Introduction – We are going to discuss the movement of funds from your own country or another country to an offshore bank presumably in an offshore tax haven. We are not going to discuss any illegal scenarios.
Why do People Move Money and Assets Offshore – Many of you will first think taxes? Well you are wrong. How many dictatorships are there in the world right now? Quite a few. There are ruled by kings who are in office for life. They can confiscate funds at will from anyone in the kingdom. How many military coup governments are running countries? Quite a few and they too can grab money from anyone in their jurisdiction at will. How many countries practice religious persecution? Many with even death penalty for infractions. Confiscation of wealth is a popular penalty involving religious persecution. How many countries practice political persecution? Many. How many countries have criminal gangs and organizations that are almost as powerful or as powerful as the government in power? Quite a few and they often get into the bank records in their country to see who to rob, kidnap, extort or otherwise victimize.
Then we can get into countries with out of control civil litigation systems where lawyers can strip you of all your assets in an unfair system that is out of control. Then we get into countries where kidnapping is prevalent and we could keep going on and on. There are numerous reasons for moving funds offshore where they can be safe other than tax implications. High tax governments want you to think that offshore banking and asset protection is only about tax avoidance but as you can plainly see it protects people from a lot of evils the high tax governments can care less about protecting people from.
Taking Cash Out of the Bank – Well this is the first thing that comes to mind with most people. Let me take the cash out and then transport it and deposit it into the offshore bank account. This perfectly guarantees that there is no trail to follow. Will this work? Sure and moving cash by itself is not intrinsically illegal as long as you report it correctly but there are some pitfalls to watch out for.
First of all many but not all governments want you to declare when departing their country with any amount of cash or negotiable instruments over $10,000. They word these forms as to be unclear if it is $10,000 per person or family. Usually per person, but do inquire. You can always have family members take separate flights to avoid get snagged by vague interpretative errors regarding the way the law was written. Do minors count – usually not. Today with all the inspection machines and other screening devices it is best to fill out the declaration form if required to do so, when departing lest you have the funds confiscated and face arrest. You may have to supply a source of funds statement, which is to say where the funds were derived from. In some police states it is really best not to move cash out since you may face a lot of questioning. This also depends on the amount. If you say you are going to a country to gamble at a resort and have $35,000 cash that is one thing. If you say that you are going to buy a hotel for cash and have $5,000,000 that’s is going to be another story altogether. Other factors are where you are going, who you are, where your passport is from, what profiles the country ahs on you etc.
In some countries removing large amounts of funds will trigger responses. The bank will tell you they have to order in the cash and that will take one or two days by armored car. Then they file suspicious transaction reports with the government to see if they want to confiscate your funds or arrest you or something. If it is $40,000 and you said you were buying a boat or car from a private party for cash that might not attract too much attention. If you tried the same thing with $900,000 it would not be plausible and thus more suspicious. If the figure was $3,500,000 even more suspicious. See how it works. In some countries large cash movements are common and the banks do not pay much attention to it.
Bringing Cash into the Offshore Country – Ok once again not illegal if you do the required declarations in almost every country in the world. Be prepared to explain the source of the funds. Panama is a bad country to bring cash into – ill advised. It is best to use a chartered plane, not airlines for substantial cash movements. If there is a substantial amount of money security is too difficult with a commercial airline. People can rob a duffle bag or briefcase in airline terminal. They pass it on to an accomplice who deposits the briefcase or duffle bag inside of another container and maybe it gets passed to yet another accomplice who then leaves the terminal quickly with your money and gets into a waiting car. Sure the police may be able to piece a lot of this together in several hours from the cameras but by then your money is long gone forever. Private airstrips and chartered jets are much easier environments to maintain security in. Large duffle bags can be placed inside the passenger compartment without having to go into the baggage compartment of a commercial airliner where there is about zero security.
Another option is to use Brinks the armored car service or one of their competitors to transport the cash for you on one of their jets. They will insure the cash for up to $5,000,000. Extra insurance can usually be obtained. They will require you to do all the due diligence documents for the departure country (if required) and arrival country.
