Offshore investing: spreading risk helps sleep

The world’s economies still dance to different tunes and have different boom and bust cycles that tend to offset each other, even though the differences are getting smaller. As a result, international stocks can provide diversification for a portfolio heavy in U.S. stocks.

Between June 1997 and October 1998, for example, Japan’s Nikkei index lost almost 40%, but European markets did well due to continental economic union. U.S.-style corporate restructurings also began to pay off. One region’s success balanced the other’s failure to get its financial house in order.

There has been less divergence between regions more recently. Even so, we suggest the prudent investor cannot afford to ignore overseas markets. They now represent some 44% of world market capitalization, up from 25% about 30 years ago. International stocks can provide solid diversification for a portfolio heavily invested in U.S. equities.

Exchange rates add an extra flavor to foreign investments. Fluctuations can add to or detract from profits or losses. Institutional investors and others pay significant attention to this factor. When the U.S. dollar was appreciating against the Japanese yen, billions of dollars flowed out of that country and into U.S. stocks and bonds, worsening the economic crisis in Japan. That money started to flow back out when the currency valuation began to reverse. Americans saw their investments in Japan appreciate then, even when the stocks remained in neutral.

Funds that invest overseas fall into four basic categories: world, international, emerging market and country specific. Diversification is the key to containing risk. And, yes, a good fund manager helps, too. Research is scarce and foreign companies, other than some in Canada, are difficult for individual investors to track on their own.

World funds are the most diverse of the four categories. They are, as the name suggests, able to invest anywhere in the world, including the U.S. As a result, they don’t offer as much diversification as a good international fund. Some have 60% or more of their holdings in the U.S.

World funds tend to be the safest foreign stock investments, but only because they typically lean on better-known U.S. stocks. Just examine the portfolio carefully to make sure they don’t mimic your U.S. holdings. Funds invested in small- to medium-sized companies are unlikely to duplicate the foreign investment component of domestic funds.

Foreign funds, on the other hand, invest mostly outside the U.S. Whether they are relatively safe or risky depends on the countries in which they invest.

Advice: choose a fund with the best balance between countries and regions, or be very sure the manager has a good record of moving in and out of regions profitably.

Country-specific funds invest in a single country or region. This type of concentration makes them particularly volatile – especially those that invest in emerging markets. If you pick the right country at the right time, the returns can be substantial. Get it wrong and look for your head to be handed to you on a plate. These funds are for the most sophisticate investors only.

Emerging-markets funds are the most volatile, invested as they are in undeveloped regions subject to political upheaval, currency risk and corruption. These economies, such as Argentina’s in 2002, can collapse; governments can fall or be overthrown. On the other hand, these regions have enormous growth potential. Adding a small sprinkling of emerging markets exposure to your portfolio could serve to lessen downturns in U.S. markets – but they are for long-term investors only, those who can wait for fallen markets to recover.

As always, of course, the biggest risks carry the greatest potential for outstanding rewards; you simply require nerves of steel. The best course is to diversify well and sleep soundly at night.

About The Author Written & published by Murray Priestley, Managing Partner of Portofino Asset Management, private investment managers and publishers of the Portofino Report. http://www.portofinoasset.com/.

Introduction To Forex Trading

 by: Marquez Comelab

There are many markets: markets for stocks, futures, options and currencies. These are probably the most accessible markets for everyday traders like you and I. People easily understand the basics of trading shares, so I will occasionally use examples from that market.

I began trading shares first and then I moved on to trading currencies; therefore, most of the examples I will be using in this book are derived from trading currencies.

If you do not know a lot about currency trading, allow me to introduce it to you. It is what I trade and I believe that it is one of the best markets to trade because of its efficiency. The transaction costs to execute a trade are minimal and most brokers provide you with the tools and data you need to make your trading decisions, they usually provide them for free. The market is open 24 hours a day which allows you to design your trading hours around your daily commitments. It is very volatile, which is great for those people who are looking for day-trading opportunities.

The foreign exchange market is the market in which currencies are bought and sold against one another. People may loosely refer to this market under different labels, including foreign exchange market, forex market, fx market or the currency market.

