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"Living Well is the Best Revenge"
George Herbert, reinterpreted by R.E.M.
Where will you and your assets be when the doo-doo his the fan?
Will you be enjoying life in an offshore tropical paradise, or will you be stuck at home living in the hope that "this could never happen to me" ???
If you are a prudent, sensible business person you probably have insurance against events that you hope will never happen. You probably wouldn't go for a drive without a spare tire. Yet when it comes to personal or systemical catastrophes, too many people believe "it couldn't happen to me." They see the writing on the wall, but they live in a state of denial. They think that the government will be there to help them. They are sadly mistaken. Please don't you make that mistake.
Serious, life-threatening troubles with government are like cancer. They creep up on you and strike unexpectedly. There is not an adult alive who can't tell stories of unpleasant encounters with unreasonable bureaucrats. Lightweight experiences are warnings of what to expect in more serious matters. PT is your immunization against the worst that Big Brother can throw at you: Protection against Tyranny.
Don't wait until it's too late to start preparing. Whether you are sued or victimized, or subject to unjust criminal charges... or if the entire system collapses around you... where will you be? Offshore in a strong negotiating position, or in your home town ready to be Big Brother's plaything?
ARE YOU PT MATERIAL?
PT is not for everybody. In fact, PT is for a tiny minority of the general population. If everybody became a PT, it wouldn't work.
PTs don't need specific skills, nor money, but they need a specific mindset. If you are happy where you are, then there's no need to move. If you feel something is missing, you feel restricted, held back or threatened where you are and/or attracted by opportunities in other lands, then PT is for you.
If you have read this far on this website, then the chances are good that you are PT material. If you are new to the PT mindset, Invisible Investor is the place to start, and your purchase includes a month's free trial to Grandpa's Missives including the opportunity to ask questions in the Members Area. If you study this information, you will be able to make an educated decision about whether PT is right for you.
CAN YOU BREAK FREE AND BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL PT?
"It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head," said Sally Kempton. We are brainwashed to think we can't break free. But becoming a PT is quite easy. If PT is indeed your cup of tea, then don't look back - just go!
Most newcomers to the PT philosophy will have thought about changing jobs, spouses or even countries. But most people fear the unknown and are held back by misperceptions like "If I can't make it in my home town, I can't make it anywhere." Everyone, including this author, has conflicts with real or imagined obligations. Sometimes is takes a serious jolt, or difficult times, to awake us from our complacency.
In the old days, dragons and monsters were drawn on maps where 'terra incognito' or uncharted territory began. But intrepid explorers ignored the fears of stay-at-home cartographers and correctly assumed that foreign fish, fowl and people would be similar to what they knew. They went on to discover new worlds - beautiful worlds of opportunity and happiness, just like the new life waiting for YOU.
HOW GRANDPA BECAME A PT
I (your writer, Grandpa) didn't start out with any ambitions to become a PT. The concept didn't even exist when I was a youth.
Like many PTs, I got into 'the PT thing' because of an unfortunate situation involving a legal dispute. In my case, I was puttering along at the age of 30, paying two women relatively reasonable alimony and child support. Then came my third 'divorce,' and with it, an unexpectedly big court award to the third wife (funny thing really, she wasn't even a wife!) and a huge cash obligation to support our kid.
It was quite unreasonable and more than I could pay. When I blurted out my protest in court, the unsympathetic judge told me I'd just have to ... "earn more money or go to jail."
"You got yourself into this situation. Your ex-mistress and your kid have the right to live as well now - on their own - as they did when they lived with you."
CLEARING $1000 A WEEK, I WAS ORDERED TO PAY ALIMONY AND CHILD SUPPORT OF $3000 A WEEK.
It looked like I would be going to jail. But then, just to make matters worse, the other two ex-wives also went to court (out of jealousy perhaps) to demand and receive 'equal treatment.' They both asked for and received an upward revision. The court 'awarded' them more of my money than I was earning after taxes: $1,000 a week - each!
Here are the round numbers, so you can understand my situation. I was clearing about $1000 a week, net after taxes. I was previously paying $200 each to wife #1 and #2. Total $400. Then wife #3 got an award of $1000 a week. Wife #1 and Wife #2 demanded equal treatment and so the court awarded them $1,000 a week - each. So now I had court orders to pay out $3,000 a week, which was $2,000 more than I made.
I said I was clearing about $1000 a week, but now obligated to pay out alimony and child support of $3000 a week. My living expenses were $600 a week, so the deficit was $2600. Where was this money and my own living expenses supposed to come from?
My financial statements were ignored by the court, no doubt because my three wives all claimed I had secret black and untaxed income and could easily afford to pay them $1000 each. To be quite truthful, I did have a little untaxed income here and there, but it was not dependable and it certainly would not cover the $3000 the judge ordered me to pay my ex-wives. Not by a long shot.
At best my total legit plus 'black' weekly disposable income averaged $1,300. With my own living expenses of $600 where was I going to get $3000 to pay out? I was going to be $2,600 in the hole every week.
