You have to admit that there's something sexy about double and triple digit returns on your investments.

And it's exciting to be one of the limited few who can actually take advantage of those kinds of returns. Plus, investment diversification should be one of goals if you choose to go offshore. There's no point to holding only U.S. dollars when you can hold euro or British pounds.

Truthfully, for some of us, investment returns are what draw us offshore. Some of us aren't ready for offshore trusts or a second citizenship. Rather it's the opportunity to make money outside the U.S. markets and the falling U.S. dollar that is the number one goal.

A Universe of Investment Options

Here's a quick list of the investment options available offshore.

1. Offshore funds: These include mutual funds, hedge funds, managed futures, and investment trusts from all over the world. Offshore funds are much better than domestic funds. They offer a greater selection than domestic funds, a greater margin of safety, foreign currency diversification, greater financial privacy, and offer a hedge against any market disturbance in the United States. However, be warned: you should ONLY invest in these through your retirement plan, offshore annuity, or life insurance policy, for tax reasons.

2. Global stocks: Trading global stocks is also very easy from an offshore private bank. You can trade and invest in almost any security, anywhere in the world. Provided you don't trade every day or frequently, it's a great platform to maximize international opportunities in foreign currency-denominated equities. 

3. Global bonds: Bonds are an obligation or promissory note from the issuing company. This means that the company issuing the bond promises to pay the holder of the securities a fixed rate of interest until maturity, or the date when its obligation of paying you annual interest has expired. Countries worldwide issue bonds every day to raise borrowing needs to finance economic expansion plans.

4. Currencies: One of the key benefits to investing offshore is currency diversification. Rather than holding all of your investments in one currency, be it U.S. dollars, Canadian dollars, or euros, you have the option to mix up your currency holdings. If you choose wisely and invest at the right time, you can profit from currency appreciation on top of any increase the investment may have enjoyed. You can also invest in currencies through domestic multi-currency deposits with a bank account, Currency ETF's with a stock brokerage account, Currency Options with a stock brokerage or futures account, Currency Futures with a futures account or the Spot Forex with a spot forex account.

How to Jump Start Your Global Portfolio

Just like pursuing all other offshore goals, offshore investing takes some careful planning on your part.

Start by strategizing what kinds of investments you want to make offshore. Your specific offshore investment goals will have a huge impact on what steps you take to actually invest.

Remember, regardless of your personal investment goals, you must understand how these investments will be taxed by the IRS (or your home country) before buying anything. I suggest contacting a domestic attorney in your home country, who can help explain about your tax reporting requirements.

It's time to go out and grab those sexy double and triple digit investment returns!

In Wealth & Prosperity,
ERIKA NOLAN, Executive Director

P.S. Need some help choosing your offshore investments? We have several investment-trading services that can help you invest in currencies, global funds, commodities, currency ETFs, and more. For more information on any of our services, please visit http://www.sovereignsociety.com/sectradingserv.html .

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t's just hard to find distressed markets in the world right now. Nothing out there is especially cheap following a massive bull run last year. But the latest distress call comes from Hong Kong as we begin 2007.

Hong Kong REITs or real estate investment trusts, are struggling. Following a very successful offering of Link REIT in November 2005 (+32%), several others have either tanked or have been pulled from the market ahead of their IPO. REITs, of course, are now the hottest thing in investment circles, and not just on Wall Street. One of the best-performing segments of the global market since 2000, REITs have skyrocketed in the United States, Europe, Canada, and in Japan. But Hong Kong's REIT industry is consolidating because of the boom in new issues in nearby Shanghai.

China's stock markets are on a tear. I recommended a China index in August 2005, just ahead of the bottom to Sovereign Society members. That was good timing. For our members-only newsletter, The Sovereign Individual, we've scored a 90% profit in just 16 months. But the success of the Chinese market, including some of the largest IPOs in the world this year, is drawing speculative capital away from nearby Hong Kong. And here comes the good news...
One Hong Kong REIT, in particular, looks extremely compelling. This commercial REIT went public in 2006 and promises to pay an annual yield of 9.6%, based on last week's close. That's the sort of guarantee I like, especially in Asia. The REIT ranks as the only one I know of in Asia with a guaranteed fixed payment.

In the upcoming March issue of The Sovereign Individual, I'll tell you how to buy this distressed investment in one of the world's fastest-growing markets.

ERIC ROSEMAN, Investment Director

Austria, Switzerland, Panama and several other countries have some of the world's strongest bank secrecy laws. But the laws don't have any effect outside these countries' borders.
I was reminded of this a few days ago when I received an email message from a reader who wondered why I recommend never using a debit card in your own country that draws against a foreign bank account.

The problem arises because while the bank records from a country such as Austria may be confidential, the records from whatever domestic company clears the debit card transactions may not be. If there are a large enough number of domestic transactions to pave a trail back to "you," it's relatively easy to prove that you're the person connected to the card. And there goes your privacy!

In the U.S., the IRS has issued blanket "John Doe" subpoenas of hundreds of millions of debit card records from domestic clearing firms. Thousands of people have been audited and dozens have been sent to jail for tax evasion.

So if you value your financial privacy, minimize any transactions in your own country with your offshore bank.

MARK NESTMANN, Privacy Expert and President of The Nestmann Group www.nestmann.com