The Insured Portfolio E-Book

Erika Nolan

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Agora Series
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 372

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

How to safely, easily, and as tax efficiently as possible diversify and hedge against the dollar's fall It's no secret-the U.S. economy is in crisis mode, threatening everything from personal savings to our overall prosperity as a nation. Panicking is not the answer. Having a clear game plan is. In this environment, investors must protect themselves from the immense financial uncertainties they face as a saver or an investor in the 21st Century. Investors need solid information about ways to recession-proof their retirement and investment portfolios. The Insured Portfolio offers that guidance revealing the major financial threats the 21st Century Saver and Investor faces and showing them how to build a strong portfolio and protect their assets. Written in smart, engaging prose, the book: * Details ways to invest overseas, and specifically-how to use international private placement policies as a way to protect assets and reduce taxes * Provides investors with the tips and tools needed to profit overseas with insurance, including how to bypass the international restrictions often used to keep investors from seeking opportunities in other countries For those seeking customized asset protection, a dollar hedge, global investment diversification, tax privileged growth and estate planning, there is not another single solution on the market today that can achieve all of these objectives at once better than The Insured Portfolio.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

DISCLAIMER

Acknowledgments

Introduction

FIGHT OR FLIGHT—THE COURAGE TO SEE BEYOND

CHAPTER 1 - WELCOME TO THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY

HISTORY MAY NOT REPEAT . . .

WHY THE EVENTS OF 1873 REALLY MATTER

AMERICA’S AGE AS A SUPERPOWER

THE GENERATIONAL WEALTH PHENOMENON

THE FIRST GENERATION: PRIOR TO THE 1920s—LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM

THE SECOND GENERATION: 1920s -1970s—KILLING THE GOLDEN GOOSE

THIRD GENERATION: 1970s -TODAY—PAYING THE PIPER IS OFTEN HARD

NEARING THE BOILING POINT

WITH CRISIS COMES OPPORTUNITY

FINDING THE NEW LAND OF OPPORTUNITY AND SAFETY

CHAPTER 2 - PASSING THE WEALTH BATON

STEP 1: FOR WORLD-CLASS INVESTMENT RETURNS, YOU NEED WORLD-CLASS ...

STEP 2: PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE ERODING U.S. DOLLAR

STEP 3: LOWER YOUR WEALTH PROFILE AND PROTECT WHAT YOU HAVE

STEP 4: CREATE A PLAN TO PROVIDE FOR YOUR LOVED ONES

THE SOLUTION? WORK TWICE AS SMART, AND MAKE YOUR MONEY WORK TWICE AS HARD

CHAPTER 3 - AN AGE-OLD SOLUTION TO INSURE YOUR PORTFOLIO

MEET THE HUMBLE ANNUITY—THE MOST WELL-KNOWN PRIVATE PLACEMENT POLICY

THE EVOLUTION OF ANNUITIES IN THE UNITED STATES

THE BIRTH OF THE VARIABLE ANNUITY

DOMESTIC ANNUITIES EXPLODE ONTO THE AMERICAN MARKET

THE MECHANICS OF PRIVATE PLACEMENT POLICIES

SAVVY AMERICANS DEVELOP A LOVE FOR FOREIGN ANNUITIES

WHY FOREIGN PRIVATE PLACEMENT POLICIES ARE THE BEST SOLUTION

THE KEY TO A GOLD MINE OF INVESTMENT AND CURRENCY DIVERSIFICATION

ONE OF YOUR LAST OPPORTUNITIES FOR TAX-DEFERRED GROWTH

100 PERCENT FLEXIBLE . . . 100 PERCENT OF THE TIME

UNMATCHED INVESTOR PROTECTION

UNDER LOCK AND KEY

NO SECRECY BUT SUPERIOR PRIVACY

PEACE OF MIND FOR GENERATIONS

TRANSPARENCY OF FEES AND EXPENSES

FROM MEAGER BEGINNINGS, THE MODERN INSURANCE POLICY THRIVES

CHAPTER 4 - FINDING THE RIGHT POLICY TO MEET YOUR FINANCIAL GOALS AND SECURE ...

THE TOP THREE SOLUTIONS FOR TWENTY FIRST-CENTURY INVESTORS

POLICY 1: THE DEFERRED VARIABLE ANNUITY

POLICY 2: THE VARIABLE UNIVERSAL LIFE POLICY

POLICY 3: THE FROZEN CASH VALUE POLICY

INSURANCE POLICIES—THE GATEWAY TO STRESS-FREE GLOBAL INVESTMENTS

CHAPTER 5 - THE IMPORTANCE OF A JURISDICTION FOR YOUR INSURED PORTFOLIO—PLUS ...

