21 Cutting Edge Strategies

Independent Living Presents

21 Cutting-Edge Strategies for Reclaiming Your Privacy from Snoops, Corporations, and Newly-Unleashed Government Busybodies

2010 Briefing

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21 Cutting-Edge Strategies for Reclaiming Your Privacy from Snoops, Corporations, and Newly-Unleashed Government Busybodies Ask someone who lived under a Communist dictatorship what life was like, and they will tell you people were fearful and suspicious – not only of government agents, but also of neighbors, friends, and sometimes even family. You never knew who would be an informant for the secret police. Friends turned in friends in order to save themselves from the wrath of the state, or to get rewarded with money or a desperately needed job. Some politicians currently in power in America (you can decide who) are trying to create a country of paid snitches and informants, where anyone and everyone may be deputized to act on behalf of the government. The fear and paranoia engendered by such a system will reduce hard-to-track crimes such as tax cheating. (Or so the politicians say.) But in the process it assaults everyone’s privacy, whether they are criminals or not. Meanwhile, identity theft is an ever-growing threat to anyone who uses credit cards or has records on file with any business, web site, or government agency (yes, IRS electronic files on taxpayers have been compromised). The IRS itself admits it is aware of at least two recent identity theft scams involving taxes or the IRS. In one, tax preparers allegedly used information, such as Social Security numbers and financial information, from their clients' tax returns to commit identity theft. In another, fraudsters sent bank customers fictitious bank correspondence and IRS forms in an attempt to trick them into disclosing their personal and banking data. IRS spokesmen point their fingers at tax preparers, but they fail to acknowledge that the IRS itself creates an environment in which all Americans are made more vulnerable to ID theft. It's the IRS that requires the filing of documents with highly sensitive personal and financial information – just the sort that are attractive to identity thieves. And it's the incomprehensibly dense tax code and ineptitude of IRS "customer service" personnel that forces millions of Americans to share highly sensitive information with professional tax-preparation services. This guide will show you how you can insulate yourself, your wealth, and your family from government snoops and any number of information-age hoodlums who are actively trying to take away your privacy and freedom.

Confidential Subscriber Briefing – Copyright 2010

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1. Be wary of using your personal landline for private communications. Your landline is connected to your property and address, making it easy for snoops, spies, or government agents to locate and listen in on your private conversations. Keep in mind that these days it is cheap and easy to purchase devices on eBay, at the local spy shop, or even at Radio Shack that will allow a snoop to tap your phone line – or even listen through your windows or walls. For sensitive phone calls, use a payphone and pay with either cash or a calling card purchased with cash. This will make it impossible for you to later be identified or linked to the call. If, however, your situation demands discussing important financial matters or confidential dealings while at home, you can thwart a potential snoop by frequently shifting locations as you talk, softly moving from room to room, and maybe even talking outdoors from time to time. This can all help reduce the amount of “overhearing” a spy can do.

2. When you are not using your cell phone, keep it unplugged and powered down. Cell phones are generally a far less secure form of communication than land phones. With the right technology, cell phone signals can be intercepted from just about anywhere. What the big telecommunication corporations don’t tell you is that any time your cell phone is switched on, it can be tracked. Since your name, address, and Social Security number are more than likely linked to your account (they say for billing purposes) corporate snoops or coercive government agents can potentially track your every movement whenever you are carrying your phone while it is on. Only the removal of the phone's power adapter and battery can ensure that it can’t be tracked. If you decide you need the convenience of a cell phone and want to retain some semblance of privacy, consider buying a pre-paid “disposable” phone. You can purchase both the phone and minutes in advance at a local drugstore, and you don't have to undergo a credit check or give any identifying information to the company, allowing you to talk in near privacy.

3. When you're on vacation, request that the Post Office hold your mail or have a highly trustworthy neighbor retrieve it for you daily. Leaving incoming or outgoing mail in an unlocked mailbox is not safe in this information age. Nobody in their right mind would leave unconcealed cash or jewelry in their mailbox; yet pieces of mail that contain personal checks, credit card bills, or bank/brokerage/insurance statements can be as good as gold to an ID thief. Fortunately, there are ways to send and receive mail more securely.


