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#13 - Keep some money overseas How exactly is this possible? I am a german citizen and resident, and after hours of reaearch a few months ago i couldn’t find O

#13 - Keep some money overseas How exactly is this possible? I am a german citizen and resident, and after hours of reaearch a few months ago i couldn’t find ONE bank in the world I could open a bank account with. I always have to be at least a resident. Did anybody figure this out? My partner is from Canada and I would love to park some money there, but I couldn’t figure out a way to do so.

turk184 9y ago
Browne wrote this at at time when regular people holding international accounts was no big thing. Also, he was quite wealthy himself, so I'm not sure he had any idea what "regular people" could do or not do since most of those firms would laugh you out the door if you wanted to park $10K there. The powers that be don't want any of us to be financially stable. They want us powerless and broke, while they themselves enjoy all the benefits of international mobility and freedom from taxation and accountability. Same as it ever was.
pattle 9y ago
Why not store the money in Bitcoin instead? It's outside of government control and you should get a nice return on your investment.
- chillydawg 9y ago
  ...or it might go to 0? Bitcoin is many things, but it certainly is not a savings account.
  - pattle 9y ago
    True it could, but theoretically the price should always go up. Plus there's risk in anything. I'd have thought that placing money in a foreign country is also pretty risky if you're not a citizen
    - bboreham 9y ago
      No. No, no, no, no, no. The price you can sell an asset for is whatever someone is willing to pay, on that day. If sentiment turns and everyone is selling bitcoin, the price will most definitely not be going up.
    - dice 9y ago
      Dogecoin should also have theoretically been always going up. I seem to recall something about the moon...
- ihattendorf 9y ago
  Or lose it all, make sure to weigh the benefits and the risks.
- simplerufus 9y ago
  Yeah, interesting. So far I have plenty of crypto, but foremost as a high risk investment and not capital storage
  - loeg 9y ago
    Again, as TFA mentions, bitcoin is speculation, not investment. It has no inherent production of value, unlike stocks.
- itake 9y ago
  A benefit of using a foreign bank as opposed to bitcoin is if my home country's bank accounts get frozen for whatever reason, I will need money to keep myself from being homeless. Bitcoin isn't liquid enough for me to trust it for emergencies. If I needed to pay for a hotel or a plane ticket, the process of translating that to cash, then a pre-paid VISA card is way to complicated and probably expensive.
- cpursley 9y ago
  Downvote for "should"
- nrmitchi 9y ago
  See Rule #3: Recognize the difference between investing and speculating
beams_of_light 9y ago
This is one of the rules I don't believe to hold water, unless you're a multi-millionaire or better.
chillydawg 9y ago
If it's a reasonable amount of money, the Swiss will hold onto it for you. They'll even speak German down the phone to you!
nofilter 9y ago
Plenty of banks that don't need citizenship. I'm an Estonian, I live in Estonia, I work in Estonia, but my banking is done via N26 (German bank) and Monese (UK bank), both of which I opened within a day with simply proof of ID.
shoover 9y ago
Times were different when Browne was practicing and refining his system. His book Fail-safe Investing talks about using Swiss banks and holding gold there. My understanding is today the Swiss don't want to deal with the headaches that come with servicing customers from countries that demand so much reporting. One way is via the Perth Mint in Australia. They need a copy of your passport and take the money by wire to an American account, but as far as moving some money somewhere else you can do it.
- komali2 9y ago
  Eesh, aren't wire fees super high?
  - shoover 9y ago
    $10-20 at most banks. It’s no ACH but not bad if you’re doing it once a year for safety.
tome 9y ago
https://www.bullionvault.com/ https://www.bullionvault.com/ allows you to buy gold held in Switzerland, UK, USA, Canada and Singapore. I don't know what conditions they place on the residence location of their subscribers.
germanier 9y ago
Within the EU you should be able to open a bank account without large problems. Either they offer that already or you can request a basic account if you don't have an account yet in their country (which is not always great, it pays to shop around). Sometimes it takes a bit of work and pressure. I opened a Dutch account right from my smartphone within minutes. Other people I know are customers at an Irish bank (even though they officially state that you need Irish residence) because it enables them to use Apple Pay in Germany. Most Chinese banks will open an account even on an 24-hour transit stamp (it usually helps to speak some Mandarin). Hong Kong is another possibility and will probably get you better service. Same with Vietnam, Pakistan, and lot of others countries. Some US banks will open an account for non-residents as well.
rb808 9y ago
You're right with modern money laundering rules and tax info sharing its rare to be able to open bank accounts for non-residents. If you want to hold CAD you're probably best to get an investment account that will let you hold CAD. I know Interactive Brokers will do this, but maybe some local brokerage will too. Probably Swiss Banks will have accounts with a variety of currencies for German residents if you look there.