LEVEL I JURISDICTIONS: THE MOST STABLE AND MOST PROVEN

LEVEL II JURISDICTIONS: NOT AS STRONG, EQUALLY STABLE—SECONDARY CANDIDATES

LEVEL III JURISDICTIONS: UP-AND-COMING HAVENS AND THOSE WITH FLAWS

THE SECOND PART OF THE EQUATION: SELECTING THE RIGHT COMPANY

CHAPTER 6 - HEADING OUT INTO THE UNKNOWN WITH CONFIDENCE

AN UNCOMMON SOLUTION ON THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

OUR TOP THREE PICKS

EXCHANGING YOUR CURRENT U.S. INSURANCE POLICY FOR ONE OFFSHORE

POLICIES MAY BE COMBINED WITH OTHER TYPES OF STRUCTURES FOR BETTER ESTATE ...

YOUR ROAD MAP ON WHERE TO GO FROM HERE

ONE FINAL BIT OF ADVICE . . .

APPENDIX A - EXAMPLES OF HOW PRIVATE PLACEMENT POLICIES MAY BE USED

APPENDIX B - FURTHER RESOURCES AND READING

NOTES

GLOSSARY

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

INDEX

Copyright © 2010 by Shannon Crouch, Erika Nolan, and Marc-Andre Sola. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/ Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Nolan, Erika.

The insured portfolio: your gateway to stress free global investments / Erika Nolan, Shannon Crouch, Marc-Andre Sola.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-57514-7 (cloth); 978-0-470-87568-1 (ebk); 978-0-470-87567-4 (ebk)

1. Portfolio management. 2. Global Financial Crisis, 2008 - 2009. I. Crouch, Shannon. II. Sola, Marc-Andre. III. Title.

HG4529.5.C76 2010

332.6—dc22 2010009568

DISCLAIMER

While the authors have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to express our sincere thanks to many people who either helped to create this book or supported us during the process.

Shannon Crouch: Thanks to all The Sovereign Society members I have met over the years for sharing their successes, failures, and perspectives on wealth. You have helped refine the solutions offered within these pages. Thanks to The Sovereign Society team for supporting my time away from the office to write this book. And to my soon-to-be husband, Spike, as well as my parents, thank you for your unending support of me and the projects that mean so much to me.

Erika Nolan: Thank you to Bob Kephart and Robert Bauman, whose vision gave birth to The Sovereign Society so many years ago. Their mentorship gave me the passion, the opportunity, and the experience to write this book with my colleagues. Thanks to The Sovereign Society team for allowing me to dedicate time to this book. I must also thank Patrick, Bianca, and my mother for their undying support of this project and of me.

Marc-André Sola: I thank my parents for allowing me to study and get a good education. I would also like to thank Jürg Lattmann for being my first mentor and for getting me into the industry; Maria Amstad for being my long-time business partner and helping me build the business; and Dr. Josef Haid, my friend and loyal business partner, for allowing me to be away from work while I wrote my share of the book.

Collectively, we would like to thank John Wiley & Sons for their patience and their belief that offshore solutions do work for the average investor. Without them, this information would not be so easily available.

INTRODUCTION

A NEW GENERATION OF SAVERS AND INVESTORS HAVE BROUGHT CERTAINTY TO THEIR FINANCIAL FUTURE—AND SO CAN YOU!

We don’t have any illusions.

We know you probably wouldn’t have picked up this book if it were not for the financial crisis of the past few years coupled with the unprecedented government response that followed. And, honestly, had those events not taken place, we probably wouldn’t have written it. For virtually every one of us wants nothing more than endless sunshine and a continuously rising Dow Jones average.

Some of us even have come to expect it.

Unfortunately, this mentality has allowed retirement accounts, family savings, and investor nest eggs to become easy fatalities. The profits of yesteryear are starting to return, but we investors are now much more jaded—and rightfully so.

Most of us grew up during a period the French call Les Trente Glorieuses (The Glorious Thirty, 1945-1975). The term was coined by a French demographer who watched firsthand as the country—decimated by two world wars—rose to have the highest standard of living worldwide in the early 1970s. Likewise, the United States and the United Kingdom enjoyed decades of relatively uninterrupted prosperity in that same period. Those decades were brimming with prosperity for citizens of most Western economies.

