I usually refrain from commenting on market conditions. There are two reasons for this.

First, I not really a financial markets guy. I get very bored with all those charts, waves, theories and so on. That’s probably one reason why I stand out from all the self-professed analysts out there on the net. On the rare occasions I do open my mouth about the markets, it’s because I have something serious to say.

My job is nuts and bolts offshore structuring. I’m talking, as regular readers of this blog are well aware, about offshore banking, offshore investing, offshore asset protection and hedging against currency collapses. I like active businesses. I do run a private offshore investment vehicle, but it doesn’t get involved in traditional financial markets – only in what might be termed ‘alternative investments.’

In other words, I prefer to invest my money in sound businesses that I can actually see and exercise some influence over. Businesses where I have the CEO’s personal cellphone number.  Since my modest little fund doesn’t handle multiple billions, I naturally invest in small businesses without stock market listings. I look for small, recession proof businesses in growth areas that will not be affected by short-term financial swings. This is only a hobby at the moment, but over the last few years it has turned into a very profitable one.

Second, I don’t believe the markets are free at all. And again, why complain about something I don’t have any control over? Much better to focus my limited time on something like writing or helping my clients protect their assets.

Sure I keep a little play money in my offshore brokerage account. And I surprise myself sometimes by how successful I am. Markets depend first on psychology, second on manipulations by governments and certain elite forces, and a distant third on actual fundamentals. Then, I remember that I subscribe to a few really good investment research newsletters that certainly make me money. (I’ve listed some of them before, but if anyone is specifically interested, let me know) But really I only put money in my brokerage account that I can afford to play with.

But if clients come to me seeking advice on financial markets, that is not my area. All I can do is refer them to one of my several trusted contacts in this area.

I must say, however, that last week  was abnormally glued to the screen. I always knew gold would go up, and I’m sure it will go a lot higher yet. But it certainly seems like Joe Bloggs on the street has decided gold is a good buy at the moment. The mainstream media hype, which is all that is backing the fiat currencies of the world, must be failing if even average investors are turning to gold. Heck, gold is now even sold in vending machines in Europe!

This week saw the news that French bank Societe Generale had released a report that Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the British Daily Telegraph dubbed the ‘Bear Case Report.’ This report advises the bank’s clients on how to prepare for the dollar tumbling much further, global equities crashing below March lows, property prices tumbling (remember that email I sent a week ago to QWR  members about the coming commercial real estate crash?) and oil falling below $50 per barrel.

The only solution seems to be for governments to inflate their way out of the problem. But, as was once famously said, inflation is like being pregnant – you can’t opt to be a little bit pregnant!

This was before the news that Dubai World asked for a 6 month break, admitting that they can’t keep up payments any more. Bearing in mind that failure to honour debt obligations is a crime punishable by prison in Dubai, it must have taken some courage, desperation or both for them to own up to that.

Then there was that weird ‘technical difficulty’ on the London Stock Market, which halted trading for a few hours. Now I’m not a conspiracy theorist at all, but that really had me suspecting something.

Oh, and just to take our minds off economic woes, swine flu is conveniently back on the agenda – with a huge jump in deaths in Europe this week. Which of course don’t have anything to do with the wintry weather.

The BBC reported that maybe eating garlic could prevent swine flu. The price of garlic has jumped 300% in China, so expect a global increase to filter through soon. Evil speculators are to blame of course. Maybe those same guys who read the SocGen report, that suggested investing in farm commodities?

Fortunatelyas I write this over the weekend I can see the funny side of things. When faced with apparent disasters, my rule of thumb is “will this matter in five years time?” And although I firmly believe things are going to get a lot worse before they get better, let’s put things in perspective. A private offshore banker from a small Swiss bank (one of the cantonal banks) told me the other day that her grandparents had lived through a real economic crisis – when they didn’t have any food to eat in Europe after the Second World War. For most people hit by the recession, the real net impact is that they will be buying cheaper Christmas presents this year.

Well I’ve rambled on a lot, but what can we learn from last week? I don’t think anything that happened that will be remembered in five weeks, never mind five years. If you want a hedge against inflation, buy gold. Do not buy paper or digital gold as it is most likely a scam. Buy real, physical, solid gold. Want to know how to buy physical gold offshore? Click here.

But if you are willing to be more aggressive, these turbulent times are generating so many new opportunities it’s just incredible. I am truly excited and optimistic about what is going on now making people think about pressing the reset button. If you are not happy with your life as it is, or simply your investment portfolio as it is, the message is loud and clear: you can do something about it! Start with The Q Wealth Report, and join us in Cancun in March for an intensive long weekend course on building offshore wealth!

