Portable Wealth?

[The Rabbi]

My wife works for a bankruptcy trustee and part of the job of that person is to look for assets of the debtor to sell and pay off creditors.  This got me thinking about ways to have portable wealth, wealth that can be moved anywhere with no way of tracing where it came from or who it belongs to.  Such wealth has been important in the past.  My father in law fled Hamburg in 1940 so this is a sensitive issue.  People fleeing a major catastrophe like Katrina likewise would find it important.
In the past the gov't issued "bearer bonds" and I owned one in 1979.  Now I read those are illegal since '82.  What other ways are there of hiding and transporting wealth?  The only thing I can come up with are gold coins.  Other ideas?

[Standing Wolf]

Diamonds.

[TarpleyG]

Yep, any precious metal or jewel will be untraceable for the most part and can always be used for bartering.

Greg

[roo_ster]

IDEAS
1. Gold
2. Money Orders (Post Office, etc)
3. Cashier's Checks (Major banks, etc)
4. Traveler's Checks (Amex, etc)
5. Cash
6. Digital Bearer Bonds+

Gems are iffy, as very few can verify colored gems & the diamond market is so controlled.  Jewelry is aso suspect, IMHO.

SECURING PORTABLE WEALTH
Here's a toughie.  If it is portable & you have it on you, you are one frisking by a gov't official away from losing it all*.  Gold would be easy to find, as would large amounts of cash.  Your only hope is secreting MO/CC/TC in a place where they would have ot pretty much destroy your clothing to find.

If I wanted to secure such portable wealth, I think I might be inclined to have just enough on hand to get me to where I would have a larger amount.  For example, if I lived in NOLA, I might keep most in a relative's safe deposit box in Chicago (or pay the relative to maintain the SDB in THEIR name).


FYI

Bearer Bonds
             - "Under the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of
                1982 (TEFRA), any interest payments made on *new* issues
                of domestic bearer bonds are not deductible as an
                ordinary and necessary business expense so none have been
                issued since then.  At the same time, the Feds
                administratively stopped issuing treasury securities in
                bearer form.  Old issues of government and corporate debt
                in bearer form still exist and will exist and trade for
                30 or more years after 1982.  Additionally, US residents
                can legally buy foreign bearer securities." [Duncan
                Frissell, 1994-08-10]



* Corruption & opportunity during a disaster, asset siezure for carrying more cash than a narc thnks you ought to carry, etc.




+ Digital Bearer Bonds
http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.13/13.11/WhatisCryptographyGoodFor/
http://www.philodox.com/
http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue2/markets/#dbb

Digital bearer certificates are another trust instrument which provides strong anonymity. Robert Hettinga has argued that digital bearer certificates may return the method of securities exchange to its relatively anonymous state when a bond could be transferred between parties [60]. Before 1970, bonds were anonymous bearer instruments. Every bond certificate had a number of detachable coupons which could be sent in to the issuer for redemption. This meant that the bond could be exchanged anonymously and out of sight of various government agencies such as the United States Internal Revenue Service [61]. However, after legislation requiring that such transactions be reported and a 1983 SEC ruling, many bond holders do not even receive a certificate. All payments and transactions are conducted (and reported) electronically. They are called book-entry bonds and are easily traceable.

Hettinga argued that the low cost and hierarchical structure of the communications networks on which trading services occurs makes it easy for government to regulate these securities. Regulation will be all but impossible with the even cheaper and distributed nature of Internet style communications:

"So, with a digital bearer bond, you would have in effect a bundle of digital certificates. One would be for the principal and would be good for the repayment of that principal on the date the bond was called or the redemption date, however the bond offering is written. The other certificates would represent coupons, one for each interest period for the life of the bond.

These digital certificates, in combination [with] increasingly geodesic networks enabled by exponentially falling microprocessor prices and strong cryptography, theoretically allow secure, point-to-point trading of any security of any amount with instantaneous clearing and cash settlement [62]."

[K Frame]

I'm surprised that no one has said drugs.

[The Rabbi]

I'm surprised that no one has said drugs.

Drugs are illegal, hard to sell, and dont keep well.
I dont like diamonds because the salability is an issue.

[K Frame]

Drugs are illegal, that is true, but they keep just fine if packaged properly, and there's a ready market for them, in some ways FAR more ready for some of these commodities.

Let's face it, though.

