At 1:40 AM -0400 10/7/96, Black Unicorn wrote:
Interesting that if the transition to crypto anarchy includes any phase of conflict between the state and the individual, failing to properly protect those assets may result in their seizure anyhow. If they are attachable now, as you seem to suggest, then they are attachable then.
I know that Mr. May has, in past, been a asset protection "naysayer," but this falls into a general, and disturbing, pattern.
Please call me "Tim," not the stuffy, formal, "Mr. May." It is not that I am a naysayer, it is that the proposals I have read about or seen discussed here have not been convincing to me, in my particular situation. I've even done some on-site research in the Bahamas and Monaco, and neither seemed a good solution. (And a friend of mine travelled to several other Caribbean islands, plus the Channel Islands, Guernsey, etc. He had several schemes he was working on, but the laws in some of his best prospects changed and his plans fell through.) My primary concern is *tax avoidance* (I emphasize "avoidance" over "evasion"), not the "judgement-proofing" or "insurance settlement-proofing" most of the published books emphasize. (This is where someone will say, "Ah, but that's because they're the _published_ books, the ones available to Joe Doe in Barnes and Noble. The _real_ stuff is contained in self-published books, the kind the media conglomerates won't touch. Send $295 for this informative pamphlet....") It turns out that I would save nothing in taxes by moving some of my liquid assets to some particular coral atoll. (Unless I lie on my 1040, which is always an option.) If Black Unicorn would do things differently with my money, fine. But I have seen nothing that is very convincing to me. And I've seen a lot of "creative" ideas that just don't fit my situation. The "perpetual tourist" notion, pushed by Duncan and others, doesn't fit my notion of living in one place. Nor do I want to bounce around Europe for years and years. (A great place to visit, but....) Nor am I much interested in protecting an asset as comparatively trivial as my vehicle by setting up a Nevada corporation which then leases me back the vehicle as part of my Amway distributorship, blah blah. Too much paperwork and "IRS alerts" for too little gain. And so on.
I'll wager, though I have no data to back it up, that most of the people in this forum who are uncertain about the safety of their assets don't bother to engage in the most basic of asset preservation tactics, namely: geographic diversification.
Surprising considering the perfectly legal options which would protect many of them.
Well, I get pretty tired of these vague claims that float out, with no particulars ever presented. (I know, I know, if I want particulars I should hire you...sorry, not in my plans.) (Not directed at Black Unicorn, but at others: Please, let's not start a thread about how stupid Tim is with his money, about how all true goldbugs know how to convert their assets into 17 Kruggerands which they they bury in the backyard, about how foolish Tim is to ignore all the helpful free advice from fabulously successful fellow list members who have figured out how to avoid taxes, protect assets, and live the carefree life of the Perpetual Tourist! If your plan works for you, that ought to be enough--yoiu don't have to sell me on it. And please, no more advice about selling short against the box.) --Tim May "The government announcement is disastrous," said Jim Bidzos,.."We warned IBM that the National Security Agency would try to twist their technology." [NYT, 1996-10-02] We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1,257,787-1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."