We’ve recently been on a whirlwind tour of Switzerland, meeting with a number of Swiss bankers, financial professionals, wealth managers and precious metal businesses. This reinforced our existing perception: despite the upheavals in terms of private banking confidentiality, Switzerland is still a good place to manage your money.

In our opinion the bankers in Switzerland are the most professional in the world. Switzerland may no longer be a place to hide your money (they don’t want that business any more) but it’s still a great place to manage your wealth in full compliance with your local laws. And despite what you hear about Europe’s financial problems, walking past the stores and banks on the Bahnhofstrasse you would never realize that much of the world is in the midst of a global depression.

It was therefore interesting to read in BFI’s Mountain Vision newsletter this week their comments on the future of the Swiss Franc. The Swiss franc has confirmed its safe haven currency status over the past year, gaining 14% against the Euro and about 10% against the US dollar. Swiss politicians, and exporters, have been whining about this… but ultimately, as Frank Suess says. “… in the long-term, a strong currency is good for a country; it´s the reflection of a strong economy. Countries with strong currencies are forced to be innovative, cost-efficient and offer high quality products and services.”

We agree wholeheartedly with this statement.

So… How to open a Swiss private bank account? For US citizens, this has become extremely difficult. If you’re not a US citizen, it’s easier than ever – you don’t even need to travel to Switzerland, since some banks are now opening accounts via video-conferencing (see the 2011 Practical Offshore Banking Guide for further information)

You can, however, still benefit from Switzerland’s safe haven status in a number of ways even without opening a Swiss bank account. One way is to buy and hold Swiss Francs (currency code CHF) through a financial institution outside Switzerland. US residents, for example, can open Swiss Franc bank accounts at Everbank. Everbank also offer many other flavors of foreign currency bank account as well as non FDIC insured gold or precious metals accounts (gold and silver)

Of course, Everbank is still a US bank. One of your reasons for seeking to protect your assets internationally may well be that you don’t trust the US banking system. You would be right. Even Alan Greenspan is now talking about how ‘some mechanism has got to be in place that restricts the amount of money which is produced’ in this video.

In this case, why not consider buying gold in Switzerland? In our members area you will find some very specific and disconcerting information on what we call ‘digital gold’ – for example the GLD exchange traded fund. Basically, it’s a fraud. If you want to keep your wealth in hard money, completely outside the financial system, we will give you the right contacts and recommendations to get this done. Switzerland is the ideal place to do it. And, since this is not a financial account, it’s accessible to everybody – including Americans – and there is no reporting obligation.

Q Bytes, our free newsletter, will be back tomorrow with an update on our recent trip to South America, taking in Uruguay, Paraguay and Panama. If you are not yet on the list to receive it, sign up here for Q Bytes. Remember, it’s free and without obligation.

The bailout of General Motors is another nail in the coffin of the US dollar. But still, most people haven’t even noticed the real ‘stealth’ devaluation being imposed by the United States government. And yet all of us, Americans or not, are affected by this in a big way, due to the dollar’s status as a reserve currency (and also due to China’s effective control of the dollar, that I have previously touched on…)

Is the dollar “collapsing” or merely “declining”? I believe it is collapsing, but some people might misunderstand this. The dollar is not just going to crash one day, or even one week. It’s an ongoing thing, that started many years ago but has substantially speeded up in the last five years or so (yes, even during the times when the US economy was supposedly booming, that too was based on scams by the financial services sector)

Geithner, Bernanke, Obama and the whole crew are involved in a constant battle to patch over the dollar collapse.  Yet in spite of their attempts, the cracks have widened. The greenback continues its inexorable march downward. This week’s events at G.M. have accelerated the collapse a little more. And I believe that the collapse of the dollar will continue to accelerate with time. What will happen when it hits the bottom is anybody’s guess, but I certainly want to be well prepared when it happens. You should be too. And the Q Wealth website is about helping you do just that – protecting your assets from this stealth devaluation.

The US is not going to crash like Mexico did in 1995, or like Argentina and Brazil have done since with overnight currency devaluations. Neither will go bankrupt in one day like Iceland. The US government still has way too much influence and political power for that to happen. It’s a stealth devaluation because your portfolio will appear to be going higher. You will have more dollars. The stock market will be up. But in real terms, you are losing money faster than ever before. This is what some people have a hard time getting their head around – but it’s very important. The government will try to persuade you that things are going well, when really they are not. Bottom line? It’s a scam being perpetrated on you by government. If you care about protecting your assets and creating new wealth, you have to understand this.

So where can you actually put your money to protect against the stealth devaluation and collapse of the dollar? What about other currencies? Well, necessity dictates that we need to use currencies like dollars, euros and pounds to carry on business. And common investing sense dictates that you should diversify assets, so at least having a proportion of euros is better than having all dollars. It’s a start.

But unfortunately none of these currencies look good. Every other major central bank is participating in the very same scam, meaning that their currencies are equally doomed. So it would not be safe to assume that buying, say, euros, will give you any serious protection against the loss of your assets.

My number one mantra to clients is diversification, diversification and diversification. If you have a portfolio above six figures, it should be in different currencies, in different banks, on different continents. Opening overseas personal accounts, while having no tax consequences, can certainly help asset protection…the geographic diversification protects against the threat called government, while the mere fact that the assets are offshore significantly reduces the risk of you being sued in the first place, especially if you live in a litigious place like the USA or increasingly the UK.

Generally, private international banks are also a whole lot more flexible and service minded too. They offer Swiss-style wealth management banking facilities. For example, I noticed the other day that one of my European private offshore banks (not in Switzerland in this case) had quietly added gold ounces to the list of currencies I could hold in my multi-currency checking account. I guess that means I can even write cheques denominated in gold ounces, though I haven’t tried that yet. I see some of the larger European clearing banks like RAIFFEISEN ZENTRALBANK OESTERREICH AG in Austria are now maintaining gold correspondent accounts for their institutional clients. Interesting, huh?

Which are the best offshore banks for this kind of wealth management? For the answer to that question you need to be a member of The Q Wealth Report. Download the Practical Offshore Banking Guide (available instantly as soon as your payment is approved) and you will find ten of them for starters, with impartial comments on each… together with the form for a free e-mail consultation if you would like to discuss your individual circumstances with me directly.

Gold, probably is number one on my list of recommendations as a hedge against dollar decline. There are ways you should buy gold, and ways you shouldn’t. One way you should not invest in gold is by following typical mainstream advice and investing in ETFs, the most famous of which is GLD the SPDR Gold ETF. Ther are significant concerns about whether you could really get your gold out, or even your money back in dollars (which is not what you would want anyway at that stage) in the case of an economic meltdown.

For example, what do you think of this quote directly from the GLD prospectus?

The Trust’s gold may be subject to loss, damage, theft or restriction on access.

There is a risk that part or all of the Trust’s gold could be lost, damaged or stolen. Access to the Trust’s gold could also be restricted by natural events (such as an earthquake) or human actions (such as a terrorist attack). Any of these events may adversely affect the operations of the Trust and, consequently, an investment in the Shares.

The Trust may not have adequate sources of recovery if its gold is lost, damaged, stolen or destroyed and recovery may be limited, even in the event of fraud, to the market value of the gold at the time the fraud is discovered.

If you would like to know about better ways to invest in Gold offshore, you need my Gold Report – How to Buy and Hide Gold Bullion Offshore which is likewise available free of charge for immediate download to our paid up members.

Not a member yet? Sign up to Q Wealth Report here.