Most of us weren’t around for the Great Depression, so we couldn’ t comprehend how far or just how fast the economy could crumble. And only a few of us appreciate how the Second World War decimated industrial competition from countries like Germany and Japan and how that positioned the United States to lead the world economy during the 1950s and 1960s.

So where does it leave us? It leaves us with a generation of people who are less financially spry than their forefathers of previous generations. Much like the age of Pax Romana hid the deeper truth of the Roman Empire’ s slow decay and ultimate collapse, so, too, have the Les Trente Glorieuses masked a more complicated truth for Western societies.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT—THE COURAGE TO SEE BEYOND

But let us be clear; this book is not about fear mongering.

It’s not about the one-in-a-million scenarios passed off as the inevitable future or one isolated event that will lead to our widespread demise. Yet, we don’t believe fear is necessarily a bad thing; often, your sense of fear keeps you safe. But heaven knows there’ s already too much fear being pushed upon us in the news, on the radio, and on virtually every TV show. While there is a certain amount of honesty to it, fear isn’ t the problem.

Uncertainty is the problem.

If you were certain about what was going to happen in the future, you’d have absolutely nothing to fear. Horrible accidents, disasters, stock market crashes—knowing about these things ahead of time would allow you to prepare accordingly. While absolute certainty is impossible, if you at least had an idea about the likelihood of something threatening you or your wealth, you’d be much better off to protect yourself against it. You’d take steps to give yourself some insurance just in case the worst scenario came to pass.

And that’s what this book is about.

It’s about preparing yourself for the immense financial uncertainties you face as a saver or an investor in the twenty-first century. We reveal the major financial threats and reasons why you must act to insure your wealth, plus give you clear actions to take.

Think of this book as a tool to help you analyze your personal financial situation, asking all the relevant questions and answering them comprehensively.

In the first chapter, we’ll focus on each of the culprits responsible for the uncertainty in your financial future. We’ll talk about everything from the new generation of empowered crooks to the chefs who cooked the golden goose—the government, of course.

But we’re not just telling you how we have gotten to this point; we’re offering solutions. The second chapter of this book focuses on what you will need to respond to these threats. The world has grown much entwined since the Les Trente Glorieuses, and this creates significant threats and also amazing opportunities to those of us who explore them. It means that, for many of us, the traditional portfolio of American stocks and bonds will simply not cut it anymore. It will not allow us to sleep well at night knowing our retirement will be a reality or that we will be able to sustain a legacy (no matter how great or small) for our families. But there are solutions that will give you peace of mind regardless of what uncertainties abound.

From Chapter 4 onward, we’ll zero in on the best-fit solutions for savers and investors looking to get ahead in the twenty-first century. We’ll cover every detail of every opportunity, with case studies to match. You will be able to see how these solutions can work for someone in your situation.

It is our sincere hope that the insight contained on these pages will help quiet the doubts you may have developed about your financial future, and that it gives you at least one clear path to relative certainty and greater peace of mind. There’s a chance it might drastically improve your fortunes.

CHAPTER 1

WELCOME TO THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY

The Lessons of the First Decade and the Historical Precedent for Today’s “Unprecedented” Crisis

It was a crazy year.

In 12 short months, the world’s ruling empire saw a widespread mortgage crisis, shocking the financial system and sending interbank lending rates through the roof. Complex financial instruments collapsed like a house of cards, and overleveraged businesses suffered. If their short-term loans came due and they couldn’t refinance, that was it. Locks appeared on the doors, and the windows were papered.

Through it all, however, a handful of new countries shone. These nations were growing thanks to lower wages, cheaper commodities, and looser regulations. Financial supremacy started to shift as the world looked for a new center of power. Across the ocean they found one.

We’re not talking about 2008, by the way.

We’re talking about 1873, at the beginning of what some historians call the real Great Depression. And that promising new center of power was the United States.

HISTORY MAY NOT REPEAT . . .

. . . But it certainly rhymes.

And in this case, it’s rhymed pretty closely so far. The similarities are staggering, even though the participants may have changed. And while the Great Depression brought about a revolution in big government and interventions, the Crash of 1873 embodied the end of an era—something we’re almost certainly witnessing now. Let us explain.

In the decade leading up to 1873, Europe saw the rise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the unification of the German states. Combined with France, it was believed that these countries would help Europe retain its status as financial center of the universe.