April 27, 2015
Cancun, Mexico
What an incredible experience. We just spent the last three days with 375 of the most interesting people I’ve ever met down here in Cancun.
Our Global Offshore and Investment Summit was absolutely jam-packed. And a ton of fun.
We were joined by brilliant financial luminaries like Dr. Marc Faber, Jim Rickards, Peter Schiff, and none other than Robert and Kim Kiyosaki.
The Kiyosakis have been huge mentors to me, and it was a real honor to stand with them on stage discussing the challenges and solutions in today’s world.
Our primary theme was how, with so much risk out there, people can build a credible plan B.
Remember—even in the best of times, and perhaps especially in the best of times, rational people have a plan B.
One of the major problems in human nature is our deeply flawed perception of risk. We find comfort in crowds, and even in the face of the most obvious data, we adopt a herd mentality.
Right now, most major governments are insolvent, central banks are borderline insolvent, pension funds are nearly insolvent.
Financial markets are in massive bubbles. Banking systems are highly illiquid and in some cases charging their customers negative interest rates.
And yet, people allow themselves to be convinced that everything is just fine. My neighbor’s not worried, why should I be?
It’s a sign of our times that it takes so much courage to acknowledge reality and recognize the need for having a plan B.
It need not be complicated.
We encouraged our attendees to look at multiple facets of their lives, and to have both offensive and defensive strategies.
The defensive strategies, and the plan B, ensure that you can safeguard everything you’ve worked for over your entire life.
Or even more, protect everything that you believe you’ll achieve in the future, making sure that it’s protected from desperate, bankrupt governments.
This can apply to your personal savings, your retirement account, and your investment portfolio, which probably has substantial exposure to stock market bubbles and bankrupt government bonds.
But there’s an offensive side as well.
Because the world isn’t coming to an end. Far from it. The world is changing.
And with that change comes great opportunity. The offensive strategies in your plan B position you for tremendous gain, precisely because the world is changing.
Remember, some of the wealthiest families in the world emerged from the Weimar Republic’s hyperinflation episode, simply because they saw the writing on the wall and took steps beforehand.
Other parts of a good plan B include tax and legal strategies.
I believe that we have a moral obligation to take every legal step within the tax code to reduce what we pay to politicians to prevent them from buying any more bombs or waging costly wars.
Not to mention, slashing your tax bill can prove to be an incredibly high return on investment.
Last, we encouraged people to look at their personal plan B.
This includes having residency overseas, a second passport, and increasing personal resilience.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone is worse off for having a personal source of organic food, for example.
Or obtaining a new passport based on your personal ancestry from a place like Ireland, Poland, etc.
These are all important elements of a solid plan B, ensuring that no matter what happens next, you’re going to prosper.
It’s a plan so strong, in fact, it might just become your Plan A.