Hiding substantial assets from a bankruptcy proceeding is illegal, too.

[Justin]

Not as valuable or portable as gems or precious metals, but what about antiques and collectibles whose value is only recognizable to an enthusiast?

Think antique toys, furniture, and glassware.

Archeological relics?

What about The Franklin Mint Commemorative Star Trek plate set?

[K Frame]

Antiques and collectibles are generally far less portable than even drugs. Depending on the item, the often require special packaging and storage. You don't just toss an Etruscan urn or a Matisse painting in the back seat of your car and go.

Also, their value is much more arbitrary and subject to provenance, especially in the case of antiquities, archaelogical artifacts, and fine arts.

In order to recognize the most value out of such an object, it has to be either of extraordinary quality (a Matisse painting, for example), or it has to be a hot item in the current collector's market. For example, about 10 years ago Gustav Stickley (Mission style) furniture was HUGE. Good examples with solid provenance were bringing enormous prices. But no collecting fad lasts forever, and the over inflated market collapsed.

Another problem with these items is that they are far from untraceable and far from anonymous. Unless you get the items on the black market and sell them on the black market (shades of gray legality to EXCEPTIONALLY illegal), artwork and antiquities are generally very well tracked.

A formerly unknown Matisse, or even one that's been out of circulation for years, entering the market is going to generate HUGE scrutiny. Antiquities entering the market place more and more are generating lots of interest from the nations where they originated as they seek to reclaim parts of their cultural heritage that might have been removed illegally.

The final problem with these items is that they do have a relatively limited appeal. Serious collectors, the ones who are willing to invest a lot of money into their collections, often specialize to a very high degree. "No, I'm not interested in your $25,000 cast iron battle ship action bank because I only collect action banks with people and animals on them."

Then you also have the problem of reproductions and fakes. Unless you yourself are an expert (and sometimes even if you are an expert), you can get burned really badly on a high-ticket item that is actually worthless.

I collect a very specific kind of glassware called Eyewinker. It's a late 19th century pressed glass pattern and rare pieces can bring VERY high prices. You don't even want to know what I had to pay for the footed cake server or the oil lamp.

Unfortunately, it's now being reproduced (badly, I might add), but it's been giving collectors fits because so many people are either fraudulently or inadvertently trying to pass new material off as the real thing. This page at least states that it's reproduction, but then again, calls it a collectible (which is bullscheisen): http://pages.tias.com/11374/PictPage/1922237028.html

Unfortunately, as a result of all of the reproductions, the price on real Eyewinker has suffered. That doesn't mean, however, that I'm not willing to pay top dollar for the real thing. It just means that if I ever decided to liquidate my Eyewinker, I'd have a much harder time of it.

[Justin]

Yeah, Mike, but what about the Star Trek plates?  They're valuable collectibles, they said so right in the commercial!  Who can possibly resist such a finely crafted item?

[charby]

Only thing that comes to my mind that my more well off business owner friends keep is Cash in a bank safe deposit box. They make the money legally just keep it very liquid as cash in a box. Some have converted it to gold, but gold prices has been screwy lately.

Why not an offshore account or something like that?

Charby

[K Frame]

The idea is portable, untrackable, wealth, Charby.

Cash in a safety deposit box isn't 100% portable, but it's getting closer.

Hiding the existence of the box might be a bit problematic, but it can be done.

[...has left the building.]

How much wealth do you really want to carry around? A $10K strap of 100's is only .5" thick... You could easily carry 100K nearly anywhere.

[K Frame]

"but what about the Star Trek plates?"

Oi vey...

[280plus]

There's always Thomas Kincade Lithos. They're easily as valuable as those finely crafted Star Trek plates, ask any Kincade dealer.

Cash is King! Think, what are you trying to gain when you sell your valuables? CASH!! Why add all the hassle? Precious jewels are probably the most transportable but who's to say you'll get near what they're worth down the line?

[Vodka7]

Cash or cash subsitutes are the only way to go.

Diamonds and gold are a problem because, believe it or not, people will begin to ask questions on where an average Joe such as yourself procured large quantities of them.  The government will get involved.  The type of people who do not ask questions are A) hard to find, and B) will give you much, much less than these items are worth.  For metals, weight is also a serious concern.

If you expect to keep your wealth in things that you can sell later, assume you're going to immediately lose between 1/4th and 1/2 of their value, aside from any inherent depreciation in the item itself.  What you want are things you can use to buy other things.