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Protect incoming mail by purchasing a solid mailbox that allows mail to enter a secure compartment but can only be opened with a key. You can purchase a super heavy-duty galvanized steel mail box for about $200 at your local hardware store. You can obtain more security by renting a mailbox through the Post Office or a commercial mailreceiving agency (such as Mail Boxes Etc.). It's unlikely that anyone would try to physically break into a mailbox at a monitored public facility, although there is a chance that a thief could obtain a working key. Of course placing outgoing mail in a roadside mailbox behind an unlocked tin door is also an invitation for identify theft. You should drop your outgoing mail in an official U.S. Post Office mail-drop instead.

4. Keep your personal computer under real and digital lock and key. As you are reading this, cyberspace is expanding exponentially and computing power is leaping to new heights. Like it or not some of your most important transactions probably occur over the Internet. If the wrong people were able to access your computer, or any computer that stores information about you, they could wreak havoc on your life. The first line of defense for a computer is keeping it physically secure. While a lot has been made of the dangers of having computers accessed via an Internet connection, the easiest way to steal private information from a computer is to gain physical access to it. Security is especially important with laptops, which are prime targets of thieves. If you travel with a laptop you are constantly in danger of having it snatched by a thief. Never leave one in a car, including the trunk. Don't place laptops in the overhead storage compartments of airplanes or buses. Often crooks disguised as fellow travelers will steal items from storage and then quickly leave the area with no one the wiser. In public places, keep physical contact with your laptop at all times. If you must leave it in a room or office, then employ a strong cable lock to secure it and cover it with a towel, blanket, coat, or other object to make it harder to see. Once you are certain your computer is physically secure ensure it is set up with a “smart” boot password and/or login password so that someone can't get into your system by simply turning on your computer. A boot password is more powerful than the login password that your operating system may give you the option of requiring. A login password is useful for keeping out family members or co-workers while you are temporarily away and don't want to power down your machine. Your password should not be any single word that can be found in the dictionary. Rather, it should be a combination of letters and numbers that have no obvious meaning and therefore would never be guessed by anybody. Some of the most common and easy to hack passwords are listed below. You should avoid them at all costs.


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Admin, password, Password, 1234, 12345, 123456789, 654321, 00000000, mypass, pass, abc123, love, computer, Internet, super, godblessyou, secret, asdf.

Generally the longer the password, the more secure it is.

5. Avoid the government’s “keystroke logging” programs and corporate spyware by never inserting unknown hardware into your computer or downloading unknown software. A major threat to your electronic privacy is the keystroke logging programs used by snoops and FBI agents. Once it has burrowed its way onto your personal computer the “trojan” program is capable of recording each and every keystroke made – including valuable passwords, family secrets, and Social Security numbers. These “trojans” have a variety of configurations, but they generally consist of a small program that can be secretly introduced or a small piece of hardware that can be inserted into a computer. If you find an extra piece of hardware like a thumb drive or mouse lying around, do not connect it to your computer until you have confirmed its source. It has already become a tried-and-true method for government agents to gain access to private computer systems by leaving a thumb drive with a preloaded malicious spyware software lying out for an unsuspecting victim to discover. Beware of accidently downloading spyware embedded in programs such as toolbars that attach to web browsers (often installing themselves along with other software supposedly to “enhance” your browsing experience). Luckily there are many programs that can detect and erase spyware. One popular program that is available as a free download is Ad-Aware (www.lavasoftusa.com). If you feel you still must take further precautions, you can obtain protection from spyware by installing a firewall which is a complex program that will attempt to keep outside systems from accessing your computer. Consult your local computer shop for guidance on choosing the right firewall for you.

6. When you delete files, ensure they are gone forever. The only real way to be sure that sensitive data won't end up in the wrong hands is to get rid of it. Most people think that when they delete a file or program, it’s erased from the computer’s memory. But with the right software, you (or someone else) can find deleted programs on a hard drive. The good news is that the other secret the public is seldom told about is that you can truly erase data by recording over the same spot several times –a process known as “wiping”. Look on popular download sites (like www.download.com) for wipe programs or “file shredders.”


