wealthy international families Archives - blog

Q & A – PPLI for Wealthy International Families

Posted on by

Questions and Answers from the book “The Wit and Wisdom of Professor PPLI: How to Achieve Exceptional Asset Structuring with Private Placement Life Insurance”

~ by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC

Get the book now!

See original article

PPLI for Wealthy International Families

– Including Wealthy U.S. Families

PPLI’s Beautiful Architecture

Part 3

Professor PPLI, in this Part we have a discussion of light and dark from different perspectives. How can this be relevant to PPLI asset structuring?

Imagine a typical flowchart that is used to depict a PPLI asset structure. On most flowcharts of this type, the PPLI policy box is located in the middle. Usually the owner, most often a trust, is above the PPLI policy box, and below are the various assets and holding companies necessary to complete the structure.

Let us now hear from physicist, Julian Scudder,

“Stars form light as a byproduct of the incredible pressures at their centers…. New stars only unveil themselves to our eyes by using the light they give off to burn away the dust and gas that hid them in darkness.”

Now back to our flowchart. Think of the PPLI policy box as a star at the center of the asset structure. The pressure in our analogy is the well-established insurance laws and regulations throughout the world which make these structures possible.

This PPLI policy box, now a newly formed star, gives off light to the other elements of the structure like the trust, assets, and beneficiaries so they can shine forth. All the elements then have the light they need to make the entire structure successful. This brings to mind the subtitle of our Part, PPLI’s Beautiful Architecture.

Professor PPLI, why did you include U.S. families in the title along with international families? Aren’t there domestic U.S. policies that can serve their needs?

If all a family’s assets are located in the U.S., they might consider using a U.S. product, but most often this would not work if they had unusual asset classes. Domestic U.S. PPLI companies structure their products as extensions of the standard retail Variable Universal Life products.

In most cases, a family is much better off using an offshore insurance company with a 953(d) election. Not only are fees lower, but the entire structure will put most families closer to their ultimate goal–to achieve the six elements of Expanded Worldwide Planning (EWP): privacy, asset protection, tax shield, succession planning, compliance simplifier, and trust substitute.

In our first answer we made an analogy between PPLI and the physical aspects of a star as it relates to light. Many advisors would find this analogy far fetch as most international tax advisors have little or no knowledge of the asset structuring possibilities of PPLI. Professor PPLI, please expand on this fact for us.

Quite true indeed. Attorneys, trust officers, and accountants are not offered any courses in PPLI asset structuring in their formal education, so they must encounter this outstanding tool later in their practices. Even when they do, they frequently reject it, because they are unaware of this variety of life insurance and equate PPLI with retail products.

This is not helped in the U.S. where a few major insurance companies do offer PPLI, but it is more of an extension of their retail products, as we mentioned in the second answer.

It takes a creative partnership between the various disciplines involved in a PPLI structure to accomplish the magic. When attorneys, asset managers, trust officers, accountants, and insurance advisors truly understand the dynamic asset structuring elements of PPLI, they can ride the exciting wave of what we call in the book the Unifying Factor.

Currently, when the very concept of wealth seems under attack from political parties, governments hungry for tax dollars, and worldwide governing bodies like the OECD, why not embrace the Unifying Factor. Families then can avail themselves of the six principles of Expanded Worldwide Planning (EWP) that we mentioned earlier. At Advanced Financial Solutions Inc., we endeavor to secure the Unifying Factor for each of our clients.

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #PPLI #privateplacement #lifeinsurance #advancedfinancialsolutions

Let PPLI Lead the Charge

Posted on by

The Highest Form of Zero

Part 5

Download PDF

Our next few articles will comprise an in-depth look at the five main components of our PPLI Concept Map: Professor PPLI Defines Nothing. We also offer you the fifth part of, “She Was Good For Nothing,” by Hans Christian Andersen. This charming fairy tale supports our theme of nothing.

The potential of Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) as an asset structuring tool for wealthy families has barely been explored. Particularly in a U.S. context, one sees PPLI’s unique traits expressed in numbers, mainly through the compounding of the tax-free growth of its cash value over time. Yes, this is most true and correct, but this is only the beginning of the story.

Just as “the cloud” has taken our data storage to a new level, this article will endeavor to raise your awareness of the myriad possibilities of PPLI for structuring the worldwide assets of wealthy families. This is expressed excellently in the Senior Consultant, The Voice of the Investment Management Consultant.

“Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) is much more than an insurance policy. PPLI represents one of the most powerful vehicles available to the high net worth investor in the marketplace today.

PPLI enhances both wealth creation and wealth preservation. Wealth creation is the result of the tax-free growth of the assets in the insurance contract. Wealth preservation is a result of the death benefit paid from the insurance contract.”

Here are a few examples where Advanced Financial Solutions was able to assist wealthy international families.

PPLI Solution A, by Advanced Financial Solutions Inc.

A Chinese client, who is a U.S. green card holder residing in Hong Kong, had pre-IPO stock valued at $10M. Upon going public, it was estimated that the stock will be worth many times this valuation. Through the use of careful planning, we were able to place the stock into a properly structured PPLI policy before the stock went public, thus saving the client $45M in U.S. capital gains tax. He was able to diversify his holdings inside the policy tax-free, and pass his estate tax-free to his heirs. The client accessed the funds inside the policy through low-cost policy loans.