In any event once the funds arrive in the offshore destination country declarations including source of funds statements need to be filed. Then security needs to be arranged with armored car transport directly to the bank. If you feel armored cars are not private enough a caravan of several SUV vehicles with armed bodyguards can be arranged. This would make it harder for one to know which bank the funds went to. Airport people cannot always be relied upon to be honest so the security precautions are necessary to transport funds safely to the bank for deposit.
Depositing Cash in the Offshore Bank – This is 100% not suggested in Panama. Anything over $10,000 will be refused. There are other countries like Guatemala where cash transactions are much more an accepted way of doing business. The bank will want some source of funds information and so forth. The bank should be prepared beforehand for the deposit so they are ready to receive it and the appropriate accounts are open and ready for the deposits. Another alternative is to put the funds into a bank vault. Sometimes this can be done at a government owned and operated bank or a private bank. If it is a large amount your money may be kept segregated in its own area in the bank. The bank does not put the money into the banking system per se; instead it is kept in the vault. You get issued a document showing the funds are in the vault, the amount, the date and whom they belong do. It can be called a depository receipt, a SKR (Safe Keeping Receipt) or just a receipt in general for the funds showing the ownership, date and amount. You can have a law firm open an International Trust Agreement and have the receipt in their name for you protecting you through the trust agreement. Later on the funds can be withdrawn, removed to another institution in the same or another country or deposited into an account(s) in the bank. Expect to pay points for this service.
Cash – Cash is a complicated method of losing the money trail but highly effective at the same time. Cash provides you with the most control and privacy and thus it is disliked by many oppressive anti-privacy governments. To de disliked is not the same thing as illegal.
Travelers Checks – These if not filled out made payable to a specific person or corporation are considered negotiable or bearer instruments and subject to the same controls as cash. If you make the traveler check payable to a person or corporation the government employees at the airports may not understand that it is no longer a negotiable instrument since they are usually not well trained in law. Best to treat travelers checks same as cash. While it is difficult to trace traveler’s checks it can be done. Not all that secure but it does take the trail away from your bank account that is sending the money, so to speak.
Bank Checks & Money Orders – If they are made payable to a person or corporation then these are not negotiable instruments and not subject to the controls imposed on cash. Offshore banks often will not take a money order for deposit – too much fraud. Bank or Cashier checks are usually fine but take 2-4 weeks to clear. Offshore banks will never extend credit while waiting for a check to clear.
Regular Personal or Corporate Checks – Welcome. If these are made out payable to a person or corporation they are not negotiable instruments and can be used freely. Offshore banks generally will accept them and hold them until they clear, 2-4 weeks. If you start depositing checks that bounce by the third one they will not accept them anymore. The banks will never take third party checks, checks by fax, phone or drafts.
Western Union – Banks will not take western union funds for deposit.
E-Gold – Banks will not take virtual currencies like e-gold for deposit.
Stocks – There are ways to transfer stocks to an offshore stockbroker. Offshore banks are rarely also stockbrokers. So you would be dealing with an offshore stockbroker, not the bank directly.
-Aurelia Masterson, http://www.panamalaw.org
About The Author
Aurelia Masterson is an associate of Panama Legal law firm (http://www.panamalaw.org). She has years of experience in the field and now shares her observations of current events, politics, and law with the Internet community. She can be contacted at: aurelia@panamalaw.org.
The author invites you to visit:
http://www.panamalaw.org
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
What is a Trading Edge and How to Get One by Chris Strudwick
One of things that comes with experience is a trading edge. If you are unable to develop a good trading edge over the other traders, you could end up losing all of your capital, even if you are very disciplined and organised.
In this article I will cover some pertinent factors that I quite often use in achieving my own personal trading edge.
Fundamental Analysis.
Fundamental analysis as we all know by now, is the best method of checking out the financial condition of a company. This is easily accomplished by using financial reports, price/earning ratios, incomes, market share, sales and growth, etc.that are available This type of analysis can be very time consuming but I find it well worthwhile the effort that I put into it.
Here are a few factors that I take into consideration when researching a potential stock.
