Assets abroad
Spreading your investments and attaining assets abroad is of great importance, because it protects you against most calamities – and, more prominent and thus more dangerous: governments and taxes.
Avoid having (a lot of) assets in a country where you are a resident or citizen, because this once again opens you up to the risk of having them seized and or taxed.
Having assets abroad is a crucial part of internationalizing your lifestyle, and anyone who wants to plant flags should consider this.
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A pretty simple way of getting started with internationalizing your investments and attaining assets abroad is to simply invest in foreign stock markets and global ETFs/index funds, as this allows you to tap into the market of other nations.
An example of this would be Vanguard FTSE All World ETF.
But do keep in mind the manner of how you invest in these foreign markets, because doing it through a broker in your own country is not the best way to get the most out of this Flag. Local brokers are better.
Buying real estate is another great option, especially in nations such as Vietnam, Uruguay, the Philippines, Colombia, Georgia, Indonesia, and so on, because the returns there are often double that of what you can get in the West.
In addition, it’s much cheaper to invest there, and the real estate prices go up every year because the economies are booming.
Investing in real estate also helps with attaining your Residence Flag in some cases.
You can also purchase physical precious gems, gold, silver and platinum, and store them wherever you want (but again, ideally not in a Western nation or somewhere you have to pay taxes).
And let’s not forget cryptocurrency, which is a truly international asset and something you can carry around with you wherever you go, access whenever and wherever you want.
Crypto is usually completely off the grid, so you won’t have to pay taxes on it (in most cases, although in several EU countries they are now implementing rules which force brokers to report your crypto investments to your government).
Where to put your assets abroad?
Ideally, you would put your assets and investments in countries without a capital gains tax, such as:
- Bahrain
- Belize
- Cayman Islands
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Malaysia
For real estate there are other options, and if you invest in this without intending to sell, but rather to rent out, you should pay more attention to taxes on rental income, yearly yield, the ability to actually own real estate, and whether the law favors land lords or tenants.
I’ve done quite a lot of research into this topic for another project of mine (Becoming Financially Independent), and based on these factors, here are some of the best countries in the world to invest in real estate:
- Georgia
- Kazakhstan
- Uruguay
- Croatia
- Mongolia
- Vietnam
- Philippines
- Colombia
- Indonesia
Keep in mind that this is purely based on real estate investments, nothing else.
However, as you might notice if you’ve read my previous posts about flagging (Residence, Banking, Location Independent Income), countries such as Uruguay, Vietnam and the Philippines make an appearance there as well, making them suited for multiple flags – giving you plenty of choices.
I’d advise against putting many flags in the same country, for reasons discussed in the article about Five Flags.
Assets abroad: in summation
Attaining assets abroad is a crucial part of your international lifestyle.
This will provide you with more safety and freedom.
No single government or entity will be able to control all your assets, so even if one country starts to heavily tax you, or restrict your access to, or income from, any asset, you will still have your other assets abroad.
Great options are investing in foreign stock markets (either through ETFs, index funds or individual stocks), bonds, real estate and precious metals.
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