PPLI Solution B

A Chinese family came to us for succession planning for offshore companies owned by the family. They wished to pass these offshore companies located in various parts of the world to their son, who is a green card holder residing in the U.S. Besides transferring the companies at the death of the wealth owner via a properly structured PPLI policy, the son wished to take the profits from the companies and invest them in real estate projects outside the U.S. We created a PPLI structure for the family that accomplished all of these aims. The PPLI structure also gave them tax-deferral on all the future revenue from the companies.

PPLI Solution C

An Israeli client who resides in Italy has a company where all the revenue is generated in Italy. He is also a U.S. green card holder, but spends very little time in the U.S. He had a Nevada company that did the processing of his customers’ orders which came from customers worldwide. The client wished to restructure to lessen his U.S. tax burden which we accomplished for him using a 953(d) offshore PPLI policy.

PPLI Solution D

A young entrepreneur with worldwide holdings in sports, natural resources, gaming, and content management wishes us to check his compliance with FATCA and CRS. He is a U.S. green card holder as well as a UK resident, and citizen of an African country. He had created a dozen companies with excellent potential. We brought him into compliance with tax authorities worldwide with a PPLI structure. We gave his revenues a boost, because in the PPLI structure all the profits become tax-deferred. We protected his family with the low-cost death benefit of the PPLI policy.

We conclude our theme of Nothing by defining it with a Dutch concept, niksen from Olga Mecking in the New York Times article, “The Case for Doing Nothing, Stop being so busy, and just do nothing. Trust us.”

“Running from place to place and laboring over long to-do lists have increasingly become ways to communicate status: I’m so busy because I’m just so important, the thinking goes.

Perhaps it’s time to stop all this busyness. Being busy — if we even are busy — is rarely the status indicator we’ve come to believe it is. Nonetheless, the impact is real, and instances of burnout, anxiety disorders and stress-related diseases are on the rise, not to mention millennial burnout.

There’s a way out of that madness, and it’s not more mindfulness, exercise or a healthy diet (though these things are all still important). What we’re talking about is … doing nothing. Or, as the Dutch call it, niksen.

What is niksen?

It’s difficult to define what doing nothing is, because we are always doing something, even when we’re asleep.

Doreen Dodgen-Magee, a psychologist who studies boredom and wrote the book “Deviced! Balancing Life and Technology in a Digital World,” likens niksen to a car whose engine is running but isn’t going anywhere.

“The way I think about boredom is coming to a moment with no plan other than just to be,” she said.

Sandi Mann, a psychologist at the University of Central Lancashire in Britain, added that niksen can be “when we’re not doing the things we should be doing. Because perhaps we don’t want to, we’re not motivated. Instead, we’re not doing very much.”

More practically, the idea of niksen is to take conscious, considered time and energy to do activities like gazing out of a window or sitting motionless. The less-enlightened might call such activities “lazy” or “wasteful.” Again: nonsense.”

Part 5 of “She Was Good For Nothing” by Hans Christian Andersen:

“It was just then that my darling boy, who lies sleeping there, was born. Then his father had a long and severe illness, and for nine months I even had to dress and undress him every day. We kept on going backward. We had to borrow more and more; one by one all our possessions were sold; and at last Erik died. Since then I have worked and slaved for the boy’s sake, have gone out scrubbing floors and washing linen, done coarse work or fine, whatever I could get. But I was not to be better off; it is the Lord’s will! He will take me away and find better provisions for my child.” Then she fell asleep.

In the morning she seemed better and decided she was strong enough to return to her work. But the moment she felt the cold water a shivering seized her; she grasped about convulsively with her hands, took one step forward, and fell. Her head lay on the dry bank, but her feet were in the water of the river; her wooden shoes, in each of which there was a handful of straw, were carried away by the current.

And here she was found by Maren, when she came to bring her some coffee.

A message had come to her lodging that the Mayor wanted to see her, for he had something to say to her. It was too late. A doctor was summoned; the poor washerwoman was dead.

“She has drunk herself to death,” said the Mayor.

The letter that had brought the Mayor the news of his brother’s death also gave a summary of his will, and among other bequests he had left six hundred dollars to the glovemaker’s widow, who had formerly served his parents! The money was to be paid at discretion in large or small sums to her and her child.

“There was some nonsense about love between my brother and her,” said the Mayor. “It’s just as well she’s out of the way. Now it will all come to the boy, and I’ll place him with some honest people who will make him a good workman.” And on these words our Lord laid his blessings.

And the Mayor sent for the boy, promised to take care of him, and told him it was a lucky thing his mother was dead; she was good for nothing.

They carried her to the churchyard, to a pauper’s grave. Maren planted a little rose tree on her grave, while the boy stood beside her.

“My darling mother,” he said as the tears started from his eyes. “Is it true that she was good for nothing?”

“No, it is not true!” said the old woman, looking up to heaven. “I have known it for many years and especially since the night before she died. I tell you she was a good and fine woman, and our Lord in heaven will say so, too, so let the world say: ‘She was good for nothing!’ “

We wish to take you to the highest level of Expanded Worldwide Planning through careful research of your unique family situation. Please let us begin the process by contacting our office today for a gratis initial consultation to find out if our advanced PPLI structuring methods align with your financial goals.

