Swiss Banking- Worth Another Look?

[Onebornfree commentary: some 10 years ago I wrote a special report on Swiss banks, the importance of bank liquidity, how to calculate a Swiss bank's liquidity , etc etc. I suspect I need to up date it and put it out there as an e-book at some point in time.  More recently, here I have written/reviewed the hugely overblown U.B.S. affair briefly touched on in this article as well. So reprinted below for your reading pleasure is another interesting take on those much maligned Swiss Banks, which I'm happy to say are still in very good working order, as the author ,Peter McFarlane, attempts to show . The report below is from Mr Mcfarlane's free emailed newsletter, "The Q Wealth Report" which you can sign up for by clicking on the link.  His article points out some of the dangers U.S. citizens will face in trying to open a Swiss Bank account, but my own take is that for many it may well be quite easy to get around those legal requirements with a little forethought, planning, and an ability to read between the lines of the various laws {This is what I do :-) } The article also mentions information on how to set up a Swiss Bank account for as little as $5000. I have no experience with using Mr McFarlane's Swiss Bank contacts, so you are on your own there, if interested. Regards, onebornfree]  Q-Wealth Report- Swiss Banking- Worth Another Look?: Last week I visited our contacts in Switzerland again. The Alpine nation is a country that hasn't had much good said about it recently, at least not in the world of international financial services. Nonetheless, contrarian as ever, we at Q Wealth still believe Switzerland has a lot to offer the international investor. Old style numbered Swiss bank accounts, with obligatory cloak and dagger secrecy, are definitely out. (At least in Switzerland. Not everywhere. But that's another story.) But Switzerland still has a lot to offer. The level of sophistication of its financial services, in my view, surpasses every other banking centre – yes, I believe Switzerland is a much better place for private wealth management than competitors like London, Singapore or Luxembourg. That in itself is good reason to do business in Switzerland. The Swiss themselves have been forced by circumstances to tone down their marketing effort and maintain a low profile. As I've said before, the scandal involving the supposed release of names of account holders at UBS is more hype than anything. It was a publicity victory for the US Treasury Department. Today, I am convinced that almost no undeclared American accounts remain in the Swiss banks, and all FATCA is doing is making it nigh-on impossible for legitimate American citizens to do their banking in peace. Since we last wrote about our main recommended Geneva banking connection, more nationalities have unfortunately been 'blackballed' by the bank's compliance department. US citizens and residents have been a no-go area for this bank for a while (but US citizens can still manage their money in Switzerland – see below). Now, banking services are no longer available to residents of Canada, UK, Germany and Japan. Citizens of those countries who are resident elsewhere are still fine – for the moment. A lot of Q Wealth readers from those countries who opened accounts last year have been grandfathered in – but new accounts from those countries are no longer being accepted. To remind you, we are talking about a small, Geneva based private bank, that offers everything you would expect in terms of highly personalized service, without the crazy minimum balances demanded elsewhere. If you specify you are a Q Wealth reader, and you qualify based on your citizenship and residence, you can open an account with as little as $5,000. All accounts at this bank are multi-currency by default. Numbered accounts are available for a nominal extra fee, as are safety deposit boxes, and a free anonymous cash card is offered on all new accounts, as is free internet banking. Online trading is also available. The best thing is that accounts can still be opened by mail, so there is no obligation to visit the bank in person if you don't want to. Paperwork on simple personal accounts is relatively simple. Paid-up Q Wealth members who would like a referral to this bank, at no charge, are welcome to contactinfo@qwealthreport.com What about the next level up? We do still have a few Swiss banking connections who will open accounts for US citizens, and British, German and Canadian residents. Of course, everything must be above board and you must be willing to prove that you are declaring your offshore holdings. And the process is not exactly simple. Nonetheless this represents an excellent opportunity to diversify out of the euro, the dollar and the pound sterling – all of which we believe are ultimately doomed -  and to get a foothold in the offshore banking world before you find yourself locked out altogether. Again, contact the Q Wealth office for initial referrals, although in this case you will probably need to act through my consulting firm, or one like it that has good connections with private banks, to get things done. Of course, you may not want to be in fiat money at all any more – and Switzerland is still the world centre of the trade in gold and silver bullion. Physical precious metals are another option where a Swiss connection can be helpful. We are also able to refer members, again at no extra fee, in the right direction. The point of this brief article, I guess, is to remind you that despite all the attacks, Switzerland is still a great flag for managing part or all of your international asset protection and diversification strategy. And to remind you that paid-up Q Wealth members are entitled to free informal advice and referrals to our rolodex of relevant experts at any time. Frederick and Aubrey in our Member Services Department are at your service. This is just another good reason to sign up for the full membership level at just $87 per year. DISCLAIMER: Financial Safety Services is NOT an investment advisory service. Financial Safety Services is an educational service that teaches the interested individual non-original [i.e. invented by others far more intelligent than myself], time-tested safe methods/principles that might be successfully used by the individual for relatively low risk speculations in various financial markets. ACCURACY OF INFORMATION : Financial Safety Services MAKES NO CLAIMS AS TO THE ACCURACY OF ANY INFORMATION EITHER GIVEN AT THIS BLOG SITE, OR IN PERSON TO PAYING CLIENTS. All information given/sold, must be understood to have been acted on AT THE INDIVIDUALS OWN RISK . ******************************************************************** More About Financial Safety Services [Free phone consultations via "Skype". To set a time/date email: onebornfreeatyahoodotcom ] Financial Safety Services is a private , mostly off-line, international, person to person consulting service that attempts to show its real-time [i.e. non-internet derived] clients how to speculate safely with money that they can afford to lose. Money that the client cannot afford to lose should never be risked in these speculations For more than 20 years, nearly all of Financial Safety Services clients to date have been found via direct [i.e off-line, in-person] referral from previously satisfied clients only. No attempts are made to procure clientele via the selling of the sporadic, deliberately incomplete online information posted at this site. All valuable information is sold to clients, via e-mail, or preferably in person, on a "need to know" customized basis, depending on their specific speculative wants/needs. Therefor any/all posts at this site are for the reference and possible benefit of pre-existing , real-world, paying clients only as part of my services [and to perhaps help emphasize a particular point I make to them in private], and never for the benefit of the general reading public and casual internet reader at large. Internet posts arer not made on a regular schedule in order to build an on-line audience; only when I feel that so doing is beneficial to my actual existing clientele. I have no interest in gaining clients first hand from any posts made either here or elsewhere [if it happens, it happens!] - as i previously stated, to date [20 years+], nearly all of my previous clients have come to me via direct, in-person referral from other satisfied clients- that is, [1]an existing client personally recommends my services to a close friend, [2] the friend contacts me, [3]we discuss their wants/needs, [4] I make a decision as to whether or not I can really help them, [5] We come to a financial agreement- or not :-) . None- Client Questions? Should a casual reader/none client have a serious question about an assertion I make on this site, they must write to me at: onebornfreeatyahoodotcom and I will do my best to answer their question. Their first question will usually be answered for free. After that, fees may apply. Current Client Questions. All existing, paying client questions are of course, answered for free [usually via private e-mail]- it is part of the service! onebornfreeatyahoodotcom