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Never sell, give away, or dispose of a used computer unless and until you have wiped the hard drive clean. Even if you delete all the files, and even if you re-format the hard drive, data could still be recovered from it which may include passwords, personal documents, web sites visited, or just about anything else that was saved onto the disk and never securely removed. To remove all remnants of old files from your hard drive, you need to “wipe” them clean multiple times. This can be done with a number of different software programs. One free option: Eraser (eraser.heidi.ie). Running data removal software can be a somewhat involved process, so if you are not computer savvy, call in a techie (and watch what he’s doing to keep him honest). 7. Approach email security with a multi-pronged strategy. When it comes to email, don’t use one address for everything. Have several different accounts set up. Use one account for messages sent to public groups, another for online shopping, another for business/work, and perhaps one or two others for your personal communications with family and friends. Each new account you create (and each old one you abandon) makes it that much harder for a snoop to find out information about you from old emails that may be stored in a variety of places. Another way to conceal your identity is to send email from a public terminal such as a library or a kiosk available at cyber cafes and airports. By opening an email account over the Internet from one of these machines, you can then send an email message, and it can only be tracked back to the point that you sent it from. When setting up the account the email server will ask you for your real name, but you can use an alias.

8. Be careful what you tell your doctor. With Obamacare on its way, the federal government has expanded its effort to compile data about patients throughout the country – including you. President Obama and the Democrats are pushing to nationalize and computerize all medical record-keeping, making it easy for just about anyone with dishonorable intentions to get ahold of your most sensitive data. Even without the legislation’s new privacy threats, most people don't realize how "open" their medical records already are. Your medical records may include: information about family relationships (including data on adopted children), information on children conceived artificially or whether a patient is infertile, has had sexually transmitted diseases, details of sexual behavior, or any substance abuse. It can also include the private thoughts, feelings, or emotions expressed by your doctor including his impressions and speculations on you which may be totally unfounded. These records are critically important and may affect important parts of your life such as whether you or a child will be admitted to certain educational institutions or whether or not your boss will


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decide to hire you (since sick employees are bad for the company health program and less apt to show up for work consistently). You can't assume that what you tell your doctor won't be used against you by an insurance company, an employer, or the government. You should give him all the information he needs to treat you, but no more. If he asks about activities or lifestyle choices that you'd rather keep private, then you are within your rights to decline to answer. You should also find a doctor who won't demand your Social Security number or who will let you use a different identifying number instead. That’s difficult to find these days, but not impossible.

9. Check your MIB medical file. In an effort to cut down on fraud and other costs, insurance companies have compiled data on millions of patients and consolidated all the information for easy access. Medical errors are surprisingly widespread, and one tiny error in your medical file could cause you to lose your insurance or be misdiagnosed. If you have health or life insurance, chances are good that the so-called Medical Information Bureau (MIB) has one or more files on your medical history. You have a right to see that file, and it's a good idea to check on this information from time to time to make sure nothing erroneous winds up in your file. You can see your file by visiting MIB’s website (www.mib.com) or calling 866-692-6901. The sooner you can spot a problem, the more likely it can be fixed before something goes wrong.

10. Safeguard your personal information by just saying “no.” Your personal information is just as enticing to businesses as it is to governments. Governments want it so that they can streamline arrests and prosecutions and make sure they obtain the tax compliance they require from each citizen. Businesses want your data so they can create consumer profiles and learn about how you are likely to spend your money. Your personal information will enable a business to send you junk mail, call you, and/or email you. When asked for non-pertinent yet private information the most important skill to learn when it comes to safeguarding your personal information is the skill of saying "no." When asked to provide your name, it's generally not a good idea to use your full legal name. Instead, use initials or an alias. For any form that asks for your "home address," you'll typically enter your rental mailbox address, if you have one. For your phone number, you can just write in "unlisted.” Your Social Security number should be left blank or filled in with "N/A," "unavailable," "pending," or something similar. Ditto for driver's license numbers. Often, this minimalist strategy will work just fine.


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Other times it won’t. It used to be that you could find a local banker who would let you open an account with no SSN; however, this is all but impossible post-Patriot Act. As of October 1, 2003, no account can legally be opened without the person's name, address, birth date, and Social Security number.