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #PPLI #privateplacement #lifeinsurance #advancedfinancialsolutions

PPLI for Wealthy International Families

Posted on by

– Including Wealthy U.S. Families

PPLI’s Beautiful Architecture

Part 3

Download PDF

Our next few articles will comprise an in-depth look at the five main components of our PPLI Concept Map: Professor PPLI meets Leonardo da Vinci.

What does beauty have to do with Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI)? This is what we will explore in our article today. The tax compliant, conservative PPLI structuring techniques employed by Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. have their own language of beauty which Leonardo da Vinci exemplified visually in his painting techniques.

We will also answer the question: why it is important for U.S. families, as well as wealthy international families that have a connection to the U.S., to use a life insurance company based in Bermuda, Barbados, or other offshore location that uses a 953(d) election? This PPLI structure offers these families the most advanced, yet fully compliant, asset structuring possibilities that are available. It is not a question of onshore vs. offshore, but what lies between as we will reveal in our article.

How is this connected to Leonardo da Vinci? It is connected to his painting technique called chairocurso or sfuamto. It came from his attention to the area between light and dark.

In the first panel of our Concept Map we explored the dark smoke that comes out of the backyard barbeque. In this article we will concentrate on the area that is between light and dark.

The Encylopedia of Fine Art gives us this definition of sfumato as:

“ In fine art, the term “sfumato” (derived from the Italian word fumo, meaning “smoke”) refers to the technique of oil painting which colours or tones are blended in such a subtle manner that they melt into one another without perceptible transitions, lines or edges. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) himself described sfumato as a blending of colours “without lines or borders, in the manner of smoke.” It is as if a veil of smoke has been placed between the painting and the viewer, toning down the bright areas and lightening the dark ones, so as to produce a soft, imperceptible transition between the differing tones. Typically involving the use of a number of translucent glazes to create a gradual tonal spectrum from dark to light, Sfumato is classified as one of four painting modes of Renaissance art, the others being Unione, Cangiante, and Chiaroscuro.”

PPLI: The Unifying Structure

So what is between light and dark? In English, the word between comes from the Old English word betweonum, meaning “in the space which separates or midway.” What we call the region between light and dark is in reality a unifying factor. This will be seen more clearly shortly when we delineate the winning combination of entities called: The Unifying Structure.

Wouldn’t your planning possibilities increase many fold if you were considered a U.S. person just for federal income tax purposes, but not regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC)? Remember a PPLI death benefit is exempt from federal income tax purposes. The assets inside a properly structured PPLI policy are shielded from all taxation. If the policy is not under the regulation of the SEC, you can invest in almost any asset that can be held by a trust company:

Real estate
PFICs, PFHCs, CFCs
Closely held companies
Operating businesses, if structured properly
Image rights
Patents and trademarks
Stock portfolios
Cash
Art and collectibles

Yes, you do have the best of two worlds! If you are subject to the U.S. tax system, this combination of an insurance company based in Barbados, Bermuda, or similar jurisdiction that has a 953(d) election, is very much worth your consideration.

In our next article, Part 4, we will give you more detail on the 953(d) election. The Unifying Factor exists when the structure takes advantage of using the insurance regulations of a country like Barbados, Bermuda, or other country that has constructed its insurance code to accommodate the most advanced possibilities of PPLI. When this is combined with a 953(d) election one achieves The Unifying Factor.

Let us see how light and dark is seen from the standpoint of physics courtesy of Astroquizzical from Jillian Scudder, “Can light exist without darkness.”

“To the great dismay of the great existentialist thinkers, scientifically speaking, this is not that difficult a question to tackle.

From a physics perspective, “light” is just a series of particles zooming through space, a little beam of radiation heading outwards in the cosmos. An individual particle of light usually doesn’t care whether it’s surrounded by lots of other photons, or whether it is off on its own in the universe, traveling a unique path.

Darkness is usually described simply as the absence of light; this description also works pretty well as a physical description. By this standard, “light” and “darkness” are just a binary toggle between “radiation” or “not radiation”.

The question here is asking if you can have only radiation – only light – and skip the “no radiation” part entirely. If you remove darkness, could you still have light? If you’re thinking about darkness and light in terms of a yes/no toggle, then this is perfectly possible. You just hold the toggle at “yes” at all times. The individual light particles won’t care that they’re not letting “not radiation” not have its times – they’re simply travelling forwards.

The ways that our universe produces light are also independent on a lack of light nearby. Stars form light as a byproduct of the incredible pressures at their centers, and are most often formed in clusters – with tens to hundreds of other stars forming nearby. New stars only unveil themselves to our eyes by using the light they give off to burn away the dust and gas that hid them in darkness.

There are two major reasons for darkness in the universe. The first is to be in shadow. The physical blocking of light by an object is an easy way to be in darkness. That’s all night is on Earth, after all – you’re in the shadow of the planet. The second is that the universe hasn’t existed for an infinite amount of time. If the universe had already existed for an infinite amount of time, our skies would be brilliant with light both day and night, as the light from every star in the universe streamed towards us, brightening our skies. In that case, the only sources of darkness would be the shadows. In that universe, perhaps we would be asking the question the other way around – is there any darkness without the light?”