So How Much Did You Lose on The Facebook I.P.O.?

Well, if you'd followed my advice, it would not really matter how much you lost, because that money would have been money that you had already decided you could genuinely afford to lose should things not have gone your way.

My first rule of speculation is: only speculate with money that you can afford to lose should you be lucky enough to be in such a fortunate position financially. [ Of course, there are other important considerations, such as reward/risk ratio, stop-loss points etc. etc. all covered in my own report provisionally titled: "The Happy Speculator- How To Have Fun and Make Money While Speculating in Financial Markets".]

Money you cannot afford to lose must be always be kept separately from speculative "play" money, and invested in a neutral, non predictive long term savings plan that gives similar results to the one I personally recommend .

Below is one story about a fund manager investor who made money by shorting the Facebook I.P.O. , plus three  related USA Today Facebook I.P.O. stories

I am almost tempted to bet that  the fund manager profiled did not confine his speculation to money that his fund could not afford to lose, especially seeing as how he was in fact using other peoples money, which of course, psychologically in the future sets him up to think he really knows what's going on and would be able to repeat his good fortune elsewhere[again probably using money his fund cannot afford to lose] , and his funds clients risk getting "taken to the cleaners" as they say.

As a professional he must have had some sort of risk aversion strategy in place, although there is no telling at this time what it was or just how effective it would have been in real life if the IPO had dramatically increased in value.

 Regardless, he got lucky, so for right now he's probably achieved almost god-like status in the eyes of his funds clients. And so it goes :-)  Regards, onebornfree.

USA Today: Bartiromo: Fund manager bet against Facebook and won

A month later, fallout from Facebook IPO persists

Angry investors seek money from Facebook lawsuits

Should I sell my Facebook shares?

DISCLAIMER:

Financial Safety Services is NOT an investment advisory service. Financial Safety Services is an educational service that teaches the interested individual non-original [i.e. invented by others far more intelligent than myself], time-tested safe methods/principles that might be successfully used by the individual for relatively low risk speculations in various financial markets.

ACCURACY OF INFORMATION : Financial Safety Services MAKES NO CLAIMS AS TO THE ACCURACY OF ANY INFORMATION EITHER GIVEN AT THIS BLOG SITE, OR IN PERSON TO PAYING CLIENTS. All information given/sold, must be understood to have been acted on AT THE INDIVIDUALS OWN RISK .

********************************************************************

More About Financial Safety Services

[Free phone consultations via "Skype". To set a time/date email: onebornfreeatyahoodotcom ]

Financial Safety Services is a private , mostly off-line, international, person to person consulting service that attempts to show its real-time [i.e. non-internet derived] clients how to speculate safely with money that they can afford to lose. Money that the client cannot afford to lose should never be risked in these speculations

For more than 20 years, nearly all of Financial Safety Services clients to date have been found via direct [i.e off-line, in-person] referral from previously satisfied clients only.

No attempts are made to procure clientele via the selling of the sporadic, deliberately incomplete online information posted at this site. All valuable information is sold to clients, via e-mail, or preferably in person, on a "need to know" customized basis, depending on their specific speculative wants/needs.

Therefor any/all posts at this site are for the reference and possible benefit of pre-existing , real-world, paying clients only as part of my services [and to perhaps help emphasize a particular point I make to them in private], and never for the benefit of the general reading public and casual internet reader at large.

Internet posts arer not made on a regular schedule in order to build an on-line audience; only when I feel that so doing is beneficial to my actual existing clientele.

I have no interest in gaining clients first hand from any posts made either here or elsewhere [if it happens, it happens!] - as i previously stated, to date [20 years+], nearly all of my previous clients have come to me via direct, in-person referral from other satisfied clients- that is, [1]an existing client personally recommends my services to a close friend, [2] the friend contacts me, [3]we discuss their wants/needs, [4] I make a decision as to whether or not I can really help them, [5] We come to a financial agreement- or not :-) .

None- Client Questions?

Should a casual reader/none client have a serious question about an assertion I make on this site, they must write to me at: onebornfreeatyahoodotcom and I will do my best to answer their question. Their first question will usually be answered for free. After that, fees may apply.

Current Client Questions.

All existing, paying client questions are of course, answered for free [usually via private e-mail]- it is part of the service!

onebornfreeatyahoodotcom