Our focus here at Q Wealth is on protecting your personal and financial freedom, wealth and privacy. Naturally offshore asset protection is an important component of that. A balanced portfolio would include both offensive (or should I say proactive) and defensive strategies.

The key thing to realize is that it’s not enough just to make money. In the current environment, your dollar, pound or euro balance could be going up – but you are still losing money… due to the ongoing devaluation of fiat currency! If that’s something you have a hard time getting your head around (and who could blame you, since the mainstream media don’t report on this) then you need to read more Q Wealth articles. I would start with this page: Offshore Gold Bullion vs Fiat Money

There you’ll find a good explanation of the value of gold in relation to fiat currency like the dollar, which is backed by nothing but the declining faith and credit of the US government! Although written a few months ago, it’s particularly relevant today as gold has just burst through the $1,050 mark.

You might have heard of ‘forex trading’ – a way you can make or lose lots of money very quickly. Big banks make big money on forex. But most individual investors I know of who try it end up losing their shirts. And more than a few of the forex trading sites out there that promise you huge returns are forex trading scams. Bottom line, it’s not for average investors like you and me who have other things to do besides trade.

But there is a little-known variation on forex trading that is known as the ‘currency sandwich’ or ‘arbitrage loan.’ This is still speculative, but is something you can leave on its own and just monitor in say ten minutes, once a week.

Some European private banks like Jyske Bank and Finansbanken (Bank of Copenhagen) have been offering this for years, but the vast majority of investors have never heard of it.

The key thing here is that you can get a 100% offshore loan, available to anyone, regardless of credit history. You can borrow money from an offshore bank at say 2% interest with no scheduled repayment date, then turn right around and invest it simultaneously for 10% – 30% a year return. In other words it’s a classic way to make money using other people’s money…!

How does this work? Is it a good idea?

Once you’ve established a relationship at the right bank, they will arrange for you to borrow money in currencies like Swiss Francs, Yen or Dollars where the interest rate is very low. Then you invest the proceeds of the loan in buying fixed income products in currencies like New Zealand Dollars, South African Rand or Hungarian Forint.

Let’s say you agree a five times leverage with the bank. If the initial deposit is $100,000, you get a loan of $500,000 making a total of $600,000. This can then be invested in a pre-defined diversified portfolio of instruments like bonds or CDs.

There are two ways you can gain – or lose. There’s the exchange rate factor: raising a loan in one currency and investing in another can lead to huge exchange rate gains as wells as losses. For example if you believe the US dollar will go down relative to the Aussie dollar, you might borrow in USD and then invest in AUD, looking for ‘capital gains’ on the currency.

Then there’s the interest rate factor: Investments are made in bonds – often government bonds – which pay a much higher rate of return than what you are paying in interest on the loan, leaving a profit there.

Given the right market conditions, this deal gives you the possibility of making extraordinary profits. The more volatile the markets – the more your profits can be.

The downside, obviously, is that sometimes such deals go against you – basically if you get the market wrong.  However you don’t generally get completely wiped out, because it’s very rare for these currencies to devalue overnight.

The next question of course is which banks offer this type of loan? I named a few above, but those are not necessarily the most confidential and if you happen to be a US citizen, you may find the reporting requirements an unwarranted intrusion on your privacy. As I said, there are a number of lesser-known European private banks that will offer this kind of deal – even to USA citizens provided the accounts are  are established via offshore vehicles (for example Panama Corporations or Private Interest Foundations ). A cheap Panama corp will suffice here since the goal is not tax planning but simply asset protection and opening up new opportunities.

But you must know who to ask, and how to ask (discreetly). I wouldn’t go so far as to say these deals are only available to insiders, but they are not available to people who walk in off the street – or the internet. That’s the reason I’m not going to name banks here. Then these high level private bankers would be flooded with e-mails from wannabees and tire kickers who don’t really understand the deal.

If you are interested in finding out more about these deals, first you must be a member of Q Wealth. If you are not already, you can sign up online right now for a mere $87. Then I will be happy to name such banks to you in an individual e-mail, as part of the free consultation that all members are entitled to. So, what are you waiting for? This is a great way not just to protect yourself against declining currencies like the US dollar, but actually to prosper and create wealth… out of the US government’s poor management of the economy. Now doesn’t that sound like the way things should be?