turk184 9y ago

Browne wrote this at at time when regular people holding international accounts was no big thing. Also, he was quite wealthy himself, so I'm not sure he had any idea what "regular people" could do or not do since most of those firms would laugh you out the door if you wanted to park $10K there. The powers that be don't want any of us to be financially stable. They want us powerless and broke, while they themselves enjoy all the benefits of international mobility and freedom from taxation and accountability. Same as it ever was.

pattle 9y ago

Why not store the money in Bitcoin instead? It's outside of government control and you should get a nice return on your investment.

chillydawg 9y ago
...or it might go to 0? Bitcoin is many things, but it certainly is not a savings account.
- pattle 9y ago
  True it could, but theoretically the price should always go up. Plus there's risk in anything. I'd have thought that placing money in a foreign country is also pretty risky if you're not a citizen
  - bboreham 9y ago
    No. No, no, no, no, no. The price you can sell an asset for is whatever someone is willing to pay, on that day. If sentiment turns and everyone is selling bitcoin, the price will most definitely not be going up.
  - dice 9y ago
    Dogecoin should also have theoretically been always going up. I seem to recall something about the moon...
ihattendorf 9y ago
Or lose it all, make sure to weigh the benefits and the risks.
simplerufus 9y ago
Yeah, interesting. So far I have plenty of crypto, but foremost as a high risk investment and not capital storage
- loeg 9y ago
  Again, as TFA mentions, bitcoin is speculation, not investment. It has no inherent production of value, unlike stocks.
itake 9y ago
A benefit of using a foreign bank as opposed to bitcoin is if my home country's bank accounts get frozen for whatever reason, I will need money to keep myself from being homeless. Bitcoin isn't liquid enough for me to trust it for emergencies. If I needed to pay for a hotel or a plane ticket, the process of translating that to cash, then a pre-paid VISA card is way to complicated and probably expensive.
cpursley 9y ago
Downvote for "should"
nrmitchi 9y ago
See Rule #3: Recognize the difference between investing and speculating

beams_of_light 9y ago

This is one of the rules I don't believe to hold water, unless you're a multi-millionaire or better.

chillydawg 9y ago

If it's a reasonable amount of money, the Swiss will hold onto it for you. They'll even speak German down the phone to you!

nofilter 9y ago

Plenty of banks that don't need citizenship. I'm an Estonian, I live in Estonia, I work in Estonia, but my banking is done via N26 (German bank) and Monese (UK bank), both of which I opened within a day with simply proof of ID.

shoover 9y ago

Times were different when Browne was practicing and refining his system. His book Fail-safe Investing talks about using Swiss banks and holding gold there. My understanding is today the Swiss don't want to deal with the headaches that come with servicing customers from countries that demand so much reporting. One way is via the Perth Mint in Australia. They need a copy of your passport and take the money by wire to an American account, but as far as moving some money somewhere else you can do it.

komali2 9y ago
Eesh, aren't wire fees super high?
- shoover 9y ago
  $10-20 at most banks. It’s no ACH but not bad if you’re doing it once a year for safety.

tome 9y ago

https://www.bullionvault.com/ https://www.bullionvault.com/ allows you to buy gold held in Switzerland, UK, USA, Canada and Singapore. I don't know what conditions they place on the residence location of their subscribers.

germanier 9y ago

Within the EU you should be able to open a bank account without large problems. Either they offer that already or you can request a basic account if you don't have an account yet in their country (which is not always great, it pays to shop around). Sometimes it takes a bit of work and pressure. I opened a Dutch account right from my smartphone within minutes. Other people I know are customers at an Irish bank (even though they officially state that you need Irish residence) because it enables them to use Apple Pay in Germany. Most Chinese banks will open an account even on an 24-hour transit stamp (it usually helps to speak some Mandarin). Hong Kong is another possibility and will probably get you better service. Same with Vietnam, Pakistan, and lot of others countries. Some US banks will open an account for non-residents as well.

rb808 9y ago

You're right with modern money laundering rules and tax info sharing its rare to be able to open bank accounts for non-residents. If you want to hold CAD you're probably best to get an investment account that will let you hold CAD. I know Interactive Brokers will do this, but maybe some local brokerage will too. Probably Swiss Banks will have accounts with a variety of currencies for German residents if you look there.