Did Ben Really Say That?
“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors,
and let each new year find you a better man.”
— Benjamin Franklin
…………I concur.
News from Europe
Standard & Poor’s confirms Luxembourg at AAA rating with stable outlook
Luxembourg continues to benefit from the best rating from the three major rating agencies: S&P, Moody’s and Fitch.
Luxembourg and Qatar build on shared experiences to innovate and diversify
A financial delegation headed by HRH Prince Guillaume, Crown Prince of Luxembourg, accompanied by HRH Crown Princess Stéphanie, and led by HE Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg Minister of Finance, is visiting Qatar today to drive greater strategic cooperation between the two countries in the field of international finance.
Respected Thoughts
“The key that unlocks energy is desire. It’s also the key to a long and interesting life. If we expect to create any drive, any real force within ourselves, we have to get excited.”
— Earl Nightingale
“Act with purpose, courage, confidence, competence and intelligence until these qualities “lock in” to your subconscious mind.”
– Brian Tracy
………………..more to come.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”
— Frank Outlaw
These things affect us in more ways than you know
Obama proposes easier route to renouncing citizenship: President Obama’s budget proposals, published earlier this month, include a plan to help some dual-nationality American expatriates to renounce their US citizenship without the fear of delinquent tax filings, penalties, the US exit tax, and the other consequences of being a covered expatriate. It is still not known whether it will become law.
Obama proposes tax on unrepatriated corporate profits: President Obama’s budget proposal today will include a one-time 14 per cent levy on the unrepatriated overseas profits of US corporations, plus a 19 per cent minimum tax on future foreign profits. Some USD2 trillion of corporate profits is thought to have been accumulated in foreign jurisdictions to avoid US tax.
Here are links to more……………
05 MAR 2015 Monaco signs tax deal in return for removal from Italian blacklist ,
03 MAR 2015 Obama announces fiduciary rule for financial advisors,
02 MAR 2015 India’s general anti-avoidance rule shelved yet again,
26 FEB 2015 Italy and Switzerland sign treaty to prevent tax evasion,
24 FEB 2015 Chile’s public sector to report suspect financial transactions to tax authorities,
23 FEB 2015 Day-counting no longer the definitive test of Russian tax residence,
19 FEB 2015 Geneva police raid HSBC Suisse,
16 FEB 2015 HSBC publishes apology in London newspapers over Swiss Private Bank’s past practices,
12 FEB 2015 UK clients of HSBC Geneva were allowed to make ‘Liechtenstein disclosures’,
10 FEB 2015 LATAM client data from HSBC leak made public,
05 FEB 2015 Ireland tax amnesty open until 30 June 2015,
03 FEB 2015 US offshore disclosure opportunity to remain open indefinitely,
The Tax Man Cometh, Where Doest Thou Go?
Transparency is the name of the game. Who are you? What is your source of income? What assets do own or have an interest in? Where do you Bank? Do you travel? Where do you go? How do you get there? What do you purchase and where?
Look behind you. Do you see the tracks that you’ve left? The information you divulge and that is “mined” from data bases paints a very detailed portrait of you. As such, the revenue agents are constantly checking to see if you owe “your fair share”. If you are fortunate enough to be self supportive with a family business that has cross border connections or a high level executive with multiple zeros on your paycheck, you probably have more than one bank account in more than one country. Because of FATCA, the U.S.’s effort to gather in income taxes due, many and eventually all countries will sign on through IGA’s to report back to the IRS(US) any financial institution account information of US citizens or tax domiciled entities. Other jurisdictions are following suite with their own tax reporting guidelines to apply to their citizens and tax domiciled entities. These regulations can become quite murky and through association can apply to non tax residents also. Therefore, if you have cross border relations, i.e. family or business partners, that receive some sort of transfer of value, you or they will probably be liable for owing a tax to one or more taxing authorities. This is probably the most prevalent way Family Wealth is eroded from generation to generation. Structuring your personal and business affairs properly can mitigate this constant in today’s world of enhanced revenue collection.
