I would pose the question to Mr. Faber, though; how is someone supposed to retrieve their gold from a safe deposit box at a bank in Singapore during an economic emergency? Does he suppose one would just hop on a plane half way around the world, retreive their asset, and then jet back to the US and carry their gold back through Customs?
And what good would it do if it were sitting in a Swiss safe deposit box? How would one exchange it for anything?
True, and if I’m not mistaken the contents of a safety deposit box cannot be insured.
So one might go to this unnamed exotic foreign country to retrieve their possibles and find the box empty.
I was wondering the same thing.
Well, that’s it. The key to survival isn’t just getting your assets offshore, it’s getting yourself offshore BEFORE the meltdown. Because nobody’s going to be flying anywhere the day after without ten levels of government approval.
And what good would it do if it were sitting in a Swiss safe deposit box? How would one exchange it for anything?”
I think his advice is for people playing in the big leagues. If TSHTF, some people will want to go overseas to stay until things settle out.
A few hundred ounces of gold in Austria or Singapore would allow you to have enough cash to stay for a while without trying figure out how to carry twenty pounds of gold onto the plane with you.
Think of it as bugging out in a 5 star hotel.
I believe storing gold in offshore facilities is meant for those who have lots and lots of it. I don’t think the average blue collar worker needs to worry about it. If you’ve got a handful of gold coins just hide them out in the woods. It’s good to own some gold but for barter purposes if TSHTF then silver and junk silver in particular is best.
Silver has not been confiscated the way gold was. Not to say that won’t happen but the big boys are buying large amounts of gold to preserve their wealth not silver. Saving your wealth in silver, for those with large amounts of money, would be a pain in the butt. Right now an oz of silver is worth close to $40 while an oz of gold is $1800. You get the picture.
For those with lots of money getting around the world will not be a problem. It will cost them more, to be sure, but they’ll still be able to come and go. Once overseas they would cash in some gold for a stable currency then wire funds into a bank back home. For those of us who aren’t wealthy we’ll be trading junk silver, alcohol, ammo, and toilet paper for food most likely.
No, hell no. What Faber is saying about "planting multiple foreign flags" is that you might have to go on the E&E, an expat semi-fugitive from the IRS/USA. In that case, you need "buried treasure" you can pick up at foreign safe deposit boxes. This gold etc will help you to restart in the haven country of your choice or ability to reach.
He is acknowledging that the USA might go nutso on a French or Russian Revolution or Weimar/Nazi Germany level, and you will NOT want to be trapped here, depending on frozen electronic assets the fedgov will not let you have. Or that might have been wiped out in value.
The talking heads who think he's off the wall are the same brainiacs who live in condo towers "convenient to downtown," who have never in their lives considered that their town might some day be razed and burnt by rioters, or turn into Sarajevo etc. They are totally trapped by their "normalcy bias," that they cannot even comprehend what Faber is saying.
Like Jews in Germany in 1933 who said to their uncomprehending friends and family, "Run! Get out! Now!" The uncomprehending just couldn't think three or four steps ahead, and take action on that basis.
That's the level of Faber's warnings.
Mr Faber has already moved his corpse out of the US, so his opinions may not be of great value to those remaining here.
I agree that storing property outside the country is a huge headache.