Current Shareware 1994 January/SHAR194.ISO/finance/buygold.zip/GOLDPLAN.TXT

Text File | 1993-05-07 | 17KB | 320 lines

                                 GOLDPLAN

               GoldPlan is an organized method of buying gold for
          this purpose.  It is based purely on the investment and
          inflation insurance aspects of gold, and does not involve
          gambling on coin collecting values, or other gimmicks.
          And it is designed to be more efficient and more
          economical than buying gold coins for their bullion
          value.

               GoldPlan is an investment account created by
          UberseeBank, a medium sized Swiss bank which specializes
          in investment management.  The bank does not engage in
          general commercial banking or in lending to corporations
          or foreign governments, so it is not exposed to such
          risks, nor does it have any conflicts of interest with
          managing the investor's money for best results.

               Founded in 1965, the bank now serves over 12,000
          clients, managing funds of almost US $3 billion.  It is
          a wholly-owned subsidiary of American International Group
          Inc., one of the largest insurance holding companies.
          AIG has assets exceeding US $45 billion and capital of US
          $8.3 billion.  It employees 33,000 people in over 130
          countries.

               GoldPlan is based on cost-averaging, rather than
          trying to outguess the market.  It is designed for simple
          and systematic savings -- for example, an investor might
          decide to put $250 per month into gold.  That $250 is
          going into gold every month, regardless of what the
          market does.  In the long run the gold cost will be less
          than the average market price in the same period.  This
          is called cost-averaging.  It requires no market
          expertise from the investor -- just the dedication to
          make the same fixed investment each month regardless of
          the market.  (In fact, some investors make a point of not
          looking at the market price.)

               A similar technique is used by stock market
          investors -- the cost-averaging principle is the same
          regardless of what is being bought.  A fixed dollar
          amount is being invested every month, rather than buying
          a fixed unit such as one share or one ounce.

               Uberseebank handles the GoldPlan accounts, sending
          detailed statements on each purchase of gold made for the
          investor.  By purchasing in this manner, the investors
          benefit from the bank being able to buy at wholesale
          prices normally available only to large purchasers.  In
          turn the investor pays no extra fee on small unit amounts
          nor the regular spread charged when buying and selling
          gold.  These savings can be as much as 3% because of the
          wholesale price, and another 8% by not having to pay
          small order surcharges.  When added to the 20% savings
          that is often typical with cost-averaging, the investor
          is able to build the gold portion of his portfolio in the
          most economical way.

               Naturally, such accounts are treated with the same
          secrecy as any other Swiss bank account.  Each investor's
          gold is held separately by the bank, in a fiduciary
          (trustee) relationship.  This is important, because it
          means that the gold is always the investor's property,
          and not merely a gold denominated obligation of the bank.
          Thus solvency or credit standing of the bank can not
          affect the investor's holdings, although a bank failure
          in Switzerland is almost unimaginable even with a
          commercial bank -- and UberseeBank does not even assume
          commercial risks..  Of course the gold is insured as well
          as guarded, and the investor has a choice of having it
          stored in Switzerland, the United States, or Canada.

               GoldPlan accounts can be tailored to the investor's
          needs.  One may want to invest more money to achieve the
          diversification goal more quickly than originally
          intended.  Flexibility is the keyword in the operation of
          these accounts.  The investor can suspend monthly
          purchases at any time without penalty.

               Account possibilities range from monthly purchases
          to large lump sum purchases, depending upon the
          individual investor's needs.

               In deciding how much of a portfolio should go to
          each type of investment, it is best to ignore the
          existence of the personal residence or a personally owned
          business.  These are not really investment assets, and
          serve a different purpose.  They do not provide ready
          access to capital for either growth or emergency funds.
          To achieve a properly balanced portfolio, it is better to
          diversify based on only the liquid investments.
          Otherwise one can find that the picture has become
          unbalanced, by including a very large part of the wealth
          in a non-liquid position, and counting that as part of
          the diversification.

