While in the United States last week for Thanksgiving, some of the dinner table conversation centered on expanding regulation in the United States. One specific conversation had to do with firing employees. As my sister-in-law, who runs a department at a big Baltimore hospital, put it: “Oh, you just can’t.”
Five Flags Geography I'm reviewing and clarifying my ideas related to the Five Flags theory of diversification in preparation for my opening remarks at this week's Offshore Summit in Panama City. If you're new to the idea, the "Five Flags" are to do with residency, citizenship, banking, assets, and business. Not everyone needs all five flags planted [...]
Fill In Presidential Election Winner’s Name Here By way of full disclosure, I wrote this essay last week, before the U.S. presidential election. I held on to it waiting to see which candidate's name to fill in to the opening paragraph... Obama has won. He'll be running the show in the United States for the [...]
CDs In Ecuador And Citizenship In Italy In response to Monday's e-letter on CD rates around the world, a couple of readers wrote in with questions...and one more reader e-mail from this week that I'd like to share, this one to do with citizenship through ancestry... "Lief, do you know anything about cooperativas in Ecuador? A [...]
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 [...]
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 […]
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 [...]
Pay For What You See "'Buy what you see,' you tell us all the time, Lief," wrote a reader recently. "Yet, at the same time, you promote pre-construction investments. How does that make any sense?" Perhaps I should adjust the mantra from "Buy what you see" to "Pay for what you see." Taken literally, Buy [...]
Low Debt, Low Inflation, And Continued Growth--This Is The Third World? In Monday's dispatch, I wrote about misguided misperceptions that persist related to life in Colombia. Most of the world continues to think this country is a no-go zone for safety reasons. Sure, wander off into the jungle regions near the border with Ecuador or Venezuela...or [...]
Buy Colombia Now I don't try to time currency fluctuations, but, last week, my banker in Colombia e-mailed to tell me the Colombian government announced they would purchase US$300 million over the next few weeks. She thought, therefore, it might be a good time to transfer some money down there if I need to. Indeed, [...]
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