Our last analogous article shows us light and dark in the realm of symbolism courtesy of the Pen & the Pad, “Dark & Light Symbolism in Literature,” by Diane Kampf.

“Symbolism is the use of imagery to emphasize deeper meanings and emotions. Two common symbols used in literature are darkness and light. Darkness is often used to convey negativity: evil, death or the unknown. Light is used to convey something positive: goodness, life or hope. Some of the most-studied literature contains symbolic uses of darkness and light.”

The Bible

It could be argued that the Bible serves as the basis for almost all themes found in Western literature. At the heart of biblical themes is the concept of good vs. evil. Goodness is often portrayed as some element of light. In Genesis, God creates light and calls it good. In the New Testament, Jesus himself is described as the light of the world. The visions of heaven described in the Revelation of John contain imagery of light.

Shakespeare

Most academic studies in literature include at least one play by Shakespeare and dark and light symbolism abound in many of his works. In “Macbeth,” darkness is used a number of times to symbolize death. The famous line, “Out, out brief candle,” refers to Lady Macbeth’s suicide. Banquo’s torch is extinguished at the moment of his death. In “Romeo and Juliet,” light is used to show Juliet’s beauty and her dazzling influence on Romeo. When Romeo first sees Juliet, he says, “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” (Act I, scene 5, line 45) Even when she dies, her brightness endures. When Romeo finds her in the tomb, he says,

“A grave? O, no, a lantern, slaughtered youth, For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes This vault a feasting presence full of light ” (Act V, scene 3. lines 84-86)”

We opened our article discussing beauty–and we have not forgotten it. More on beauty in Part 4. We look forward to your comments, and assisting you with your clients that can benefit from PPLI structuring. Please let us know how we can help you!

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #PPLI #privateplacement #lifeinsurance #advancedfinancialsolutions

Targeting Wealthy international families

‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’

Posted on by

PPLI Brings You Home

Updated

Wealthy international families can create a tax compliant and enhanced privacy Home for their assets using Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI). The concept of Home is a powerful one for all of us.

At this point in the digital age, you could consider a smartphone to be a type of Home for information. A smart phone can organize and personalize different elements of our lives to bring them to a place that gives us a sense of security much like a physical Home does.

We all like to arrange our contacts, notifications, sounds, and other features to suit our personal taste. The key word here is personal.

“PPLI can do the same for the assets of wealthy international families that are spread throughout the world.”

Our featured news article uses personal in another sense. We are widening our concept of Home to include ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is.’ For Kris Goldsmith what spurred him into action was misinformation that was being spread over Facebook about U.S. Veterans. This emotional element of Home can be a strong force in our lives.

“PPLI is a welcomed unifying element for the assets of wealthy international families.”

Let us review all that can be included in the assets of wealthy international families by visiting the Wikipedia page on Assets:

“In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned by the business. Anything tangible or intangible that can be owned or controlled to produce value and that is held by a company to produce positive economic value is an asset. Simply stated, assets represent the value of ownership that can be converted into cash (although cash itself is also considered an asset). The balance sheet of a firm records the monetary value of the assets owned by that firm. It covers money and other valuables belonging to an individual or to a business.

One can classify assets into two major asset classes: tangible assets and intangible assets. Tangible assets contain various subclasses, including current assets and fixed assets. Current assets include inventory, while fixed assets include such items as buildings and equipment.

Intangible assets are non-physical resources and rights that have a value to the firm because they give the firm some kind of advantage in the marketplace. Examples of intangible assets include goodwill, copyrights, trademarks, patents and computer programs, and financial assets, including such items as accounts receivable, bonds and stocks.”

“With proper structuring most all the assets mentioned above can be included in a PPLI policy.”

Let us return to ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is,’ by following the trail of Kris Goldsmith in his search for disinformation as it related to the Vietnam Veterans of America. Our source is The Wall Street Journal article, “Army Veteran Wages War on Social-Media Disinformation,” by Ben Kesling and Dustin Volz. If you change the subject matter, Mr. Goldsmith’s search could be ours.

We all have topics that compel us to act in one way or another, if what we see on Facebook or in the media strike the right emotional cord for us. This emotional cord is ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is.’

Kris Goldsmith’s campaign to get Facebook Inc. to close fake accounts targeting U.S. veterans started with a simple search.

He was seeking last year to gauge the popularity of the Facebook page for his employer, Vietnam Veterans of America. The first listing was an impostor account called “Vietnam Vets of America” that had stolen his group’s logo and had more than twice as many followers.

Mr. Goldsmith, a 33-year-old Army veteran, sent Facebook what he thought was a straightforward request to take down the bogus page. At first, Facebook told him to try to work it out with the authors of the fake page, whom he was never able to track down. Then, after two months, Facebook deleted it.

The experience launched him on a hunt for other suspicious Facebook pages that target military personnel and veterans by using patriotic messages and fomenting political divisions. It has become a full-time job.