11. Monitor your credit report periodically. Learn to spot identity theft before a thief wreaks havoc in your life. If you haven't viewed a copy of your credit report recently, you should take the time to order one and look it over carefully. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, you are entitled to receive a free copy of your credit report annually. Contact: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281 Atlanta, GA 30348-5281; 877322-8228; www.annualcreditreport.com Don’t assume that everything on your report is accurate. Credit bureaus are notorious for making mistakes and for unwittingly reporting false information given to them by creditors. If you spot an error anywhere on your report, it is up to you to identify and dispute it, and it is your right to have it corrected under Section 611 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. When you dispute an entry on your credit report, the bureau must investigate your claim. If the party who made the entry fails to show evidence that it is, in fact, accurate, then the entry cannot remain on your report. Often disputes will be resolved in your favor – simply because dealing with disputes takes up valuable time, and many companies would rather not bother with the task.

12. Exercise your rights against pesky bill collectors, telemarketers, and junk mail syndicates. There's an easy and effective way to get bill collectors to leave you alone. All you have to do is invoke your rights (the bill collectors will count on you being unaware of them). First of all, you don't have to answer any questions bill collectors ask of you over the phone. And you shouldn't. Don't even bother talking to them. Federal fair debt collection standards stipulate that "without the prior consent of a consumer given directly to the debt collector or the express permission of a court of competent jurisdiction, a debt collector may not communicate with a consumer in connection with the collection of debt at any unusual time or place or at a time or place known or which should be known to be inconvenient to the consumer." If bill collectors are harassing you at home, at work, or through the phone you simple have to write them a letter invoking your legal right to privacy. You should write something like this: The purpose of this letter is to inform you that calling me or visiting me at my place of work or at my home at any time is inconvenient to me. Therefore, you may not attempt to reach


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me by phone or by visiting my home or workplace. You may communicate with me via U.S. mail only. If you fail to comply with this request, you are subject to civil liability of up to $500,000 under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Section 813).

This will almost certainly work. But if bill collectors continue to harass you, consult a lawyer. You can reduce the amount of junk mail you receive almost immediately by avoiding giving out personal information when it isn't necessary. Unless you tell them not to, most magazines will rent their subscriber lists to marketers. You can create "tracking codes" when you subscribe to magazines or request other materials through the mail. For example, if your name were "Ralph Allen Smith," you could enter your name as "Ralph A. Smith" for one magazine subscription, "Ralph Allan Smith" for another, and "R.A. Smith" for an order placed from a catalog. If you start getting loads of junk mail, you'll know who the culprit is by how your name is spelled on the mailings. Then, call the customer service department of the business selling your data and request that your information stop being marketed to other companies. Federal legislation has made it much easier to rid yourself of bothersome telemarketers. When hassled by a telemarketer inform him/her that you wish your telephone number to be placed on their do-not-call list. When faced with this demand, the telemarketer is legally required to remove your number from their call list. Failure to do so is a crime. To register your number on a national do not call list, dial 888-382-1222 or log on to www.donotcall.gov.

13. Don't just toss it – shred it! Stealing your identity can be as simple as going through your trash. And that, in itself, is not even illegal. Courts have ruled that trash is no longer private property once it's set out in the street or placed in a dumpster. Don’t make the mistake of casually tossing in the trash sensitive documents such as tax records or statements from credit card companies, banks, insurance companies, or utility companies. Anything with your address or any other identifying information printed on it should be regarded as sensitive. There is a simple way to prevent important documents, including old credit and debit cards, from being used as weapons of mass financial destruction. Shred them! A personal paper shredder is inexpensive and easy to operate. And it can give you the peace of mind of knowing that sensitive documents have been destroyed. A quality cross-cut shredder is cheap relative to the protection it can provide against nosey neighbors, stealthy snoops, “curious” garbage collectors, vindictive ex-spouses, and other potential


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prying eyes, including random, unemployed dumpster divers rummaging for anything they can use or sell.

