It’s common knowledge that wealthy individuals stand a lot to gain by placing assets inside a trust.
In a different era, trusts would automatically enhance the privacy of settlors and beneficiaries.
But in today’s world, financial privacy cannot be achieved in many highly regarded jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, and British Virgin Islands due to beneficial ownership registers and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) information sharing program.
There’s a war on your wealth and financial information and tracking are the primary weapons used against you. Privacy is more important than ever.
“If you have nothing to hide, you have no reason to worry” is a saying only offered by people that do not understand the problems that come with significant wealth.
But you know the truth – there are several legitimate reasons why wealthy individuals seek financial privacy.
Here are some of the most common privacy-related risks and concerns:
Agenda-Driven Government Agents
If you’ve acquired significant wealth, then you’re a target in today’s war on wealth (which has only increased due to government deficits due to spending in response to the virus).
Governments want your wealth – plain and simple.
Mainly they want to pay for their bloated spending with your money. But they often have other agendas too… they could have a problem with you personally. They might be targeting your industry or business sector for political reasons. You might come under fire simply because some bureaucrat is trying to hit a quota or trying to make a splash and advance their own career.
Regardless of motivation, audits and legal battles with governments consume time, energy, and money.
Extortion & Kidnapping
It’s an unfortunate truth that some people are willing to go to extreme measures to separate you from your wealth.
A lack of financial privacy increases vulnerability.
Sophisticated Scammers
Ordinary scammers spam the internet with phony links. They attempt to swindle millions of people because their schemes will only collect a relatively small amount from each victim.
But having your wealth in the public domain draws the attention of sophisticated scammers who will come up with elaborate schemes customized just for you.
Children
Many wealthy individuals conceal the extent of their wealth from their own children to help with their personal development during childhood.
Ex Spouses & Former Partners
Many people will target wealthy individuals just to gain access to money and a luxurious lifestyle.
Personal relationships can get messy, even for people of ordinary means. Add significant wealth into the equations and things can get really crazy – especially if children are involved.
Not only does someone need to worry about their own relationships but those of their heirs as well. It’s relatively common for ex-spouses or former partners of heirs to siphon off family wealth.
Cancel Culture
As you’ve probably noticed, society is going a little crazy… especially on social media.
Not long ago in the US, a man physically grabbed a young girl during a dispute about politics on a bike trail. The incident was caught on camera. The angry internet mob misidentified the attacker and the address of a totally innocent man was plastered all over Twitter.
Needless to say, this is an extremely dangerous situation.
Unfortunately, being misidentified or having an innocuous comment taken out of context can pose real threat to your physical safety in today’s society. If an angry mob discovers your businesses, they won’t hesitate to go on a smear campaign demanding boycotts… they might even loot or burn your brick and mortar locations.
Frivolous Lawsuits
Strangers will fabricate stories and find scummy lawyers who are on the hunt for a payday.
Business partners can become jealous and turn into enemies.
Money can even cause problems with friends and family.
A lack of financial privacy attracts people wanting to do you financial harm.
How The Aeternum Trust Achieves Financial Privacy
From the ground up, the Aeternum Trust was designed to help non-US persons achieve ultimate financial privacy – here’s how:
Anonymous Formation
Aeternum Trusts are formed in the US where trusts are largely unregulated.
Trusts are formed with a “trust agreement” – a document that is not required to be registered with any government agency. It’s simply a contract between a settlor (the person funding the trust) and the trustee (the person responsible for administering the trust’s assets).
As a result, your Aeternum Trust will be anonymous to the rest of the world. Usually the only two parties with a copy of the trust instrument are the settlor and trustee.
0% US Tax Rate & No US Tax Return
Your Aeternum Trust will have a 0% US tax rate (on non-US income) and is not required to file a US income tax return (as long as it does not have US income).
Naturally, this goes a long way towards achieving financial privacy and staying off the radar of tax collectors.
No Public or Private Beneficial Ownership Register
Many jurisdictions around the world require the beneficial owners (settlors, beneficiaries, protectors, and trustees) of trusts and companies (shareholders) to register with a beneficial ownership register.
Some beneficial ownership registers are public – meaning, anyone can access the government database and look up the people benefiting from an entity.
Scammers, extortionists, and kidnappers love public beneficial ownership registers for obvious reasons.
Other jurisdictions have private ownership registers – meaning, the beneficiaries of an entity must register with the government but the database is kept private and is only made available to government agents.
Private ownership registers are a security risk due to hackers and corrupt people in government. Also, governments can change its policy on a whim and change its register from private to public as some governments have already done.
Achieving financial privacy can be confusing and difficult as many unscrupulous advisors and corporate service providers will advertise “private” solutions and sell you a trust or entity that is subject to a beneficial ownership register.
But your Aeternum Trust is not subject to beneficial ownership registers of any kind.
Naturally, this will enhance your financial privacy by reducing your wealth’s profile and making it more difficult to find.
No Financial Account Information Sharing Under Common Reporting Standards (CRS)
CRS is an initiative launched by the Organisation For Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – over 100 countries and jurisdictions participate in the CRS program.
Here’s how CRS works – if you open up a bank account (in your personal name or in the name of an entity) outside your country of residence, your account information will be shared with your home country.
This is done under the guise of fighting tax evasion, money laundering, and criminals. Tax authorities consider having a bank account outside of your home country as suspect and initiate audits and investigations based on the CRS information they receive. The sad part is, most people are engaged in ethical and legal activity and have to defend audits and investigations just because they have accounts outside their home country.
The US does not participate in CRS. As a result, your trust’s US bank and financial accounts will not be reported to your home country.
In today’s legal and regulatory environment, the Aeternum Trust maximizes your financial privacy.
Achieve Ultimate Financial Privacy With the Aeternum Trust – You Can…
- Legally reduce the amount of sensitive financial information that is floating around out there in government databases. As a result, your exposure to unwarranted audits and harassment by government agents is greatly diminished.
- Make it exceeding difficult for people to research the extent of your wealth because the US has no beneficial ownership registers for Trusts, LLCs, and Corporations
- Legally conceal the extent of your wealth will also protect against frivolous lawsuits that may be sought by strangers, business partners, family, and friends.
Plus a lot more.
Do You Desire Ultimate Financial Privacy?
If so, click here and schedule a consultation with me. I’ll personally ensure that your Aeternum Trust achieves your privacy-related goals in addition other matters such as tax, asset protection, estate planning, etc.- Jimmy Sexton, LLM