Working from offices, coffee shops, and his apartment, he has cataloged and flagged to Facebook about 100 questionable pages that have millions of followers. He sits for hours and clicks links, keeping extensive notes and compiling elaborate spreadsheets on how pages are interconnected, and tracing them back, when possible, to roots in Russia, Eastern Europe or the Middle East.

“The more I look, the more patterns I see,” he said.

Facebook’s response to his work has been tepid, he said. Company officials initially refused to talk with him, so he used a personal contact at Facebook to share his findings. Lately, the company has been more active.

Facebook didn’t respond directly to a list of questions about Mr. Goldsmith’s research, but a spokesman said the company had 14,000 people working on security and safety—double the amount last year—and a goal of expanding that team to 20,000 by next year.

In a statement, the spokesman said the company relied on “a combination of automated detection systems, as well as reports from the community, to help identify suspicious activity on the platform and ensure compliance with our policies.”

About two dozen of the pages Mr. Goldsmith flagged, with a combined following of some 20 million, have been deleted, often coinciding with Facebook’s purges of Russian- and Iranian-linked disinformation pages—including a separate crackdown by the company last week on domestic actors.

The determination and persistence of Mr. Goldsmith reminds us of how at EWP Financial, we pursue all available avenues to successfully place assets into a properly structured PPLI policy. The results include both a fully compliant structure, and one that also produces enhanced privacy for the family, as for reporting purposes, the owner of the assets inside the PPLI policy becomes the insurance company.

You have an open invitation to find ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ with us. We welcome your comments and questions on how to find the right Home for your assets with Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. by using PPLI. Please contact us today for an initial consultation at no charge.

Download PDF

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC.
CEO, Founder @EWP Financial

~ Your best source for PPLI and EWP

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli

Tortoises Have Strong Shells

Posted on by

PPLI’s Tax Shield Is Even Stronger

The tax savings element of Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) is impressive. We invite you to reflect on your own attitudes toward tax savings by offering two articles on tax that appeared this week in the media.

The tax codes of most countries are a maze of regulations that require professional assistance to extract the most salient tax saving points. PPLI is at the forefront of structuring techniques that take advantage of maximum tax savings, and at the same time, full compliance with the world’s tax authorities.

How does PPLI become the “leader of the pack” when it comes to tax savings?

This is summed up mostly in two words: Life Insurance. The life insurance laws in most countries are very tax friendly–one receives tax deferral for the investment component of a life insurance contract, and at the death of the insured person(s), the death benefit is passed tax-free to the beneficiary.

With PPLI you couple the life insurance component with an open architecture platform. What does this allow? This allows assets to be located almost anywhere in the world, and to have asset managers located in most jurisdictions in the world. PPLI structuring is a very powerful tool for wealthy international families, and is difficult to achieve with entity planning only–creating trusts, foundations, corporations, etc.

Now for our news articles that reveal interesting attitudes towards wealth and taxes. The first is from Bloomberg, Top 3% of U.S. Taxpayers Paid Majority of Income Taxes in 2016.

“Individual income taxes are the federal government’s single biggest revenue source. In fiscal year 2018, which ended Sept. 30, the individual income tax is expected to bring in roughly $1.7 trillion, or about half of all federal revenues, according to the Congressional Budget Office.”

Bloomberg looked into the 2016 individual returns data in detail for some additional insights illustrated in the chart below:

The top 1 percent paid a greater share of individual income taxes (37.3 percent) than the bottom 90 percent combined (30.5 percent).
The top 50 percent of all taxpayers paid 97 percent of total individual income taxes.”

Our next article is from The New York Times, How Jared Kushner Avoided Paying Taxes.

“Jared Kushner has a net worth of almost $324 million, and his company has been profitable. But Mr. Kushner, who is President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, appears to have paid almost no federal income taxes for several years running, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.”

The article goes on to detail Mr. Kushner’s real estate investments, and how they result in a zero tax bill.

Ironic Fact

When one combines the salient points of these two articles, it is ironic to reflect that the wealthy are the ones who both pay the most taxes, and seek to save the most taxes. When anyone prepares their income tax return, wealthy or poor, do they seek to pay the most tax or the least? Many commentators criticize wealthy individuals and corporations for not paying their fair share of taxes. But what is this fair share? Who decides what a fair share is?

Thankfully, we don’t have to answer this question. Our goal is to maximize your investment gains through strategies that minimize your worldwide tax burden. Please send us your tax concerns and questions, so we can structure a plan that gives you all the tax savings elements of PPLI. You can share your experience and inquiries at the bottom of the page. Thank you.

Download PDF

by Michael Malloy, CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli

Time On Your Side

Posted on by

PPLI Produces Longevity Through Time

The stability of Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) in structuring assets for wealthy international families is a creation of how we look at the element of time. PPLI relies on the laws and regulations of insurance. These laws and regulations in most countries have been in effect for a longer period of time and are less subject to change than the tax codes in these countries.

When a new trend emerges frequently people line up on either side of the topic: some being in favor and others opposing this new trend. One such new trend for wealthy international families are the various citizenship by investment programs that are being offered by many countries. We will explore this trend, but first more on the workings of how PPLI can assist in the structuring of assets.

How does the element of time enter the picture? How does it add the stability that is currently being sought in the whirlwind of change brought about by FATCA, CRS, and the Registers of Beneficial Ownership?