The foreign exchange market is the largest market in the world, with daily trading volumes in excess of $1.5 trillion US dollars. All transactions involving international trade and investment must go through this market because these transactions involve the exchange of currencies.

It is the most perfect market that exists because it has a large number of buyers and sellers all selling the same products. There is a free flow of information and there are little barriers to participate.

The currency exchange market is an over-the-counter (OTC) market which means that there is not one specific location where buyers and sellers can actually meet to exchange currencies. Instead, transactions are conducted by phone, fax, e-mail or through the websites of brokers who specialize in currency trading.

The major dealing centres at the time of writing are: London , with about 30% of the market, New York , with 20%, Tokyo , with 12%, Zurich , Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Singapore , with about 7% each, followed by Paris and Sydney with 3% each. Because of the fact that these centres are all over the world, foreign exchange traders can execute transactions 24 hours a day. The market only closes on the weekends.

THE MAIN ‘PLAYERS' IN THE FOREX MARKET

The five broad categories of participants are: consumers, businesses, investors, speculators, commercial banks, investment banks and central banks.

Consumers, including visitors of countries, tourists and immigrants, do need to exchange currencies when they travel so that they can buy local goods and services. These participants do not have the power to set prices. They just buy and sell according to the prevailing exchange rate. They make up a significant proportion of the volume being traded in the market.

Businesses that import and export goods and services need to exchange currencies to receive or make payments for goods they may have bought or services they may have rendered.

Investors and speculators require currencies to buy and sell investment instruments such as shares, bonds, bank deposits or real estate.

Large commercial and investment banks are the ‘price makers'. They are the ones who buy and sell currencies at the bid-and-offer exchange rates that they declare through their foreign exchange dealers.

Commercial banks deal with customers on one hand, and with the Interbank or other banks, on the other hand. They profit by utilizing the bid-and-offer spread. The bid price is the exchange rate that the buyer is willing to buy and the offer price is the exchange rate at which the seller is willing to sell. The difference is called the bid-offer spread. They also make profits from speculating about whether the exchange rate will rise or fall.

Central banks participate in the foreign exchange market in their effective duty as banks for their particular government. They trade currencies not for the intention of making profits but rather to facilitate government monetary policies and to help smoothen out the fluctuation of the value of their economy's currency.

For a huge collection of free articles and information on how to make a living trading Forex, click here:

Forex Trader Tips

Marquez Comelab is a private forex trader. He is the author of the book: The Part-Time Currency Trader – A Trading Guide For Working Men And Women. The book outlines the process of how you can develop your own trading methodology that suits your psychology and financial circumstance to buy and sell currencies in the forex market, while minimizing your risks. See: http://www.marquezcomelab.com.

 

Getting An Offshore Bank Account Via The Internet

 by: T. O' Donnell

There is no need to use the many middleman websites you will find via a search engine. In fact, most of these are *bogus*, even the slick-looking ones. More and more banks are offering offshore internet bank accounts direct. Just get a list of banks in the country you're interested in, and go to their web sites.

See the Google Open Directory here:

http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Financial_Services/Banking_Services/Banks_and_Institutions/

and here:

http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Financial_Services/Banking_Services/Banks_and_Institutions/Regional/

and the list at EscapeArtist.Com http://www.escapeartist.com/offshore3/banks.htm.

Opening an offshore bank account is like opening one in your high street; meet their criteria, and you're in. The only difference is you're not there in person.

The first thing is to find out whether they will accept citizens or residents of your country. For example, Swiss banks tend not to want US customers; they don't want the hassle from the IRS.

You will need to prove your identity, and the legal existence of your company, if you wish to open an account for it.

If applying by mail, DO NOT PART WITH ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. Get copies notarised by a notary public. Originals can be used for fraud or identity theft. Or they can get lost.

A Notary Public is a public officer commissioned by the State to perform notarial acts. A Notary is an impartial witness. The notary is empowered to issue an apostille.

