If  you don’t spend your nights jaunting around casinos, ordering martinis shaken, not stirred, and casually assassinating a whale or two on the way out then you’re probably not James Bond.

So if you’re not James Bond, and if you’re not a crook (we’re just going to cross our fingers and hope you aren’t…but if you are, thanks for reading!) then why would you need an offshore account? And what are the chances of you getting one without spending all the money that you want to put in it?

We’ve done some research for you and figured out the how’s, the where’s, the why’s and the who’s, because we’re here to help you out!

Why Bank Offshore?

Everyone has their own reasons: some do it because they are always travelling (and it just makes sense to put their money where they get the best benefits), some do it to avoid tax, some do it because they don’t trust their country’s economy (look at Zimbabwe, for instance) and some do it because what they’re doing is illegal.

Whatever the reason (let’s hope the latter isn’t it!), you’ve been thinking about putting some money overseas, and now you want to know the logistics.

How to open an offshore account?

Firstly, you have to realize that this is going to cost. So make sure you aren’t putting aside that $10 that your five year old son has been saving for the last two years. As to how much, that varies from country to country.

If you’re a U.S. citizen here’s a quick heads up: it is legal for you to invest your money overseas, but if it’s over $10,000 then you’ll have to declare it. Also, U.S. citizens are required to do a lot of paperwork or you could get into deep water. Be safe, and get someone who knows what they’re doing to help you out with dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s.

Logistically, you can do it all from your office desk. You don’t need to go to the country to open an offshore account. Through email and telephone you can complete the whole process these days. This, however is not ultimate. Rather make the trip, and build a rapport. And remember, if you haven’t been to the place, you should be thinking about the ‘who’.

Who to open an offshore account with?

Who are you investing your money with? In terms of a country as a whole, double check on their stability: a coup, an accounting scandal, or even something as innocent as a natural disaster could wipe out your entire investment. At least if you visit the place before you invest you’ll have a look at the functioning of that country: and if you get off the plane and into a civil war…well then maybe plan B wasn’t such a bad plan after all!

The country might be fine, but do remember this is a shady area of law. With shady areas come shady characters. It’s very important not to get mixed up in here too…how embarrassing to lose your investment because you deposited your money into the account of an arms dealer? Protect your reputation, and use a company that has a good one too.

Another nifty review of good legitimate banks is through Fitch Ratings. This website allows you to make a free profile with which you can check the ratings of banks from all over.

Where?

Photo by Steve Velo

It depends. I know you didn’t want me to say that, and that you wanted a ‘winner-takes-all’ answer, but here’s where you need to decide what you want.

You need to decide how secretive you want to be and how easy it is to track your account to you personally (by registering as a business entity, for instance) or whether you want an account that rather protects the account’s details itself.

If you choose a country which won’t disclose your information to the IRS, for instance, then the responsibility lies with you to declare it, or not. The Matador Network has made a list of the 10 Best Countries in which to open an offshore account, naming Panama as their number one.

If you follow this list, at least you know your money’s going to a beautiful place. And also, if you’ve been storing it for illegal reasons, you might end up here too! (I take that back. There’s no place for crooks in Panama, rather go invest in Cayman Islands. Or anywhere else. We only have good solid investment banks for good solid people folks.)

Most of all, be smart.

Good luck!