Welcome to Offshore Living Letter, Your #1 Resource for Offshore Diversification

Author: Lief Simon

29 Oct
CD Investment Options In Panama, Mongolia, And Colombia

CD Investment Options In Panama, Mongolia, And Colombia

CD Rates As High As 12% With U.S. and European banks offering interest rates on savings of less than 1% (meaning you're losing money after inflation), you're not alone if you're looking for alternative places to stash your cash. Where in the world can you get better rates than U.S. banks will pay you? It [...]
25 Oct
Reporting Requirements For Americans With Offshore Bank Accounts

Reporting Requirements For Americans With Offshore Bank Accounts

Non-U.S. Banks Are Beginning To Comply With FATCA Regulations We knew it was coming. Non-U.S. banks are beginning to comply with IRS regulations under FATCA. A friend wrote yesterday to say that her bank in Belize has sent her a letter explaining what they are doing to comply with the FATCA requirements and a waiver [...]
22 Oct
Tourist Scams Overseas

Tourist Scams Overseas

Gold Rings And Mustard Packs--Don't Let This Happen To You A colleague in Panama wrote to a bunch of friends last week alerting us to a scam currently being run in Panama City by a group of Colombians. A Colombian woman called her sister's apartment and asked to speak with the "child" of the house. [...]
18 Oct
Investor Residency In Colombia

Investor Residency In Colombia

I had the chance to return to Colombia last month for the Live and Invest Overseas conference in Medellin. After that visit and the opportunity to meet again with developer, investor, property, and banker contacts there, I’m happy to report that Colombia makes as much sense for investment today as it did when I first started looking […]

15 Oct
Challenges Of Building A Home Overseas

Challenges Of Building A Home Overseas

What's Wrong With This Picture? Last week, friend Paul Terhorst sent me a picture of a security chain lock on the door of the room in the hotel where he's staying in Laos. The thing was installed backwards, effectively making the lock useless. When I looked at the photo, I shook my head and thought [...]
11 Oct
Why You Need An Offshore Bank Account

Why You Need An Offshore Bank Account

The Easiest, Smartest First Step To Internationalizing Your Life Editor's Note: Lief is busy today co-hosting Live and Invest Overseas' Retire Overseas Conference taking place in San Antonio, Texas. He has suggested, therefore, that we rerun an Offshore Living Letter classique, the inaugural issue from January 2012. Lief will be back online Monday, in time for your next [...]
04 Oct
Moving Overseas With School-Aged Children

Moving Overseas With School-Aged Children

The Offshore Life With Kids Some folks' "going offshore" plan involves moving some cash to an offshore bank account. And that's great. At the other end of the spectrum is a fellow I met with today who up-ended his young family and moved to Panama well before retirement age. With two kids and a wife [...]
01 Oct
Banking Worldwide Is More Regulated All The Time

Banking Worldwide Is More Regulated All The Time

I met last week with a banker from a bank I’ve worked with for years. In conversation, I lamented the difficulties we would-be account-holders face these days when trying to deal with banks around the world, especially if the passports we hold are American. She responded to point out that it’s not only account-holders who […]

24 Sep
Property Taxes And HOA Fees: The Cost Of Holding Real Estate

The Cost Of Holding Real Estate: Property Taxes And HOA Fees

The Cost Of Holding Can Be More Important Than The Cost Of Buying I read recently about a home owner's association in Florida foreclosing on units because owners are delinquent with their HOA fees. The article focused on a couple of condo complexes where the monthly HOA fees had been increased to the point where [...]