This topic came into the light when I was reading a book that used first person interviews with various subjects to make certain points. I found the interviews lacked depth. Not particularly because they were poorly conducted, but just the fact that when you meet someone for the first time it is not the same experience as knowing a person for a long time.

In other words, one cannot form a deep, lasting friendship with someone unless one has known this person over some longer period of time. We can call this aspect of time duration or longevity. This aspect of time produces in us a certain feeling of comfort, much like returning to a habitual routine after a period of absence from it.

When we structure the assets of a family, we wish to bring them the comfort of having–Time On Your Side: knowing that the next generation will inherit assets through a tax-free PPLI death benefit. This is accomplished by using the time-tested body of insurance laws and regulations throughout the world.

The Economist article, “Selling citizenship is big business–and controversial,” is in part disparaging of citizenship by investment programs because they are relatively new phenomenon, and somewhat outside the regulation of individual governments. Here are a few excerpts:

“To meet the demand for long-term visas and passports, more and more countries are flaunting their attractions. About 100 offer a “residence by investment” programme. Over a dozen offer citizenship—including five Caribbean island-states, Vanuatu, Jordan and, within the EU, Austria, Cyprus and Malta.”

“The industry, however, is under a cloud. It is suspected of commercialising and trifling with rights and privileges that patriots regard as sacred; and of making life easier for crooks and terrorists.”

“For the European Union in particular, the issue is delicate. It touches on one of the most “national” of competences—who lives in a country and bears its passport—yet has Union-wide consequences. An EU-member-country’s passport is also an EU passport; a “Schengen” visa grants access to 22 EU members and four other countries.”

“Both the EU and the OECD, a club of rich countries, are looking leerily at CRBI schemes. Later this year, the European Commission, the EU’s executive, is to publish a report on those offered by EU members. The industry fears the worst.”

At Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc. we are eager to put Time On Your Side, and hope you will take advantage of our many PPLI structuring programs that operate worldwide. Please let us know how we can help you achieve your aims in the area of privacy and tax minimization.

Download PDF

by Michael Malloy, CLU, TEP, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli

PPLI and wealthy international families.

Rarity and Value

Posted on by

PPLI Will Take You Home

Download PDF

Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) is a refuge in today’s stormy sea of compliance and tax regulations. When we are distraught and confused our home becomes a safe haven. This is exactly what PPLI does for the assets of wealthy international families.

The rarity of an item tends to give it value. When this item becomes the subject of theft, it can produce more interest, and, even, greater interest if the item is later recovered. This was the case recently with the ruby slippers in the American musical, fantasy film The Wizard of Oz. In the film the ruby slippers have the magically property of taking you Home.

Let us first explore how PPLI creates a safe haven for the assets of wealthy international families. This is best done by diving into the stormy sea of compliance and tax regulations. One understands a subject by the way it is framed. In this case we are speaking about intellectually framing. Let me explain further.

When we wish to go into more depth about a subject, we must first choose a source. How this source of our new knowledge presents the topic becomes part of our new understanding of the topic. This is what I mean by intellectual framing.

Politics gives us a clear example. When we read about a political event from one news source, and, then, read about the event from another news source that has a very different political perspective the two stories can sound very different indeed.

Filippo Noseda of the Mischon de Reya law firm in London is an attorney who is active in privacy issues for wealthy international families. In Trusts & Trustees, “CRS and beneficial ownership registers—what serious newspapers and tabloids have in common,” we think his framing of the privacy vs. transparent issue is excellent. We will express his viewpoint in excerpts from the article.

“The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) published a damning opinion in which he decried the unclear objectives pursued by the AMLDs and, more generally, the invasive nature and lack of proportionality of the proposed registers.”

“As if they were living on planet Europa rather than in Europe, the European Parliament, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and politicians show complete disregard for the warnings raised by their own data protection bodies and instead appear hell-bent on introducing a system of total transparency.”

“Data protection has moved to the forefront of people’s minds, prompting the EU to overhaul the existing data protection rules and has also led to a number of ground-breaking decisions by the European Court of Justice which confirms that the pendulum has started to swing back towards greater protection of privacy and data protection.”

“It is somewhat curious that serious newspapers who have been covering both the private banking scandals and the erosion of privacy seem unable to make the connection between data protection on the one hand, and the CRS and beneficial ownership registers on the other.”

In structuring assets for wealthy international families, the insurance company of the PPLI policy becomes the beneficial owner of the policy’s assets. This structure gives compliance simplification, as what is reported to tax authorities is the total of the assets inside the PPLI, and not the individual assets inside the policy. At the death of the insured life in the PPLI policy, the assets pass as a tax-free death benefit to the beneficiaries.

Let us return to The Wizard of Oz and the ruby slippers. These magic, ruby, slippers had the property to take you Home once you clicked your heals together three times. The slippers were stolen thirteen years ago from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. They were recently recovered by the FBI and returned to the Museum. Of course, this publicity gave the slippers added value, and increased their rarity as something unique.

With PPLI you don’t need the ruby slippers to take you Home. You gain protection from the stormy seas of tax compliance by having your assets inside a PPLI policy, so you are Home from the beginning. You also won’t have your assets taxed, since they are inside a tax-free environment.

