As I explained to the entire group assembled in Cancún last week for our Live and Invest in Mexico Conference, the most valuable convenience you can hope for when purchasing a home abroad is the ability to load up the car and drive to it. And this is one of Mexico’s biggest advantages. During the meetings […]
In 1995, I made my first real estate investment, a three-flat building in Chicago. I was able to make the purchase with US$5,000. Two-and-a-half years later, in early 1998, I sold the building for a leveraged return of 1,800%. I hadn’t planned to sell at that time. My first wife and I were divorcing, and […]
What’s Your Property Investing Strategy? Here’s Mine… When I first started out investing in real estate overseas, my personal investment process was less refined than it is today. Twenty years ago when I got started at this, I would scout a new location to see what opportunities were available, and, because I could almost always [...]
Lief Simon’s Offshore Wealth Summit in Panama City this week is built around a series of workshops addressing the key concepts to do with “going offshore.” For each of these workshops, Lief has convened a panel of experts so as to provide, for each discussion, depth, breadth, and diversity of perspective and experience. One of […]
The U.S. dollar continues at highs against currencies around the world, including the British pound and the euro. Pundits are predicting more of the same. I’ve read and heard talking head after talking head calling for an ever-stronger Greenback. It reminds me of a few years ago, when those who try to crystal-ball this stuff […]
Leverage is the Holy Grail for just-getting-started real estate investors in the United States. A mega-industry has developed around no-money-down gurus and their systems. I bought the program of one of the best known of these guys, Carlton Sheets, more than 20 years ago when I was getting started at this myself. Indeed, I followed […]
So You're Thinking About Going Offshore? Going offshore has in recent years become a more mainstream idea. If you had asked people about going offshore as recently as the 90s they might have thought you to be a criminal, drug lord, or tax dodger. These days the offshore world is far from a foreign idea. It has become [...]
What You Need To Know About Asset Protection Today It is important to know what international asset protection is and what it is not. A properly constructed asset protection plan places a portion of your net worth behind multiple barriers…the more barriers, the greater the protection. It allows you to level the litigation playing field and [...]
It’s been two years since I first recommended what was at the time an innovative new agricultural investment opportunity in Panama—specifically, a mango plantation. The project was launched in February 2014. After a couple of months of preparation on the ground with the help of topography maps and drones, the developers began clearing the land. […]
I don’t try to predict currency exchange rates. I pay attention to them in property markets where I’m active or interested in investing, but I don’t attempt to time property purchases to them except in extraordinary circumstances. Timing a currency investment is different than trying to time a real estate investment according to currency fluctuations. […]
Offshore Living Letter is a publication of Live and Invest Overseas. Our goal is to provide timely, actionable information on all things offshore, including: how to go offshore, diversifying your portfolio, wealth creation, protecting your assets, and much more.