Cash is best.  Second to cash would be Cashier's Checks drawn from major banks that aren't going anywhere, Traveler's Checks, and Money Orders.  Depending on the amount and the situation, expect for these to be thoroughly verified.  If you don't look right and aren't using them right, people will assume they are counterfeit.

Third is cash subsititutes--pre-paid credit cards bought with cash, and retail gift-cards bought with cash.  You can use these later for your own purposes or sell them for about 80% of their value.  They hold value better in the short term than things like, say, DVD players, but often come with an expiration date.

As for storage, a safety deposit box in a large metropolitan bank (at least an hour's drive from your home) is the way to go.  People often procure two safety deposit boxes--one in their name and one under an alias.  If you feel the heat when you're going to your real box (the one under an alias), go to the dummy one instead.

There are also a variety of banking solutions available to the online investor that are based in other countries.  Fees for these are outrageous, depositing your money is often a hassle, and retrieving it can be a gamble at best, and suicide at worst.  Reputation is more important than anything else, and difficult to discover.  Properly done, however, total anonymity is insured.

[mfree]

Portable, untrackable wealth.

Sounds like a skill. Do something that noone else can do and do it well. Do enough of those, and you'll be priceless. And very handy.

[Silver Bullet]

As for storage, a safety deposit box in a large metropolitan bank (at least an hour's drive from your home) is the way to go.  People often procure two safety deposit boxes--one in their name and one under an alias.  If you feel the heat when you're going to your real box (the one under an alias), go to the dummy one instead.

1. Why at least an hour away ?  Are you assuming that someone (maybe the gubmint) will try and confiscate your wealth, and will start looking at nearby banks first ?

2. Name and Alias boxes ?  Im a little undercaffeinated today, I guess.  Both boxes at the same bank ?  Both boxes containing cash ?

[K Frame]

An hour away in many areas of the country includes an ENORMOUS number of banks that anyone investigating you would have to check.

Here in the DC area a 60 mile circular radius (OK, at rush hour in some areas around here that would shrink to maybe 3 miles!) would include probably well over 2,000 financial institutions, storage facilities, etc.

[SalukiFan]

Hmm.  What about cigarettes?  They say it works in the joint...

[Silver Bullet]

An hour away in many areas of the country includes an ENORMOUS number of banks that anyone investigating you would have to check.

If it were my checking account, I had to present two or three kinds of ID to the bank before they would issue an account.  I would expect the government would be able to cross-check in some data base from my SSAN and locate it that way.  I take it thats not the case with a safe deposit box ?  Either way, I would think it would behoove one (behoove; does that mean cut off your foot ?)  to not use a bank where you have any other accounts, except maybe the Alias account.

[charby]

Okay since Mike Irwin likes to pick on everyone.. Cash buried in a plastic box someplace near by, make sure to sacrafice a cat at the time to protect your stash from would be looters.

Charby

[grampster]

Err, I'm a little late in this thread, but I actually have the total solution to portable wealth and it's legal and easy.  You can do it and I have.  I'll tell you how...

PM me for my PO box # and I'll tell you where you send the $100.00 for my book.
I'll throw in the CD for free.  Cash is OK, actually.  I warranty that I received it or your money back.

grampster

[El Tejon]

Rabbi, your wife works for a banruptcy trustee and you don't know about the rare book dodge, er, I mean option?

Rare books (overlooked by theives mostly) are very portable and valuable anywhere in the world.  This dodge, er, option was recommended to me by Professor Spak for Bar-Bri fame (he and Conviser taught at Chicago-Kent where I went).

Had a client a couple of years ago that owed his education to book dodge.  Grandfather had rare print of Chinese painting.  Rolled it up into cane and snuck into Hong Kong.  From HK made it to San Fransico.  Sold print in Chinatown and get set for life including endowing education trusts of his grandsons.

Bankruptcy Book Dodge:  Many states provide exemptions for "family Bible".  Take what money you have, buy rare Bible, declare bankruptcy, fly to Switzerland, sell Bible and buy Swiss temp citizenship, will not be hauled back for tax problems from the HC.  (Those that remember Marc Rich, this is what he did, until he bought his pardon from Clinton in '00).

[K Frame]

No need to sacrifice a cat, but burying a stash of ready cash isn't unheard of. Just use something good and waterproof, say PVC tubing with gasketed seals.