1. Earnings Per Share (EPS) .This shows me the stock’s average short term (recent quarters) and long term (last three years) earnings growth rate actually is.
2. Relative Price Strength (RPS) This measures a stock’s relative price change in the last 12 months in comparison to other equities Iin the Stock market.
3. Sales + Profit Margins + ROE (Return on Equity). This shows you a company's sales growth rate during the last 3 quarters, before and after profit margins and the return on equity.
If you like the idea of including fundamental analysis into your own trading plan, I would consider trading only stocks that meet some of the basic minimum requirements.
I personally like to use fundamental ratings for longer term trades such as the ones I plan on weekly charts. This won't be of much help to you if you happen to trade intraday.
Fundamental analysis can be a phenomenal way to build up a list of good solid potential profitable stocks, or as an alternative you can utilise it as a way to filter out the weaker stocks, but that’s about its boundaries. It will not provide you with an objective method to either enter or exit your trades. All of my trading decisions (entry, exit, and stops) are all based on technical analysis. Which we will now take a closer look at below.
Technical Analysis.
Technical analysis is basically all about the analysis of prices and their behaviour. These price actions depict patterns on charts and because human behavior is notoriously repetitive in nature, these price patterns can also be seen as very repetitive as well. By being aware of this important element definitely puts the odds in our favour right from the start.
You can choose from a variety of chart types that are readily available. The Japanese candlestick charts I have found by far are the easiest to utilise and could quite possibly be the one chart that you will use the most.
There are entire books devoted to the study of these candlestick patterns - if you are really serious about studying candlestick charts, Just take a look at the free books available on www asxnewbie.com.
Support and Resistance:
This is one of the most important concepts in technical analysis. Support and Resistance forms the very basic foundation for nearly every trading decision you will make. To give it full coverage would require many pages but I will limit myself to some very basic definitions and just a couple examples:
Support level:
This is a price level that a declining market or stock has failed to penetrate and has rebounded off at this level.
Example: the low of the previous day forms an line of support and this price level is often frequently used as a stop loss.
Resistance level:
This is a price level that a rising market or stock has failed to break through and has rebounded off it and headed back downwards.
Example: a previous high in an uptrend forms an area of resistance and this can be used as a minimum future objective to take some profits once that level is eventually reached.
Oscillators:
An oscillator is a technical indicator that will tell you at a quick glance whether a market or a stock that is currently being traded has been either "overbought" or "oversold." A few traders often use these oscillators to forecast a future change in direction. Some of these examples include the RSI, Stochastic Oscillator, and MACD just to name a few.
There are many numerous oscillators and technical indicators that traders employ, but I personally like to utilise them to weed out the weaker stocks. Particularly if I am lucky enough to have accumulated a list of too many good stocks to choose from. A very nice position to be in.
There are other indicators that I also use from time to time.
I look for support and resistance on the VIX (Volatility Index) daily chart to assist me to foresee reversals.
I look at the Put/Call Ratio (5 MA and 10 MA) on the daily chart to see if traders are too bearish (MAs > 0.8) or too bullish (MAs 1.2).
I also look at the McClellan Oscillator – the market is overbought if it rises above +70 and oversold if drops below -70. A buy signal is generated if it falls into the oversold area (-70 to -100) and then turns up - a sell signal is generated if it rises into the overbought area (+70 to +100) and then turns down. If it goes beyond the -100/+100 levels then it may be a sign of continuation of the current trend.
This article has not really been about about teaching you how to develop that trading edge. The idea that I had in mind was that it has hopefully shown you that there are many various and excellent tools available that can be used to improve your trading odds and increase your profitability.
It will take time and effort to find the right combination that will fit your trading personality and your own trading techniques. With persistence you can hone your trading skills to a level that gives you that vital edge over the average trader. If by chance that happens then my goal has been achieved.
I wish you profitable trading.
In this article I will cover some pertinent factors that I quite often use in achieving my own personal trading edge.
Fundamental Analysis.