We invite your participation in our quest to take you Home to a truly unique structuring tool that has rarity and value. Please write your thoughts and questions at the bottom of the page. If you want to communicate privately with me don’t hesitate to drop me a line: michael@michaelmalloy.solutions

Thank you.

Michael Malloy, CLU, TEP, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli

The Beauty of The Integrated Circuit

Posted on by

PPLI: The Computer Chip of Wealth

Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) is a type of integrated circuit, read computer chip, in planning for wealthy international families. Both of these remarkable structures remain in the background, and what is visible is the amazing things that they accomplish.

If you have ever opened up the inside of a laptop computer, you see a bewildering array of small devices connected by tiny wires–the world of integrated circuitry This is similar to the PPLI flow charts that are firm produces to model the worldwide investments, hard assets, real estate holdings, and companies of the wealthy international families that we serve

Courtesy of Sparkfun we have this definition,

“Integrated circuits (ICs) are a keystone of modern electronics. They are the heart and brains of most circuits. … An Integrated Circuit is a collection of electronic components – resistors, transistors, capacitors, etc. – all stuffed into a tiny chip, and connected together to achieve a common goal.”

Let us look at a typical flow chart for a PPLI policy. Now isn’t our analogy making more sense? Just imagine the boxes to be computer chips.

Andy Kessler in his recent Wall Street Journal article, “The Chip That Changed the World,” describes how essential integrated circuits are in our lives today.

“Integrated circuits are the greatest invention since fire—or maybe indoor plumbing. The world would be unrecognizable without them. They have bent the curve of history, influencing the economy, government and general human flourishing. The productivity unleashed from silicon computing power disrupted or destroyed everything in its path: retail, music, finance, advertising, travel, manufacturing, health care, energy.”

Noted tax attorneys David Neufeld and Grant Markuson give us excerpts from, “Keeping It All Using Private Placement Life Insurance To Achieve Tax Free Investment Returns.” We thank them for their insightful remarks on PPLI.

“Few financial choices are more critical than protecting an investment portfolio from taxes. One of the most powerful but little known and under-used tools to achieve this is a private placement life insurance (PPLI) policy. By placing an investment portfolio within this life insurance vehicle, investors can convert an otherwise taxable portfolio into one in which no income or capital gains taxes accrue, ever.

PPLI can be especially relevant to angel investors who have a wide range of investments — including private equity — that have the potential to produce sizable capital gains. As a service to our readers, Angel Investor asked David Neufeld and Grant Markuson, tax attorneys at Markuson & Neufeld, to introduce our readers to this important investment vehicle.

Using PPLI as a Component of an Estate and Income Tax Plan Standing alone, PPLI offers powerful income tax planning opportunities. The gains and income earned on the investments forming the underlying funding of the policy do not incur federal or state income tax. Equally important, this tax saving is permanent, not simply a deferral to some future date. Once the insured dies, the insurance proceeds — reflecting the then-current value of the investments plus the insurance component — should be received by the beneficiaries income tax free.

The PPLI does not only benefit the beneficiaries upon the death of the insured; it also can benefit the policy owner during his or her life, by permitting loans of the cash value without triggering any income tax on the realized gain. Interest payments simply go back into the policy value.”

In today’s world attempting to hide assets from tax authorities only draws more attention to them. Why not use a “background structure” like PPLI to not only shield assets from tax but also gain enhanced privacy. Please let us know how we can assist you in these planning aims.

by Michael Malloy CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli

The Rule of Law in Action

Posted on by

PPLI Brings Ultimate Sophistication

Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) brings the words of Leonardo da Vinci to life:

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

The transformation from simplicity to sophistication can be accomplished through the rule of law. In our PPLI work for wealthy international families, we must frequently turn complex and sometimes contradictory tax laws into a simple, understandable, and workable structure.

Detailed analysis of the laws that govern the nationalities and residences of the family members must be undertaken. We welcome this challenge and enjoy the process. This thorough and meticulous study is highly individual to each family, so our short article is not the appropriate place to give a detailed example. Further on, we will bring you some humorous and not-so-humorous news stories on the rule of law.

There are always three elements in a PPLI policy: the owner of the policy, usually a trust; the life or lives insured; and the beneficiary of the PPLI policy’s death benefit. The domicile of each of these three elements must be studied. The domicile of each of these elements of the PPLI policy might be different, and a misinterpretation of the laws that affect each could lead to a wrong result in structuring for the family.

We diligently pursue this study. We frequently adjust the PPLI structure to make the elements work for the family, ensuring compliance with all the tax authorities involved. The rule of law also has its light side too. As we read in this recent Wall Street Journal article, by Josh Jacobs and Matthew Dalton. What we find humorous is not the present-day rodent situation in Paris, but the legal argument put forward in the 16th century when France was faced with a similar problem.

In France, Even the Rats Have Rights

Rodents overrunning Paris have defenders who say the varmint has a right

to inhabit the City of Lights too.

‘Rat-Prochement’

PARIS—Rats were popping up at supermarkets, parks and nurseries when a city official convened a crisis meeting last fall to discuss ways to cull the population.

