus equity
appreciation. Third, you need to have proper diversification among
investment classes in order to reduce the chance of market value risk and
loss. Finally, you must have your assets in an asset-protected environment
relatively immune to threats of government, legal system, individual
attacks and free of terrorist and political risks.
First of
all, commission driven investment salesmen are not the answer. Depending
totally on a commission-driven stockbroker to provide you investment
advice when they are usually under so much corporate pressure to generate
investment commissions is a recipe for disaster. For those of you who have
followed this unwise course of action during the last few years well
understand the problem and that this is not the solution to a secure
investment strategy.
Second,
foreign currency diversification can work to your benefit during periods
of dollar weakness but while in times of dollar strength your percentage
in US dollar denominated investment can be increased if necessary
depending on how much of your total wealth including real estate is
denominated in dollars.
Global
diversification is so important because world markets do not always move
together in tandem. Proper global geographic diversification can increase
your return at the same time as it reduces your overall single market
risk. Many American investors formerly trusting in only US equities and
the eternally optimistic stock market analysis and rosy reports from the
U.S. financial services industry can attest to the problems with this
totally failed "all American" strategy.
While
patriotism is important for every nation and people, it is foolish to
invest according to this lofty principal. Finally, it doesn't really
matter how much profits you make or the size of your investment portfolio
or individual net worth if a private, legal or government thug steals all
or a substantial portion of your wealth.
This
is why asset protection and wealth preservation is such an important part
of defending your wealth. The above problems, concerns and obstacles have
been part of reasons for our quest for the ultimate, legal asset
protection strategy to help build investment profits and defend wealth in
this new 21st Century.
"You've
been had by investment analysts who privately referred to their "strong
buy" recommendations as 'pigs,' 'powder kegs'," and "pieces of junk.'....
You've been had by brokers and financial planners whose interest in their
own fees and commissions far exceeds their interest in your financial
welfare.....* You've been had by insurance agents who have tried to sell
you more protection than you need -- at prices only the trusting would
pay....You've been had by leading Wall Street firms like those that just
paid the biggest fines in SEC history -- a total of more than $1.1 billion
-- for blatantly compromising your interests for theirs.... You've been
had by corporate chieftains -- at companies like Enron, Adelphia, Global
Crossing and WorldCom -- who have sold employees and shareholders down the
river to satisfy their own lust for power and money....And you've been had
by mutual fund companies who successfully marketed the idea that they
could safely navigate your retirement money through treacherous financial
markets." - James Boxley Cook, Honorary Chairman, The Oxford Club
http://www.oxfordclub.com
The Final Result: The Easton Wealth Preservation Strategy - Our
goal was to develop a perfectly legal offshore asset protection strategy
that was tax-deferred in order not to have the red flag of foreign income
on an investors tax return. Second we wanted it well diversified and
managed so that investment advisors and individual clients would have the
widest range of investment options and currencies in order to take
advantage of world market and currency conditions in light of specific
investor objectives. We wanted it totally outside the political
jurisdiction of the United States, outside the corrupt lawsuit mad
American court system and outside of US markets and institutions that may
well be the prime targets of future terrorist attacks.
We
have accomplished all of this plus are able to cloak the strategy and
underlying investments behind the last bulwark of personal and financial
privacy, the attorney-client privilege thus preventing the breach of this
important part of your financial affairs by probing lawyers and snooping
bureaucrats.
Finally, due to the breakdown of the defenses of asset protection trusts
due to the increasing use by lawyers and judges of the "turn over the
funds or we will lock you up in jail forever over contempt of court
charges", we have added other features that will prohibit your asset
protected funds from being turned over in the event of coercion even when
you direct this to take place if you are under duress and coercion. This
very important benefit along with the privacy and confidentiality aspects
of attorney-client privilege make this asset protection strategy the
ultimate, legal asset protection and preservation program in the entire
world today for concerned American investors and others in similar
circumstances.
Swiss-Gnomes.ch - Your Internet Source for 21st Century Wealth
Preservation and Offshore Life -
Why an internet website named Swiss Gnomes? I have worked for Swiss firms
in Switzerland for over a decade and also established developed the first
Swiss owned independent brokerage firm in the United States registered in
47 states. So I have been familiar with the financial side and inner
workings of Switzerland for many years.
Swiss
bankers are often called “gnomesâ€
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