Both Wall Street and the mainstream media are continually criticizing offshore investing as being illegal or unethical. Nothing could be further from the truth! The following are good reasons for investing offshore:

Profits are higher offshore. Even though stocks in the U.S. have rallied for two years (after great losses for three years in a row), the U.S. market was outperformed by many other stock markets. A few of those markets more than doubled the S&P 500’s total return, and some even returned a lot more!

The diversification of currency pumps up returns. For the past few years, the dollar has turned into the doormat of international currencies. But, if you held onto the euro, you could have gained
nearly 40% over similar U.S. dollar holdings in the last five years. Going forward, it makes sense to diversify your currency holdings internationally.

You’ll be taking your wealth off the radar screen. It’s a well known fact that, nowadays, privacy is rapidly disappearing here in the U.S. However, if you take your money offshore, you can make it become nearly invisible to private investigators. If someone is sizing you up as a target for a lawsuit, which has been happening progressively in our overly touchy society, your assets won’t show up without someone doing some substantial investigating.

You would be able to make your wealth "judgment-proof". Recently a family run restaurant was able to turn a serious lawsuit into a mere nuisance, and they did this by incorporating offshore.

Investing offshore reduces the "terror risk". In the aftermath of the September 11 bombings, U.S. financial markets were closed for four days. During that time, people were locked out of buying or selling any of their U.S. stocks, bonds or mutual funds. Any future terror attacks could shutter the U.S. financial system for days or weeks.

Under these circumstances, the question isn’t whether you should invest offshore, the question is can you afford not to?

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