Posted on September 29, 2008
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A recent article published by The Register reports on a survey showing that Brits approached in the street in London were more than happy to hand over the data used to for their online passwords in return for a £5 Marks and Spencer Gift Voucher. Good thing, says The Register, stolen identities are worth a lot less than £5, fetching as little as 50p on the underground black market, according to Symantec.
Brits, on the other hand, expect better data security when it comes to companies. Despite this, three in four of those surveyed said they were more likely to shop online now then they were six months ago, mainly because it’s easier to find bargains on the net. “Consumers are first and foremost concerned about price – and not necessarily for their safety,” Symantec notes. So much for living off the grid!
The British government was reckoned to be the worst offender for data loss by half of those surveyed.
Posted on September 27, 2008
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What a “Last Plane Account” is – and why you need one!
By Peter Macfarlane for Security Privacy Freedom
I recently read an interesting article by Jeff Turk, founder of Goldmoney, the most serious of the digital gold systems. Back in the 1980s Jeff used to work in the Far East branch offices of major U.S. banks. One of his jobs was private banking for wealthy Asians. One of the specialities of American banks in those days was what were referred to internally “Last Plane Accounts.” Of course they were not sold to the clients under that name, but it was a routine part of a portfolio for a person of means.
With Communist China at the door, nobody knowing what would happen with the handover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule, and various other regional instabilities and hostile governments, there was a high risk that businessmen would have to emigrate at short notice.
The point of the “Last Plane Account” was that if the proverbial doo-doo hit the fan in their country, the businessman and his family could be on the last plane out of the place and step safely into a new life that was already there waiting for them, with a nest-egg that had been built up abroad. This was something like an insurance policy – the clients hoped they would never need it, but having it in place meant they could sleep sounder at night.
Besides the bank account itself, part of the ‘Last Plane’ preparations was of course a second passport… many Hong Kong Chinese, for example, were able to acquire passports from Canada, the UK, Australia or New Zealand. Those that couldn’t but still had money might have gone for the Belize economic citizenship program. Other preparations frequently included purchase of real estate overseas, and sending kids to boarding schools in the west where they would acquire the language and cultural skills that you really only learn by living in a country.
The USA was a very popular choice for banking in those days, and not just because of the strong dollar. Obviously, there would have been no point in opening a “Last Plane Account” in a local bank, that would most likely have been taken over, nationalized or looted in the event of an invasion, the top bankers having already left on an earlier plane because they didn’t have businesses to worry about. The USA, with its liberal economy, represented the epitomy of freedom. Opening an account in the USA meant the money would be safe, well out of reach of a future unfriendly home government, such as a Red Chinese government that might have taken over freewheeling Hong Kong.
In those days, as he pointed out in his recent article, Jeff would never have thought of making “Last Plane” style preparations for wealthy American clients. No doubt he would have thought that Brits or Aussies were quite safe too.
But now, the tide has turned. The five bank collapses in the USA this year, the FDIC expecting more, and regulators scraping around to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be just the tip of the iceberg. And, of course, much more than just the USA itself depends on the heavily linked global financial system, as for example shareholders of Northern Rock and more recently Bradford and Bingley have found to their cost.
There have been recessions before. Maybe the current problems with the financial system will blow over. Let’s hope so.
But having a “Last Plane Account” is just about being sensibly and responsibly prepared for all kinds of unforeseen eventualities that can happen in turbulent times. You will hope you never need it – but if you ever do, you’ll be glad you did. And even if you never need it, it can help you live your life stress-free.
How do you open a Last Plane Account? Well, it needs to be well outside the reach of any governments that could be hostile to you in the future. It needs to be in a bank that has the least possible exposure to systemic instability. And it needs to be diversified across different classes of assets, to spread the risk.
Beyond that, a good place to start might be the Q Practical Offshore Banking Guide 2008 which is available for instant download to members of The Q Wealth Report – your guide to International Wealth Creation.