Fundamental analysis as we all know by now, is the best method of checking out the financial condition of a company. This is easily accomplished by using financial reports, price/earning ratios, incomes, market share, sales and growth, etc.that are available This type of analysis can be very time consuming but I find it well worthwhile the effort that I put into it.
Here are a few factors that I take into consideration when researching a potential stock.
1. Earnings Per Share (EPS) .This shows me the stock’s average short term (recent quarters) and long term (last three years) earnings growth rate actually is.
2. Relative Price Strength (RPS) This measures a stock’s relative price change in the last 12 months in comparison to other equities Iin the Stock market.
3. Sales + Profit Margins + ROE (Return on Equity). This shows you a company's sales growth rate during the last 3 quarters, before and after profit margins and the return on equity.
If you like the idea of including fundamental analysis into your own trading plan, I would consider trading only stocks that meet some of the basic minimum requirements.
I personally like to use fundamental ratings for longer term trades such as the ones I plan on weekly charts. This won't be of much help to you if you happen to trade intraday.
Fundamental analysis can be a phenomenal way to build up a list of good solid potential profitable stocks, or as an alternative you can utilise it as a way to filter out the weaker stocks, but that’s about its boundaries. It will not provide you with an objective method to either enter or exit your trades. All of my trading decisions (entry, exit, and stops) are all based on technical analysis. Which we will now take a closer look at below.
Technical Analysis.
Technical analysis is basically all about the analysis of prices and their behaviour. These price actions depict patterns on charts and because human behavior is notoriously repetitive in nature, these price patterns can also be seen as very repetitive as well. By being aware of this important element definitely puts the odds in our favour right from the start.
You can choose from a variety of chart types that are readily available. The Japanese candlestick charts I have found by far are the easiest to utilise and could quite possibly be the one chart that you will use the most.
There are entire books devoted to the study of these candlestick patterns - if you are really serious about studying candlestick charts, Just take a look at the free books available on www asxnewbie.com.
Support and Resistance:
This is one of the most important concepts in technical analysis. Support and Resistance forms the very basic foundation for nearly every trading decision you will make. To give it full coverage would require many pages but I will limit myself to some very basic definitions and just a couple examples:
Support level:
This is a price level that a declining market or stock has failed to penetrate and has rebounded off at this level.
Example: the low of the previous day forms an line of support and this price level is often frequently used as a stop loss.
Resistance level:
This is a price level that a rising market or stock has failed to break through and has rebounded off it and headed back downwards.
Example: a previous high in an uptrend forms an area of resistance and this can be used as a minimum future objective to take some profits once that level is eventually reached.
Oscillators:
An oscillator is a technical indicator that will tell you at a quick glance whether a market or a stock that is currently being traded has been either "overbought" or "oversold." A few traders often use these oscillators to forecast a future change in direction. Some of these examples include the RSI, Stochastic Oscillator, and MACD just to name a few.
There are many numerous oscillators and technical indicators that traders employ, but I personally like to utilise them to weed out the weaker stocks. Particularly if I am lucky enough to have accumulated a list of too many good stocks to choose from. A very nice position to be in.
There are other indicators that I also use from time to time.
I look for support and resistance on the VIX (Volatility Index) daily chart to assist me to foresee reversals.
I look at the Put/Call Ratio (5 MA and 10 MA) on the daily chart to see if traders are too bearish (MAs > 0.8) or too bullish (MAs 1.2).
I also look at the McClellan Oscillator – the market is overbought if it rises above +70 and oversold if drops below -70. A buy signal is generated if it falls into the oversold area (-70 to -100) and then turns up - a sell signal is generated if it rises into the overbought area (+70 to +100) and then turns down. If it goes beyond the -100/+100 levels then it may be a sign of continuation of the current trend.
This article has not really been about about teaching you how to develop that trading edge. The idea that I had in mind was that it has hopefully shown you that there are many various and excellent tools available that can be used to improve your trading odds and increase your profitability.
It will take time and effort to find the right combination that will fit your trading personality and your own trading techniques. With persistence you can hone your trading skills to a level that gives you that vital edge over the average trader. If by chance that happens then my goal has been achieved.
