Asset Protection

John Oliver is hardly a libertarian, but his Last Week Tonight show on HBO regularly highlights how US citizens are royally screwed by Uncle Sam and his minions.

Some people collect stamps, coins, or antique furniture. I collect stories of frivolous lawsuits.

One of the realities of modern life is that government control over its citizens has become pervasive. Nowhere is that more true than in our right to travel internationally.

Every president inherits something difficult. Some problems are simply out of the incoming president’s hands. Obama inherited a financial crisis.

In the last few days, gold has been on a losing streak. Last Tuesday, gold prices fell by $42 per ounce – 3.3% – the biggest single-day drop in value in nearly three years.

I just returned from a week in Bermuda, where I was a speaker at The Sovereign Society’s Total Wealth Symposium.

If the IRS has its way, cash will be a thing of the past. In its place, every transaction will be digital, every purchase will leave a footprint.

I can’t help but be reminded of the truism of this week’s article title, watching Chinese stock prices drop, day after day. In response, Chinese securities regulators have banned most short selling.

One of the recurring questions I get from our US readers and clients is, “Since the IRS has to know everything you do ‘offshore’ anyway, why should you even bother?”

Don't get me wrong – I hate government interference in my daily life. I hate how the state slithers into every aspect of our lives, takes our production in the form of taxes and generally bullies us around however they like. No doubt you do too.

Do you have business or investment assets you're looking to protect from frivolous litigation? If you do, a Nevis limited liability company (NLLC) could be one if the most effective and least expensive ways to protect it.

(This is an important update to a posting originally published Nov. 9, 2012).

In August 2011, encouraged by friends who I thought knew much more about these sorts of things than I do, I opened a small account to trade options and futures. The account was with MF Global.

Austerity measures in France, Greece, and Spain demanded by these countries' creditors have spurred unemployment, cuts in pension costs, and above all, politically motivated attacks on wealth.

“A man’s home may be his castle, but that does not keep the government from taking it.”

Joe’s an average American guy. He and his wife Jane live in a three-bedroom tract home in the suburbs with a couple of children. Joe has a middle-class occupation. So does Jane—they…

Corporations are the traditional way to limit personal liability in a business. A corporation has a separate legal personality from its owners, officers, and directors. This legal personality provides a "corporate…