14. Be mindful of privacy risks associated with transactions of more than $10,000. The hastily passed USA Patriot Act of 2001 contains provisions that make it easier for government agents to track and seize the assets not only of suspected terrorists, but of anyone who happens to engage in financial transactions over $10,000. So a word to the wise: Be careful whenever withdrawing more than (or close to) $10,000 in cash from a bank account. Doing so may jeopardize your financial privacy and security by triggering currency transaction reports to be filed with the U.S. government. When buying precious metals, be sure to ask the dealer about what/when/how certain transactions will be reported. Privacy-minded dealers do not report purchases except when the transaction is larger than $10,000 in size and payment is made with actual cash (green money) or multiple cash instruments totaling more than $10,000 (like money orders or cashier’s checks, but not personal checks). Responsible coin dealers generally only report the sale of precious metals in extremely rare circumstances. Of common silver products, only pre-1965 “junk” silver coins are subject to reporting on an IRS Form 1099, and only in quantities more than $10,000 face value – approximately $130,000 of current value. Sales of silver bullion rounds and bars do not trigger Form 1099 filing requirement. Neither do U.S. minted gold coins such as the American Eagle (but foreign minted gold coins do).

15. Keep your financial portfolio out of the reach of the government and greedy lawyers by investing in untraceable wealth such as gold and silver. In a digital age a little bit of information about you and your finances could clear out your bank accounts in just an instant. Just as quickly, your accounts could be frozen by the government, locking you out from your own money while you are being investigated for “suspicious activities.” Your deposits could also be garnished by the IRS or a judgment creditor. Having all of your money on deposit and on record with a financial institution is, in times like these, very dangerous. Stashing away hundred-dollar bills where no one knows about them does give you some measure of financial privacy. The problem is that our currency is continually being devalued by inflation caused by our corrupt cash-printing politicians. You can protect yourself from being a hapless pawn in a future centrally controlled, total surveillance economy by owning hard, liquid assets such as gold and silver coins. If a computer glitch or an authoritarian government agency prevents you from using your electronic money, you can barter with gold and silver coins or rounds.


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Precious metals are the only asset class in the world of investing that offers true privacy. Your precious metals can largely remain invisible to the outside world – if purchased and handled very carefully.

16. Select a reputable tax professional in order to avoid tax scams and defend yourself against the coming wave of IRS abuse. The U.S. tax code is perhaps the biggest scam being perpetrated on the American people. No one, including IRS agents, understands it; yet we are all required to sign, under penalty of perjury, that our tax returns comply with it. Talk about a catch-22! When President Barack Obama recently vowed to fix a “broken tax system,” he wasn't referring to the layers and layers of oppressive rules and regulations that torment honest citizens and stifle entrepreneurship. He was instead lamenting what he sees as collection obstacles – you know, like private property rights, bank privacy protections, due-process guarantees, and the legal presumption of innocence. Obama, the president supposedly of “change,” proposes an unprecedented (and unconstitutional) IRS enforcement jihad of the same old madness-inducing monstrosity of a tax code. The President has asked Congress to nearly double the Internal Revenue Service enforcement budget. He aims to quadruple funding for “tax compliance” over the course of his administration! Just imagine... four times as many IRS computers to acquire and tabulate data on your financial life... four times as many auditors to personally scrutinize your every 1040 entry against thousands of pages of impenetrable tax code... four times as many gun-toting Special Agents to raid small businesses and terrorize families that may be behind on their taxes. In the environment of an increasingly powerful and aggressive IRS, you need to take steps to protect your assets, yourself, and your family from being targeted. As inane and crooked as the tax system is, you are still better off ignoring popular tax evasion schemes peddled by con men who say they have found some legal loophole that will get you out of paying taxes. Each of these schemes shares something in common: They don't work. They've been presented in court, and they've been rejected over and over again. Yet these arguments, and variations of them, continue to be promoted by tax protesters who insist they have the magic words you can use to repel the IRS forever. It just isn't so. If you do decide to become a tax renegade, realize that there's no formula you can follow to insulate yourself from the IRS's wrath. Tax schemes that promise you tax freedom if you just send a special letter to the IRS or cite a particular court case are fraudulent.


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It is a good idea to work with a reputable, seasoned accountant when it comes time to do your taxes. You reduce your chances of being audited when your return is prepared and signed by a tax professional (a CPA or enrolled agent). It will cost you to have your taxes professionally prepared, but, by spending the money, you could very well spare yourself much greater costs and headaches in the long run.