               Information on GoldPlan may be obtained from:

                    Mr. Jurg Lattmann.
                    JML Swiss Investment Counsellors AG,  Dept. 212
                    Germaniastrasse 55
                    8031 Zurich
                    Switzerland

                    telephone [phone]
                    fax: [phone], attn: Dept. 212.

               The firm specializes in dealing with English
          speaking investors, and everybody in the firm speaks
          excellent English.


          Swiss Secrecy and Protection of GoldPlan Accounts
               Switzerland has long served as a magnet for the
          money of wealthy foreigners who perceive the world as
          buffeted by over-taxation, over-regulation and political
          turmoil. They are attracted, of course, by the
          confidentiality and discretion that have been a hallmark
          of Swiss bankers since the French Revolution, when they
          offered financial refuge to French aristocrats.

               Banking in Switzerland, a land of few natural
          resources, has been immensely lucrative. Operating in a
          country less than half the size of Maine, Swiss banks
          control more than $400 billion in assets, making the
          country the third-largest financial center in the world.

               For people with money to protect -- whether a little
          or a lot -- Switzerland is traditionally considered the
          world's safest repository. These days, the Swiss can give
          Americans many reasons to leave funds in Switzerland  But
          the promise of total secrecy in financial matters remains
          one of the greatest attraction of Swiss banks.

               That promise isn't just a lot of hype. Secrecy and
          discretion in financial matters are anchored in the
          democratic principles of Switzerland. It is a
          cornerstone.  In 1934 the Swiss put teeth in their
          traditional code of bank secrecy by enacting the Swiss
          Banking Law. To stop Nazi agents from bribing Swiss bank
          employees for names of account holders, the law
          prescribed a hefty fine and prison sentence for any bank
          employee caught divulging information on bank customers.
          Moreover, the law decreed that bank employees must carry
          their secrets to the grave -- not just until they leave
          the bank.

               The Swiss Banking Law remains very much intact
          today, but instead of Nazi agents the law now confounds
          agents of the US Internal Revenue Service. If the
          accountholder doesn't tell, the IRS cannot find out how
          much they have on deposit in a Swiss account -- or even
          that a Swiss account exists in their name -- unless it
          can convince Swiss authorities that they have committed
          a criminal offense under Swiss law. Those last three
          words are key, because many infractions that are
          considered criminal in the US -- most significantly, tax
          evasion -- aren't criminal offenses in Switzerland.
               Unhappy with their reputation as magnets for illicit
          dollars, many Swiss bankers downplay the secrecy shroud.
          Rather than secrecy, the best reason to open a Swiss
          account, they say, simply is to internationalize your
          investments.

               The argument goes like this: the risk in a portfolio
          is lessened when the assets are diversified among
          different investments.  So why not diversify further by
          investing money in countries besides the US?  To do that,
          an investor needs access to international markets.
          Switzerland really is a financial supermarket in that
          regard.

               Swiss banking is often identified in America with
          banking secrecy.  Popular media stories have created two
          contradictory pictures: that Swiss secrecy hinders law
          enforcement officers from prosecuting criminals, while
          others claim that Swiss secrecy does not exist anymore
          and is as full of holes as a Swiss cheese.  Neither is
          true.

               The basic position in Swiss civil law is that the
          information concerning a customer and the customer's
          financial dealings is protected as part of the
          individual's legal right to privacy.  In Switzerland,
          this has been made part of Article 28 of the Swiss Civil
          Code, and not only protects the information, but makes
          the person violating the secrecy liable to pay damages to
          the customer.  In addition, the banking law makes it a
          criminal offense in Switzerland for a banker to divulge
          information about a customer in violation of the law,
          punishable by fine or imprisonment.  Both the bank and
          the bank employee may be subject to various penalties if
          a violation occurs.

               A bank can only disclose information when authorized
          to do so under existing statutory provisions or by a
          Swiss court order, which must be founded on law.  Secrecy
          is interpreted so broadly that it is illegal for a bank
          to say whether or not a person is a customer, since if
          the bank failed to do so it would be implying that the
          person was a customer.