That was the first time Geoffroy Boulard, mayor of the 17th arrondissement in northwestern Paris, realized the rodents are backed by a vocal lobby. Ten protesters stepped forward to denounce exterminators’ plans to poison the animals. They urged a more humane method: Deploy birth-control drugs.

In the Middle Ages, people were helpless to stop the creatures from invading pantries and destroying crops. Lacking effective poisons, authorities took to bringing legal charges against rats for their misdeeds, according to “The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals,” a lengthy history by E.P. Evans.

The rats weren’t defenseless in such cases. When an ecclesiastical court in Autun, France, brought charges in the 16th century against a group of rats for destroying the local barley crop, a well-known lawyer named Bartholomew Chassenée was appointed by the court to represent them. Mr. Chassenée mounted a vigorous response.

“He urged, in the first place,” Mr. Evans wrote, “that inasmuch as the defendants were dispersed over a large tract of country and dwelt in numerous villages, a single summons was insufficient to notify them all.”

Now a more serious issue that relates to the families that we serve from the website of the international law firm, Mishcon de Reya.

Legal challenge to Common Reporting Standard

(CRS) and Beneficial Ownership (BO) registers

Mishcon de Reya has taken legal steps against the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) and the Beneficial Ownership registers to call into question the wider repercussions for fundamental rights and the relationship between individuals and the State.

Our contention is that the publication of sensitive data concerning the internal governance and ownership of private companies by the Beneficial Ownership Registers is not necessary to achieve the stated objectives. Similarly, we believe that the exchange of information under the CRS is excessive, as information is exchanged indiscriminately and affects all account holders regardless of the size of the account.

Our firm is dedicated to putting the rule of law to the best use for our PPLI clients. We invite you to join our group of satisfied, wealthy, international families by contacting us today.

Download PDF

by Michael Malloy CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli

How Is Change Implemented with PPLI?

Posted on by

Change Comes Slowly to PPLI

Private Placement Life Insurance (PPLI) gives wealthy international families a conservative structure to achieve enhanced privacy and a tax free environment for their assets. At first glance, it would not seem that PPLI would share something in common with Ralph Lauren, the well-known fashion designer, but read on, and you will see how they are connected.

PPLI structuring is basically using available laws and regulations to the best possible advantage for each unique family situation. Why not take a “straight and narrow” route and avoid issues with the tax authorities of all the countries involved in the structure?

Life insurance is well established in the laws and regulations of most countries in the world. It is considered a benefit to society:

“Life insurers are vital to an efficiently functioning modern economy and society and are a key contributor to long-term economic growth and improved living standards,” states a 2016 report by The Brattle Group, “The Social and Economic Contributions of the Life Insurance Industry.”

Because life insurance permeates the social fabric at all economic levels, the laws and regulations on life insurance tend to be more stable and less subject to political change. Later on we will give you an example of how a tax law change in the U.S. is playing out in a complex manner that will take many years to fully resolve.

What are a few key elements that show us why it is vital to use life insurance in structuring for wealthy international families? Here are two significant ones:

Simplified Reporting

A compliant PPLI policy is an asset that can hold various investments, including multiple underlying traded or non-traded companies as well as private equity. The insurance company is legally seen as the owner of these investments, hence this simplifies the reporting requirements under most reporting regimes. CRS reporting is also simplified and limited, based on correct structuring at the inception of the process.

Asset Protection

PPLI can offer privacy and, in some cases, significant protection from creditors. Assets held in a PPLI policy are held in a Separate Account and are protected from the assets of all other policyholders and the general account of the insurance Company.

Here is our example of how a recent tax law change is playing out in the U.S.

New Hampshire Fights Supreme Court

Sales-Tax Ruling

Retailers in five states without a sales tax face new burdens

New Hampshire is one of five states without a broad-based statewide sales tax, a status that had insulated retailers from a task familiar to businesses elsewhere. That cushion lasted until the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, which lets states require retailers to collect sales taxes even if those businesses lack a physical presence in the state.

States with sales taxes are still figuring out how they’ll approach out-of-state retailers. New Hampshire, with a special legislative session scheduled for Wednesday, isn’t waiting to respond. Its reaction to the court’s decision will spur the next round of skirmishes over cross-border sales-tax collection.

States with sales taxes are working on their regulations to get out-of-state sellers registered in their systems and collecting the tax. In some cases, they need to wait for their legislative sessions for new or revised laws.

Does all this sound familiar? Change the actors and subject matter in the play and you have the worldwide reactions to implementing FATCA, CRS, Registers of Beneficial Ownership and other mandates from governments and regulatory bodies around the world.

Although far from timeless, our firm’s PPLI structures that use life insurance as its core element have withstood many years of changes in transparency, tax legislation, and calls from government officials to end “aggressive tax planning.” Planning with life insurance could be seen as the eye of the hurricane–an area of calm in the midst of constant change. We achieve outstanding results without being aggressive.

We thank Ralph Lauren for his quote, and enjoy the challenge of securing exceptional results that have weathered many storms. As always, we welcome your comments and questions.

Download PDF

by Michael Malloy CLU TEP RFC, @ Advanced Financial Solutions, Inc

#michaelmalloy #michaelmalloysolutions #advancedfinancialsolutions #ppli