I wish you profitable trading.
How to Maintain Your Income Stream If You Are Laid Off? by Nicole Reebi
How to Maintain Your Income Stream If You Are Laid Off?
| |
The world has entered into a recession, many corporations and companies had announced their job cutting news. If you are an employee for any of the companies that have plan to reduce their company's headcounts; then, your job will not be guaranteed. The question is how you are going to maintain your income stream just in case you are being laid off and unable to find a new job due to the job opportunities have been cutting down tremendously by most companies. It's time for you to think of setting up a second income source.
If you are thinking of getting a part-time job from other company, and go to work after your day job, then you probably will have a hard time find one in today's recession situation. Then, what other ways to source for income if you can't find a part-time job?
What if you create one for yourself? There are a few ways to make your own business without the need to investment a lot of money. By using the advantages of internet and online business features that allow you to work from home, here are the 2 common ways of earning money online:
1. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a business model that enables you to make money online without the need to have your own product. There are many online merchants looking for marketing outsourcing. They make their products available for online freelance agents, called affiliates who will be given commission based on their sales. You can set up a website to sell a few selected affiliate products. Your role as an affiliate is to drive web traffic to your website or directly to merchant's website through a unique link that will identify you as the affiliate who makes the sale.
Affiliate marketing has been a good income source for many people either as the part-time job or a full-time income. You may consider to set up a second income source through affiliate marketing while you still with your day job. Invest some time and efforts to make it successful; it can become your main income source just in case you are being laid off.
2. Set up an online store
Unlike traditional business, you don't need to invest a lot of money to have your own business on internet. You can choose to become your own boss by opening an online store to sell physical or downloadable products. In addition, you don't need to own a product for an online business. There is a business called dropshipping where you can easily find the products you are interested in selling at your online store; buy it at wholesale price and sell it at retail price at your online store. Under the dropshipping business model, dropshippers will sell you their product at wholesale price for individual item and they will deliver the ordered items to your customers on your behalf.
You don't need to quit your day job to start an online business. In fact, you can do it in parallel and work it out for a success. The income from online store can replace your main income just in case you have lost your job due to being laid off.
Summary
Under the bad economy situation where companies are looking for potential cost cutting and headcounts reduction, no job is guaranteed. As a working individual, you need to start to think of how to maintain your income stream if you are hit by the recession wave. Internet can be the best source to set up an income online and be the back up income stream while you are still with your day job.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Market Technical Analysis - Awaiting Stimulus 101 - 02/09/2009
InTheMoneyStocks.com looks at the pause day in the markets as things consolidate prior to Geitner's bank bailout and the governments stimulus plan.
Arts: The Passing of a Pop Icon - NYTimes.com/Video
Michael Jackson, the legendary singer, songwriter and dancer, died in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Interview with Michael Cheney from Adsense Videos
Interview
with Michael Cheney from AdSense Videos
Q. So what made
you get started with AdSense?
A. I
was looking for a way to monetize some of my websites. AdSense
is such an easy thing to get started with the eye for it would
be a great way to start earning more money without actually putting
into much more effort. I think as soon as you see the first earnings
coming into your account you get addicted to AdSense. I know is
what happened to me and since then I've just spent time working
out how to earn more and more each day.
Q. How much do
you make with AdSense?
A. Some days I can earn
close to $1000 and others it's less than that. But it all comes
down to how much time and effort you devote to creating a quality
site that people like visiting. AdSense is not what my business
is based on by any means - but it is a great way to earn revenue
almost on autopilot.
Q. What is the
biggest mistake people making with AdSense?
A. Probably
the biggest mistake people make is thinking the AdSense earnings
are easy to achieve. It is very easy to get started but as I learned
it takes a lot of effort to increase your earnings. I got really
downhearted whenever I would log in to my account to see that
I had only made a few dollars. And that's when I decided to spend
months and months of my time learning everything I could about
AdSense.
I basically buried myself
away and devoured every single piece of AdSense information I
could find. I ran thousands of AdSense tests and started to see
a dramatic effect on my click through ratio and therefore on my
earnings.