17. Avoid IRS audit triggers. Chances are good that if your numbers raise no suspicions with IRS, you won't be among the roughly 1.5% of taxpayers (this number is rising) who are audited every year. Legitimate deductions rarely trigger an audit. However, IRS computers and bureaucrats do look for "red flags" that suggest (rightly or wrongly) a taxpayer may be fudging or exaggerating or underreporting. Among the most common red flags are: 

Required forms are missing.

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Forms are not completely filled out.

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Forms are riddled with obvious errors or omissions.

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Reported income is less than that indicated by tax documents (W2 forms, 1090 forms, etc.).All figures are "round" numbers (i.e., "$5,000" instead of "$4,997"), implying the filer is just guessing or outright making up the figures.

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An income in excess of $100,000 is reported – this factor alone more than doubles the likelihood of being subjected to an audit.

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Tax-protest literature or anti-IRS comments are included with a return (anyone who goes this route is begging to be audited; if you want to express your displeasure to the IRS for all it has done to erode your freedom, then do so in a separate mailing -- better yet, do so anonymously).

As you can surmise, the single biggest audit trigger is inaccuracy. So don't try to alter or scale down your legitimate deductions just to make them appear more “normal.”

18. Lock up smartly and guard your keys. Your home may be your castle, but don't count on snoops, burglars, or even the United States government to respect your right to reign over it. The government is supposed to protect our property rights from threats. However, depending solely on the government to protect your property and your family is foolish. You have to build your own fortress around your home. Most burglars will physically attack the door and lock. Such attacks can be successful with minimum expenditure of time and energy by the criminal. Confidential Subscriber Briefing – Copyright 2010

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The first line of defense is a quality door made of metal-clad or solid hardwood, hung in a metal or hardwood frame. Such a door is strong enough to stop a burglar or at least make his job tough enough that he'll draw the attention of a neighbor or someone inside the house. Unfortunately, virtually every lock on the market today can be defeated by a technique known as drilling. This is carried out with a cordless drill and a hardened drill bit. The criminal drills out the key barrel and then retracts the dead bolt or latch with a screwdriver. About the only way to defeat such burglars is to use a secondary line of defense like an inner latch, multiple deadbolts (to slow him down), or a burglar alarm. If you're concerned about drilling and are willing to pay a bit more for your door locks, some of the more expensive locks are able to withstand drilling for five minutes or more before being defeated. This may not sound like much time. But given the noise, five minutes is an excessive amount of time for a criminal to expose himself. These locks defeat most drilling-style attacks simply by outlasting the criminal. Of course, the best locks in the world won't help you if someone else has the key to them. So the first thing to do with locks on your home is be sure that only members of your family or highly trusted friends have copies.

19. Create defenses around your house and be prepared to exercise your right to self-defense. You should do everything you can to deprive intruders of potential hiding places around your home. Clear heavy brush and trim shrubs. Add some outdoor floodlights. Better yet, invest in relatively inexpensive lamps with integral motion sensors that switch the lights on when a moving body approaches them. You should take a quick trip around the outside of your home with a critical eye toward any points that a burglar might use to get inside. Once you've located these points, you need to either place an alarm sensor on the opening or make the entrance impossible to use. You may be able to have decorative iron bars added without wrecking the appearance of the structure. If these fit into the style of the building, you can exploit them to add security. Be sure bars are mounted with one-way screws so they can't be easily removed. Some plants can be employed to create natural barriers around your property. Cactus plants, rose bushes, and thorns of various types all will discourage burglars from entering areas that might otherwise provide easy access to your house or business. Since a determined burglar (as well as an intruder trying to gather dirt on you) will be able to defeat a lock if he has enough time and can work unobserved, your job is to make life miserable for him if he manages such a stunt. The best way to do this is with a good alarm system. Not only will this discourage an intruder, it will also give you the warning you need to protect your family. A house with a good alarm is at least three times less likely to be burglarized than is a home without an alarm system


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Burglars, “detectives,” and government agents prefer to break in to an empty house. For this reason, it should always look like someone is at your home. At night this means lights that go on or off in various rooms of the house; this is easily achieved with a few lights on timers. During the day and perhaps at night as well, a TV or radio should be left on to create the illusion that someone is home. While most intrusions will occur when you are away from your home, knowing who is at the door before you open it is an important security plus. One good solution is a peep hole in the front door (or a TV monitor if you wish to go high-tech, which has the added plus of allowing you to detect intrusions that occur when you are away). If the wrong guy is at the door, however, like it or not a gun may be the only thing standing between you and a thug looking for an easy victim during a time of lawlessness. You may wish to add stun guns, Tasers, pepper spray, and other devices to your home-defense arsenal. But if you feel your life or the life of a family member is in immediate danger, don't hesitate to respond with lethal force.

