Have You Considered Offshore Investments?

By: Deon Melchior

These days most of us try very hard to invest at least a little money for our future retirement years so that we aren’t dependant on government or corporate pensions. But have you considered offshore investments?

You’ve probably heard about offshore investments but you may have been misled to believe that you had to be rich to play in the offshore

market. That’s simply not true. The only difference between normal investments and offshore investments is that you are placing your money in an account with a bank that is not in the United States.

There are quite a few advantages to offshore investments. There is far less regulations so fund managers are not as restricted and are able to act more freely. The lack of regulations also means that you are going to pay a lot less taxes! Offshore accounts invest fund in countries that have either no tax laws or minimal tax laws. That means you will pay a lot less in taxes and have a lot more available to invest.

Some individuals are concerned that because there is less regulation that the risks are too high. There is the potential for higher risk however if you are a good investor and do your homework the risk is really no greater than investments made within the United States.

Another perk to offshore investments is that your privacy is assured. Most countries that deal in offshore investments have laws to protect the investor’s privacy. This means there is no reporting to the government and there is no way to obtain this private information from a foreign country.

The privacy law is a huge benefit especially if you have large amounts you want to invest. This is why we sometimes think that offshore investments are only for the rich. It’s also very beneficial if you have assets you want to protect from litigation. These days it seems even one is suing over something and the courts are often finding in favor of the complainant no matter how ridiculous. One way to protect your company’s assets is to invest them offshore. Offshore countries don’t recognize these judgments and assets in these countries cannot be seized.

Using offshore investments as part of your estate planning is also very smart. That’s because most of these countries have simple estate laws and tax laws. Estate planning offshore is growing in popularity.

Setting up an offshore investment account requires a few steps. You must either live in the offshore country or establish a legal presence in that country. Since few people live in the offshore country they invest in, the standard method is to create an offshore corporation. There are many companies that will set up your corporation and complete the paperwork so you can get started in investing offshore.

The corporation you need to set up is called an IBC or LLC which means International Business Corporation or Limited Liability Corporation. Once your corporation is established and the paperwork has been filed you can begin investing or you can transfer your current portfolio. Because all investments go through your IBC or LLC your personal identity is never involved.

Offshore investments may not be for everyone but if you have assets you would like to protect, you want your investments confidential, or you want the tax breaks then you should consider offshore investments to help you meet your financial goals.

Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.