“It is very important to gain and have a basic understanding of the true nature of money. One cannot protect what they do not understand…”

An Apology is due to you, our valued readers. We’ve been very quiet here on the offshore banking and asset protection blog lately, and we even sent out our free offshore email newsletter Q Bytes a day late last week! We normally try to send out Q Bytes over the weekend so people have time to read it at leisure. Frankly, we are getting more work than we can cope with at the moment. We are a small company and we give our clients individual attention, referring our clients to the best offshore banks and asset protection specialists – but this is a very time-consuming task.

Governments are sending more and more business our way, as more people like you are beginning to understand how they have been scammed in a big way for years. Things are pretty bad now, but they could get much worse. There’s a lot of crazy stuff going on behind the scenes right now, for sure. We want to educate people not just to increase our own business, but because we like helping. Our service is for free + thinking + individuals. If we can help people protect their assets, use the offshore banking system to their advantage, and build and create real wealth offshore, then we are doing something very valuable. Whether you come on board with us, or just follow the mainstream media hype, is very much your decision.

Our contacts are the most valuable part of our business. In the last couple of weeks I’ve been in five different countries, building up, reinforcing and doing ongoing due diligence on those contacts. We search out the best alternative investment, wealth creation and offshore wealth building opportunities for our readers. It is a time-consuming and expensive task… that you can get the full benefit of with our membership costing just $87 per year. So if you are not yet a member, please do sign up now. We will have to increase our prices soon, but you can lock in a lifetime of savings – because we guarantee that if you join now, the rate will stay the same in future years.

One of these contacts is Linda Dixon, the Canadian accountant and entrepreneur who has been writing for Q Wealth for more than ten years. Linda decided a few years ago that the time was right to get into the gold mining business in Peru. Linda’s slogan is “mining wealth responsibly” – her business plan being very different to the big miners. Linda takes care that her mining operations are both ecologically and socially sustainable, by giving back to the communities in Peru. Perhaps most importantly, she doesn’t sell any gold to the cartel, preferring instead to sell direct to investors like me and you.

“Why did has gold retained and increased in value during such a turbulent time?” writes Linda in an article on her gold mining business for the next issue of Q Wealth Report. “Because people know gold is a safe haven, a protector of wealth. Always the horizon sets on the fiat currency and gold returns. The true measure of wealth. The long standing protection of wealth.”

Gold is the money of Monarchs…
Silver is the money of gentlemen…
Barter is the money of peasants…
Debt is the money of slaves…

See for yourself. There are many documentaries now addressing this fact. Best place to have a look is on www.youtube.com Go and have a search for “fiat money”

One “mainstream” clip on YouTube is “The US Dollar, Fiat Currency or Fake Money?” Look at this one and look at others that pop up as related. It is very important to gain and have a basic understanding of the true nature money. One cannot protect what they do not understand….

You see, the currency that is known as the US Dollar is actually not owned by the US government. It is owned by the Federal Reserve Bank, which is neither federal nor a reserve. It is privately owned company that is legally able to print money out of thin air, literally. Hence “fiat” – a Latin word literally meaning “by order.”

The great wealth in America was built with private money being channeled into private ventures. Then the banks came along and began to put in place the system we now call the Federal Reserve and the fiat money system.

At first the people knew not to trust the banks and the first few attempts at fiat currency failed. People saw it for what it was… not real. People said no to fiat and yes to their gold and silver. However, bit by bit it changed. Then the powers that be removed the gold standard support from the USD. Since then, our so-called money has lost value, has devalued year after year after year.

How is buying gold part of the solution to protecting your assets and your purchasing power from the gradual collapse of fiat money?

Rather than supporting another multinational cartel, which in many ways contributed to the financial meltdown, Linda recommends you buy gold direct from the private producer. This may sound complicated, but it isn’t. How would you like it if the gold you were buying was processed in an environmentally positive and conscious manner? And, how would you like it if the gold you buy helps local communities?

The above is a brief taste of what you will find in an article by Linda Dixon in an upcoming edition of The Q Wealth Report, our flagship quarterly newsletter reserved for paid-up members only. In the meantime you’ll find more information on Linda’s company (along with several other, completely different, gold options) in The Gold Report – How to Buy and Hide Gold Bullion Offshore. It’s available free for instant download in our Members’ Area. If you’re a member, have you read The Gold Report yet? If you’re not a member, what are you waiting for? Sign up right now.

More coming soon!

Regards from your friends offshore.