Seek ye the wisdom of professional business and tax planners to assist in your quest to preserve what you have worked so hard to achieve. They are ready to help you.
……………………………………………………….to your Increased Wealth!
Until next time,
Yours truly,
MAC
What Can Happen to Your Wealth?
What happened to the Family Wealth?
1982 – Forbes’ List of the 400 richest people in America is published.
1995 – Only 43 of the original listed are still on the list! Less than 11%.
Answer: Lack of education as to the dynamics of the preservation of the wealth through each generation. Of the transition failures noted, a full 60% were due to “a breakdown of communications and trust within the family unit”; 25% were due to a failure to prepare the heirs, i.e. establishing family values and developing healthy individual attitudes towards wealth and responsibility; and 15% were attributed to tax considerations, legal issues, and lack of a mission. Family wealth, however you define it, whether it be worth five figures or fifteen figures, probably won’t survive the third generational transfer unless a conscious effort by the older generation to engage the successive generation with an attitude that combines “qualitative and quantitative techniques to make more positive than negative decisions regarding the employment of their human, intellectual, and financial capital. 1
1. Source: Offshore Investment Magazine #246 May 2014, Article by Christian Stewart including footnotes by reference.
You’ve probably heard about Lottery winners that won a jackpot worth millions of dollars and were dead broke within three years on average. The main cause is a lack of financial discipline and avoiding the pitfalls that sudden wealth begets. Most families that have great wealth have an ongoing plan to educate the new generations about how the income is being produced, how it is preserved, and how it is dispersed. The families of Rothschild, Rockefeller, Walton, Getty, Trump, Kennedy, Busch, Windsor(Elizabeth II), Saud, DuPont, and many more, have instituted a means to successfully transition control of the income producing assets, i.e. “the family business” or businesses that comprise the Family Wealth from one generation to the next in order to create a dynasty that is capable of surviving a century or longer.
Proper entity structuring and jurisdictional considerations are a must, but also a proper mission to focus your efforts.
…………………………………..To your Increased Wealth,
May your Fortune be a Blessing.
Until next time, yours truly,
MAC
Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.
– Napleon Hill
Tips for New Investors
Education is the priority of experienced investors. Invest in yourself FIRST!
Learn from the experience of others that have tread that path before you. Attend different investor groups in your area, be it real estate, exchangers, stock market, land lording, or building a business.
It all requires education, but beware of those that would charge a hefty fee to “mentor” or “coach” you along the way.
“Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.”
– Jim Rohn
Will You Prevail After Your Passing?
Will the Heirs that you choose really be the ones to receive the assets that you direct?
How will you be sure when you can not function in a lead capacity? This is the advantage of a corporate Trustee over your Trust Assets. Setting up a Trust vehicle to hold and disperse estate assets before or after your passing can ensure that only those named Beneficiaries will receive the designated property. As you may know, through a will all known heirs will have a claim to the spoils of the estate after all debts are paid. Worse yet, if you die intestate, the Probate Court will decide who can be recognized as a per stirpes heir to be granted a cut of pie and if minor children are involved, who would be granted custody. As you can see, when sizable estates are involved, things can get very messy very quickly.
How to Build Wealth in the 21st Century
The Trustee of Your IRA Trust
…is directed by the owner of the Self Directed IRA(you) to execute the the Letter of Direction on your behalf according to the tax regulations covering allowable transactions and qualified persons or entities. Using this type of investing vehicle can maximize the flexibility and privacy that astute investors seek. Just to clarify, this qualified plan, the Individual Retirement Account (including Roth IRA) and the 401K, Roth 401K, and 403B Plans are regulated under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. You may have a pension scheme set up in another country which may allow similar personally controlled investment in the types of income producing vehicles that you may be familiar with. In other words your retirement plan could be “the Bank” for experienced entrepreneurs for higher yields than CD’s are paying now and extremely shorter time periods to build up your nest egg.