Apostille - Is a method of certifying a document for use in another country pursuant to the 1961 Hague Convention. With this certification by apostille, a document is entitled to recognition in the country of intended use, and no certification or legalization by the embassy or consulate of the foreign country where the document is to be used is required.

In practice this means you provide evidence to this man that you are who you say you are, and/or that your company is what you say it is, and take an oath on the Bible. Oh yes, that's right, it's not a joke.

Due diligence: Banks need to show they have checked who their customers are, and how they came by their money.

Passport - If you apply by post a notarised copy is needed;

Proof of your economic background - documents showing how you earn your money (work contract, bank statement, tax return, company documents);

Proof of the origin of your deposits - documents showing how you earned your deposits. For example if you sell a house, proof of the sale, a copy of the estate agent's listing, etc.;

Information about yourself and your deposits - Name, date of birth, address, etc., as well as how much you plan to deposit on the account and what you plan to do with the money once it is in the account.

If opening a company account, you send an apostilled copy of the certificate of incorporation to the bank providing your account, along with evidence of your identity, an application form, and any other documents they ask for.

If you want to get an offshore bank account, *consider visiting the bank in person*. If you can, travel to the country in question, and open a bank account there. You probably live near one tax haven at least. This especially applies if you are planning to deposit large sums; find out who you're dealing with!

NOTES:

1. Don't pay a middleman to open a bank account for you. See above.

2. Do not use services which offer bank accounts in Eastern European countries.

You are likely to be cheated, possibly by the bank itself. Avoid Latvia!

3. Do not give anyone Power Of Attorney.

You can kiss your money goodbye. You may have legitimate reasons for not wishing to broadcast what you're doing. The problem is: *How can you obscure that you are the owner of the company, or bank account, without losing control of it?*

Don't get too clever, or too greedy.

4. Avoid web sites where:

The business address is a P.O. Box, or a 'Suite';

The site is on a free web host;

The site is badly translated into English;

You have the sense you are dealing with Africans or Eastern Europeans;

The site has not been updated recently e.g. the Copyright reads 2001;

They've only been running for a few years;

They offer a range of dubious products - second passports, citizenships, anonymous debit cards;

You cannot pay via credit card - it's much harder to get refunds on banker's drafts, Western Union and e-Gold etc;

They require you sign a confidentiality agreement, or you have the sense you are entering quasi-legal or illegal territory.

Bogus offshore banking sites can threaten to report you to your tax authority if you question their methods. It's an old con trick; get the mark involved in something illegal, then he can't go to the authorities.

How do I know all this? Well, dear reader, let me take you back to 1997, when ecommerce was a new word. Merchant accounts were not easily available to individuals in the UK, especially if you wanted to sell intangibles. So I found a website that offered one, with a Latvian bank account, and a company registration in Panama to go with it. The latter was necessary to open the account, or so I was told. This 'package' was on a 'discount', and cost about $400+.

All worked well, until the bank went bust in 2001. One sorry fellow reported on Usenet that he'd lost $10,000. I lost the sum of $232 (business was diabolical!). I decided in 2002 to shut down the company, as it cost $500 a year in fees to maintain, I was skint, and I had no real use for it. To de-register it cost another $500. Which I paid. Only to find out later that that the middleman website hadn't de-registered it, and that the yearly fees to the Panamanian registrar had not been passed on either.

Result: No merchant account, and a company in bad standing. Total loss: About £2000 GBP.

That Latvian bank is open for business again, with no mention of their previous collapse on their website (well, you wouldn't, would you?).

The moral of this story? Offshore bank accounts and company formations are just like their onshore equivalents; there's no big mystery about them. If you want a company formation, contact a local man, who speaks English, in the country of registration. Then use another local man to check what the first one's done.

Open your bank account yourself.

One last thing: don't think that because your bank account and company are offshore you can do business in your home country, and/or with fellow residents, and avoid taxes there. You'll find plenty of websites that'll purport to help you, right up until the time you get a small brown envelope from your country's tax inspectors, inviting you in for a little chat.

About The Author T. O' Donnell (http://www.tigertom.net) is an ecommerce consultant and offshore banking adviser in London, UK.