This is why I'd decided
to record the videos - because I knew that it would help people
who were in my position to also increase their earnings. I've
read an absolute ton of AdSense e-book's but they take so long
to go through and always seem to keep information back.
With AdSense Videos I
knew that I had to tell the story exactly as it is and actually
show people and lead them by the hand through the exact techniques
that I use to generate large earnings from AdSense.
Q. In your videos
you show people how to increase their AdSense earnings - can you
give us a taster of this advice?
A. I
don't want to give away my biggest secrets as you can understand!
But some of the more basic things that you can do to increase
your revenues include using ads that blend in rather than stand
out from your content. Flat out the worst thing you can do with
an AdSense ad is make it look like the standard Google ad. What
you need to realise is that you will get more clicks if your ad
actually appears part of your site rather than something that's
just been dropped into the page.
Q. What would
you recommend that someone do right now to increase their AdSense
earnings?
A. I've
created a totally free AdSense minicourse that people can go through
to learn some of my techniques. It takes you through the four
cornerstone principles that I've used to build up my AdSense empire.
You can check it out, as well as all the AdSense Videos, here:
CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEOS
Interview with Michael Cheney from Adsense Videos
Interview
with Michael Cheney from AdSense Videos
Q. So what made
you get started with AdSense?
A. I
was looking for a way to monetize some of my websites. AdSense
is such an easy thing to get started with the eye for it would
be a great way to start earning more money without actually putting
into much more effort. I think as soon as you see the first earnings
coming into your account you get addicted to AdSense. I know is
what happened to me and since then I've just spent time working
out how to earn more and more each day.
Q. How much do
you make with AdSense?
A. Some days I can earn
close to $1000 and others it's less than that. But it all comes
down to how much time and effort you devote to creating a quality
site that people like visiting. AdSense is not what my business
is based on by any means - but it is a great way to earn revenue
almost on autopilot.
Q. What is the
biggest mistake people making with AdSense?
A. Probably
the biggest mistake people make is thinking the AdSense earnings
are easy to achieve. It is very easy to get started but as I learned
it takes a lot of effort to increase your earnings. I got really
downhearted whenever I would log in to my account to see that
I had only made a few dollars. And that's when I decided to spend
months and months of my time learning everything I could about
AdSense.
I basically buried myself
away and devoured every single piece of AdSense information I
could find. I ran thousands of AdSense tests and started to see
a dramatic effect on my click through ratio and therefore on my
earnings.
This is why I'd decided
to record the videos - because I knew that it would help people
who were in my position to also increase their earnings. I've
read an absolute ton of AdSense e-book's but they take so long
to go through and always seem to keep information back.
With AdSense Videos I
knew that I had to tell the story exactly as it is and actually
show people and lead them by the hand through the exact techniques
that I use to generate large earnings from AdSense.
Q. In your videos
you show people how to increase their AdSense earnings - can you
give us a taster of this advice?
A. I
don't want to give away my biggest secrets as you can understand!
But some of the more basic things that you can do to increase
your revenues include using ads that blend in rather than stand
out from your content. Flat out the worst thing you can do with
an AdSense ad is make it look like the standard Google ad. What
you need to realise is that you will get more clicks if your ad
actually appears part of your site rather than something that's
just been dropped into the page.
Q. What would
you recommend that someone do right now to increase their AdSense
earnings?
A. I've
created a totally free AdSense minicourse that people can go through
to learn some of my techniques. It takes you through the four
cornerstone principles that I've used to build up my AdSense empire.
You can check it out, as well as all the AdSense Videos, here:
CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEOS
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Michael Jackson Dead At 50: "R.I.P."
One Word... "Legend" "Which Michael Jackson song is Your ALL TIME FAV?"
Automated Forex Trading System - Currency Trading Software
If you're looking to invest some money in forex in an automated and intelligent way - here's the program that will let you do it.
Trading systems with success with Market Wizards wisdom
Why do traders fail? Why are over 90% of traders unsuccessful with their trading systems, and eventually blow out their account? The answer lies in a simple indicator....trader growth.
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