               The right of secrecy is a right belonging to the
          customer, not the bank.  It is the customer's privacy
          that is protected by law.  The customer can waive the
          secrecy, but the bank cannot.  For example, the customer
          may waive secrecy and ask the bank to give a credit
          reference to a specific creditor.  But such a waiver is
          only valid if the customer acts voluntarily and not under
          duress.  Therefore, waivers that were signed pursuant to
          foreign court orders compelling a customer to sign a
          waiver may well be invalid.   A financial institution
          cannot ask the government for an order waiving secrecy.
          Only the customer can waive the secrecy.

               Contrary to an opinion current in America, Swiss
          secrecy is not absolute.  It can be overridden by
          statutory provisions which compel the giving of
          information.

               Such rules requiring disclosure of information --
          usually with a limited scope -- can be found in Swiss
          inheritance law (one really wouldn't want the sole
          legitimate heir going into the insurance company with a
          death certificate to be told they can't tell him
          anything), in enforcement of judgments from creditors, in
          bankruptcy or in divorce.

               The most widely known limitation on secrecy is in
          treaties concerning Swiss cooperation in foreign criminal
          matters.

               In a criminal investigation conducted in
          Switzerland, of a Swiss crime committed by a Swiss
          citizen, secrecy can be lifted by court order.  The
          treaties extend this possibility to foreign crimes by
          foreign citizens in foreign investigations, but only in
          the limited circumstances spelled out in the treaties.

               Before a foreign legal assistance request for Swiss
          financial records can be honored the following conditions
          must be met:

               1)  Compulsory disclosure is only possible if the
          offense that is being prosecuted is punishable as a
          criminal offense in both countries (the requesting state
          and Switzerland).

               2)  In tax cases assistance is available to foreign
          prosecutors only if the investigated violation of foreign
          tax laws would be qualified under Swiss law as a tax
          fraud and not merely as tax evasion.  Tax evasion is
          simply the failure to declare income or assets for
          taxation.  Tax fraud is distinguished by the fact that
          "fraudulent conduct" is involved.  Normally "fraudulent
          conduct" can only be assumed if forged documents are
          used.

               There is a special provision of the Swiss-United
          States Treaty on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters
          that provides Swiss legal assistance to U. S. prosecutors
          even in tax evasion cases if they are conducting an
          investigation against an organized crime group.

               3)  As a general rule, the information obtained in
          Switzerland through a legal assistance procedure may not
          be used for investigative purposes nor be introduced into
          evidence in the requesting state in any proceeding
          relating to an offense other than the offense for which
          assistance has been granted.

               It must be emphasized that foreign authorities or
          foreign courts cannot directly ask a Swiss financial
          institution for information. Even in cases in which legal
          assistance can be granted and therefore secrecy is
          lifted, only a Swiss court order - which in these cases
          is based upon a foreign request for legal assistance -
          can validly lift secrecy.

               Considering this, it can be said that secrecy is
          strict and is only put aside in case clearly defined by
          Swiss law and pursuant to Swiss rules.  Secrecy is,
          however, not absolute and does therefore not protect
          criminals.

               The principle of neutrality protects all wealth,
          equally.  This principle of neutrality is important
          toward understanding why the Swiss excel at the
          preservation of individual wealth.  Your wealth simply
          cannot, and will not, be held hostage in Switzerland.  By
          staying out of international conflicts and maintaining
          strict neutrality, Switzerland has become a refuge for
          capital from all over the world.

               Too often in the history of mankind have paper
          currencies become worthless.  The huge gold reserves
          behind the Swiss currency simply prove that Switzerland
          trusts gold more as a monetary reserve than foreign paper
          currencies.  Today, in most of the world, gold is out,
          the laughingstock of the marketplace.  Paper money is
          king, but then junk bonds were king in the 1980s.

               The past ten year record for gold has not been good,
          especially for those who simply chose gold out of loyalty
          to the principle that gold and sound money are important.

               So is gold extinct?  The history of money has
          clearly shown that it is not -- paper money will fail
          again, and again, and again.  There is no reliable way to
          know when, but we can accept the lesson of history that
          it will.  The popularity of an investment has nothing to
          do with its soundness.