Are We About to Hit America's Final Unwind?
America is heading towards an unprecedented economic crisis … and no one is talking about it. On December 23, 2013, a financial event is coming that could wipe out markets overnight. To find out how you can shelter yourself from this coming storm, click here for our urgent video report.
Taking Control of Your Retirement Savings
By Jeff Opdyke, Editor of The Sovereign Individual Dear Sovereign Investor Subscriber,
I was flipping through the mail a few days ago and came across the quarterly update for my IRA. I'm up 10.5% so far this year – not bad for a mix of stocks, bonds and currencies.
Thing is, this is the only sum of money that I've ever put into the hands of a professional money manager. For my entire working career, I have managed my own money, never once using a private money manager.
But in 2010, after more than 17 years of setting aside part of every paycheck, I realized that the 401(k) I had accumulated at a previous employer represented a large piece of my retirement assets … and I was worried about managing this sizeable chunk of cash for the next 25 or 30 years.
So, I traded my 401(k) for a rollover IRA and asked my Danish friend Thomas Fischer to manage the money for me offshore.
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Turns out I wasn't alone in that decision. A small but growing number of Americans have been following a similar path. They're taking control of their financial future by taking some of their retirement savings offshore.
In the current era of exceedingly low interest rates, bloated government and an ever-weaker U.S. dollar, it's one of the ways you can begin to gain control over your future.
A New Retirement Home … For My Money When I stopped to honestly assess what I wanted in a retirement-asset manager, I knew from the outset that I wanted my money overseas. I've been investing abroad personally since 1996, because that's where the growth is happening. It's also the only way to protect my future purchasing power against the incessant decline of the dollar.
I mention that a lot – the decline of the dollar – and I don't say it just to say it. I have the charts. The dollar has fallen in value dramatically in the last 30 years. Its moves correlate precisely with the ups and down of U.S. fiscal policies. When our finances are strong or improving, the dollar strengthens. When our finances weaken, the dollar follows suit.
And America's current fiscal situation is the worst it has ever been in terms of the debts we owe, the unfunded liabilities we have for overextended entitlement plans and the divisive politics that make reform impossible.
For me, then, preparing for retirement means protecting against an ongoing dollar decline. And that means putting a big slug of my retirement assets outside the U.S.
In October of 2010, I opened an IRA at Jyske Global Asset Management, or JGAM. It's the U.S.-client-focused asset-management arm of Jyske Bank, Denmark's second-largest bank.
JGAM has no offices in the U.S., but it is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to work with American clients, so you're not flouting any U.S. laws. And while JGAM has linked up with a U.S.-based IRA custodian in Texas, the firm holds the assets physically in Copenhagen.
In hooking up with JGAM, I gain what I call intellectual diversification. Non-American portfolio managers see the world from a different perspective than do money managers sitting in New York, L.A. or Boston. As such, along with asset and geographic diversification, I get someone who's thinking about the world differently. To me, that's equally valuable diversification.
That's not to say JGAM owns no U.S.-dollar exposure. It does, based on what the firm's money managers see as the best opportunities in stocks, bonds and currencies. But the account gets my money outside the U.S. financial system and gives me access to thinking that isn't as homogenous as it often is here at home.
Get Your Money Out of Harm's Way in Six
Weeks or Less The process of opening an account at JGAM takes four to six weeks, which includes a 30-day "cooling off" period mandated by Danish authorities, just in case you change your mind. You can start the process online by visiting jgam.com or contacting my friend Thomas Fischer at fischer@jgam.com.
JGAM requires a $100,000 minimum. All accounts below $1 million are discretionary, meaning JGAM's portfolio managers make all investment selections. But you can provide some level of input if you have certain requests, like you want none of your money held in U.S.-dollar assets.
Services are fee-based only, so JGAM will not load your portfolio with investments for which it receives incentive payments from third parties you don't know about. The annual fees charged are between 1% and 2% of the assets under management, depending on the size of the account.
You will also pay the trading costs imposed by the broker-dealers JGAM uses to place trades (Jyske Bank or Morgan Stanley), and that will add roughly an additional 1% on an annual basis.
Costs are a hurdle any money manager must clear to keep clients happy. And JGAM is doing a good job of that. As I noted earlier, my account is up nicely so far this year, and JGAM has generated strong returns in recent years. Putting Your Future in Your Own Hands I'm not saying you should necessarily follow my lead. Everyone has their own specific needs to address.
But no matter those needs, the key to successfully managing your retirement money comes in taking control of how and where it is invested. Putting some of your retirement savings overseas is one way to do it, but I realize some people may not want their money offshore.
Though America, at the moment, is a place of turmoil and transition, you can still take control of your future here – and you need to.
To that end, I've been looking into simple, accessible ways for you to put your retirement into the hands of the person who cares most about your future: you. And over the next few weeks, I'll be showing you how to take control of your retirement savings here at home … because now is the time to put your future in your own hands.
Until next time, keep a global view…
Jeff D. Opdyke
Senior Editor, The Sovereign Individual
P.S. There is another threat to your retirement looming, and it's one that no one is talking about – the collapse of a 99-year-old ponzi scheme that you are invested in, whether you realize it or not. When it comes apart, it could take historic levels of wealth with it. To learn more about this coming "final unwind" – and how you can protect yourself from it – click here for my urgent special report.
Chart of the Day
Add this Market to Your Shopping List The Shanghai stock exchange has been in a bear market for the past three years. Since peaking in August of 2009, the index has dropped 42%. But this trend may be coming to an end.
There's no question a lot of the bad news has already been priced into the market. In terms of P/E ratio, Chinese stocks are trading at the same level they were trading in 2008, after the stock market crash.
It's obvious the Chinese economy is going through a significant slowdown. But Chinese authorities have started to take actions to promote more growth.
This past Tuesday, during the World Economic Forum that's underway in China, Premier Wen Jiabao mentioned China won't have a problem meeting its growth target. Here's what he said:
"Be it monetary or fiscal, we still have ample strength. The government has 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) in a fiscal stabilization fund and we will appropriately use that for preemptive policy and fine-tuning to propel stable economic growth."
New loan data supports the idea the government is already taking measures to rekindle growth. New local-currency lending was 703.9 billion yuan ($111 billion) last month, the highest of any August on record. The Chinese Stock Market Has Been in a Bear Market
See larger image Keep an eye on the downtrend line in the Shanghai Index. A violation of the downtrend line will serve as an indication the trend is changing from a bear to a bull market. And make sure you add some Chinese stocks to your shopping list.
Regards, 
Evaldo Albuquerque
Senior Analyst
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