To put a final cap on the whole mess, the tax authorities were handed the wives' accusations about my grossly exaggerated black income. It all happened pretty fast. The next thing I knew was that all my bank accounts, homes and assets had been padlocked or frozen by ex-wives' lawyers and the tax collectors.
"They were fighting over my assets like a pack of dogs over an old bone."
Outside of some very small assets on deposit abroad, I was flat broke. My small business collapsed immediately once my bank accounts were frozen. For more fun at my expense, one of the judges decided to give me a taste of the lash: I was dumped into a county jail cell for three days. The Judge said, "If you don't start paying the $3,000 per week, you'll be facing indeterminate jail sentences for "contempt of court." My freedom was now at the discretion of three different judges - all of whom seemed to hate me. I was evicted from my apartment. My car was seized.
I considered bankruptcy but my lawyer said "Sorry, bankruptcy doesn't get you off the hook in domestic relations cases - nor in tax cases either."
There was no way out. Or was there?
ENTER MY GOLDEN GURU
I received in the mail a pitch to buy a certain International Newsletter. Part of the advertising promised (with a subscription) a free booklet called 'The Three Flags' on how to escape legally from taxes and lawsuits. Normally it would have gone into the trash. Previous to the crisis, I was too busy running my small business to think about PT stuff, or "three flags".
To me those advertised booklets like Retire Young on the French Riviera were promising 'Pie in the Sky.' How could I think about going anywhere to retire with all those wives to support? I couldn't support anybody, not even myself! Still, for me it was indeed time to do something drastic - or at least to buy time to plan a strategic withdrawal.
This junk mail came at a time when I needed some new, 'out of the box' ideas. I popped for the rather expensive newsletter. As my bonus I received a simple brochure called something like: "How to Protect Your Ass and Your Assets: The Three Flag Theory."
The ideas were a primitive form of the PT ideas in Bye Bye Big Brother. In a nutshell, it said: If you have legal or tax problems that will take too many years of your life to resolve:
- Simply disappear - move out of your present jurisdiction - and kiss your troubles goodbye.
- Consider residing in a tax haven where there are no taxes. Choose a place where unreasonable court judgments of other nations are ignored or never enforced.
- Choose from a huge list of ways to make money abroad to support yourself.
- Become international in outlook and be ready to move yourself and your assets to countries where bank secrecy, the weather, business opportunities, sexual morality and the legal system suit you better than your present environment.
This was all over sixty years ago! I read the 'Three Flags' brochure, took the advice, and made the move. I went to a paid conference with my guru in Europe. And soon I was up and running with a legally obtained new passport and a new Portable Trade. I lived in dozens of countries after that, and was very glad I made the move. Misfortune had turned into good fortune. My troubles had lead me into a new and much more pleasant life. I was a PT. Living well was my revenge.
My kids grew up as all kids do. While they were in school, and still living with Mama, I sent from abroad the contributions I could afford for their support. Over the years, eventually all of them visited me in Asia, Africa and Europe.
Before I left my home country, under the original court orders, my hands and my assets were all tied up. I could do no good for anyone. It was a stalemate.
Once I left the country, I made a new start. Without a pack of shyster lawyers and tax collectors hounding me and taking up all my time, I could be productive again. Soon my kids once again had something to live on. It wasn't as much as Mama thought she deserved. But it was better than the nothing they would have had from me under the legal system.
A side benefit was that the ex-wives all had to get off their fat bottoms and get a life. Without me to harass, they all got jobs - or new suckers to support them.
COULD YOU ESCAPE THIS SAME WAY?
Why not? I wouldn't allow myself to be abused and pushed around by bureaucrats and judges. I couldn't be bothered being a full-time professional defendant, using all my earnings to support a small army of hungry contingent fee lawyers. I didn't want to spend months [maybe years] in and out of disgusting county jails for non-payment of alimony and child support - contempt of court.
Anyone can follow the PT ideology and lifestyle. Why allow yourself to be destroyed? More than that, the PT life will almost invariably be full of interesting adventures, travel, a great income, fewer taxes, and interesting new people!
SEX AND THE PT
For me, when I was younger, my exodus lead me into an absolutely fabulous love life with sweet young beautiful women of the third world. These nubile maidens I met along the way were of a far superior quality to any girls I could have attracted back home.
YOU CAN BREAK FREE!
Some ideas that we have grown up with are simply wrong:
- You can choose your own destiny and break out of a drab existence in a dull place.
- You can get out of any unhappy relationship.
- There is no reason you can't move away physically from where you are, to a place that offers what you want.
Your paradise does exist out there somewhere. And there's a lot of pleasure on the journey. There are perfect waves for surfing, perfect powder for skiing, even perfectly legal Marijuana 'coffee' shops (try the Netherlands or Katmandu) where you can stay stoned - if that is your thing.
With effort and knowledge of your options you can normally find lucrative work that matches your interest or favorite hobbies. Need help? You will find new ideas for Portable Trades regularly in Grandpa's Missives. Purchase one of the Bye Bye Big Brother reports now to receive a free month's trial subscription to Grandpa's Missives (including archive access)
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