20. Hide or cache your valuables. You should also arrange the inside of your home so it is difficult for thieves to find your valuables. Set things up in your house so anything worth stealing is hard or impossible to find. Likewise, important papers, computer files, and the like that might be targets for those wanting information should also be hidden. Anything you can do to slow the intruder and make what he is looking for harder to find should be considered, thereby limiting his operation time and increase his chances of being apprehended by the police. One problem with home safes is that they indicate to an intruder where the valuables are, and the intruder can simply take the safe and hire a locksmith to break it open later. You could play head games with would-be burglars by placing a cheap decoy safe in a conspicuous location. The burglar may take it and run or spend precious time trying to break into it. Inside the safe, keep perhaps a non-working gun, costume jewelry, some foreign or unusual coins that appear to be valuable, old non-working keys, blank CD-Rs, or other material that looks valuable but in fact isn't. Sometimes the best way to store valuables is by simply hiding them so that they are nearly impossible to find. But don’t be predictable in your hiding places. When criminals or professional snoops break into a home to find something, there are key places they typically check. These include: the refrigerator, the master bedroom closet, furniture (including the underside of drawers and the backs of chairs and couches), behind pictures (where there might be a wall safe), or drawers and cabinets of any type. Hide your valuables in places a potential thief would hesitate to explore. Try hiding them near or around heavy machinery, especially if it is electrified, presents dangers that most of us have been


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conditioned to avoid. A hot water heater will have an open flame or heating oil and other potential hazards, and it can offer a few spots for hiding keys or even for concealing a floor safe carefully painting the box so it matches the other metal is essential for completing the camouflage. Many homes have “dead space” under stairways, behind cabinets, or in other places. If you have carpentry skills, often these areas can be employed as hiding places. One of the best places to hide valuables that is easy to construct is a “dummy run” of empty piping. Simply study the layout of your plumbing carefully, and then create a run that appears to be legitimate. A cache is simply something valuable buried in the ground. Caching makes it almost impossible to find something if you don't know its exact location. All you need is a shovel, a spot out of your neighbors' or other observers' sight, and a water-tight container to protect your valuables from moisture. The container for the cache should be very tough and be able to last decades.

21. Consider moving some assets offshore. Most Americans go about their daily lives under the mis-impression that this is still a free country. The good news is that the world is full of opportunities in emerging free countries. In recent years, more and more Americans have moved more and more of their assets overseas – to the tune of more than $1.5 trillion. Placing assets in offshore accounts can be an effective way of insulating them from potential creditors, fraudsters, and other threats, provided you do so well in advance of any troubles. There are dozens of countries that serve as asset havens for U.S. citizens. Among them are the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Belize, Panama, Hong Kong, Austria, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. Switzerland is the most popular offshore financial haven. Of all private wealth that is relocated to another country, approximately one-third of it is in Switzerland. For one thing, it is a convenient and safe country to do business in. The economy is strong, the people are friendly, and many languages are widely spoken. Perhaps most importantly, Swiss law forbids financial institutions from disclosing information about an individual's account to a third party unless specifically ordered by a Swiss court. Unfortunately, such privacy protections have recently been violated by some Swiss financial institutions being pressured to do so by Obama administration officials. It is becoming increasingly difficult for U.S. citizens to open Swiss bank accounts. Nevertheless, some foreign diversification of wealth is essential. Even if you just let your money sit idly in a foreign account, you will be achieving the important purpose of making that money safer in some respects than it would be in a U.S. investment account. That's because the IRS and other possible creditors could be frustrated in their attempts to get at a foreign bank account that offers better privacy and property rights protections than a typical U.S. account.


21 Cutting Edge Strategies

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