Many individuals have a significant amount of their overall liquid assets in their retirement accounts. In fact, in most cases, retirement accounts constitute the single largest liquid asset that a person or couple has. Accordingly, in the event of political turmoil, economic problems or fiscal instability (of governments or banks and brokers or both) having all of your retirement assets in one proverbial basket could be a costly mistake.  A lifetime of savings and investments could be wiped out, confiscated or devalued overnight.  Fortunately, moving retirement assets to a different jurisdiction protects them from exactly these kinds of scenarios.  Retirement assets held offshore are held in a different jurisdiction which protects them from domestic political and economic turmoil and instability.  Holding retirement assets in a different country or countries ensures that they remain safely in the client’s control, no matter what happens domestically.  

Moving your IRA or 401K (or both) offshore not only provides additional safety and security for the assets, but also opens up a world of investment possibilities.  Once retirement assets are moved offshore, they can be invested in literally anything.  Of course traditional investments such as US and international stocks, bonds, options, futures and currency (forex) are available.  But an offshore IRA and 401K can also invest in precious metals, international real estate, private businesses of any and all types (even fractional ownership of Panamanian mango co-operative farms!) and own vehicles including cars, boats and planes outright or in part. And, offshore retirement funds can be professionally managed by some of the top offshore investment management firms.  Moving an IRA or 401K offshore opens up investment options that are not only endless, but that are simply not possible with a regular IRA or 401K held at a traditional US broker. 

All types of IRA’s and 401K’s and 403B’s can be moved offshore.  Transferring retirement assets offshore is a simple and straightforward process which is covered in greater detail on the Move Your IRA Offshore page.   

Buying and Storing Precious Metals Offshore

Holding precious metals offshore provides double benefits: a hedge against inflation and fiat currency devaluation combined with offshore privacy. Because of these benefits, offshore financial centers are ideal locations for purchasing and storing precious metals.

There are numerous offshore financial institutions in locations such as Switzerland, The Cayman Islands and Panama that offer secure and insured offshore precious metals storage.  These institutions are known as offshore precious metals storage facilities, or more succinctly, “metals brokers”.  

Once an account has been established at an offshore precious metals facility, the account holder (that is you, the client) may then purchase the desired amounts and types of metals. The metals broker will purchase the metals on your behalf and store them securely in an insured vault. They will remain there, stored safely and insured until the client decides to sell them or transfer them elsewhere. At any time if the client decides to sell, the metals broker will sell the metals for currency (USD, GBP, CAD, EUR, CHF, etc.). The funds will then be held by the metals broker on the client's behalf and can be used to purchase other metals, or the funds can be wired to the client's bank account.  

For maximum privacy, the offshore account at the metals broker should be opened in the name of an offshore company. This ensures that the precious metals will be held in the name of a private offshore company, not the client's personal name. This creates additional privacy. For a more detailed explanation of how using an offshore company increases privacy, visit Offshore 101.