We both know that the U.S. government is not keen to have its citizens opening foreign accounts, or converting their USD's into other currencies. But here's a factor in this issue which I don't think I mentioned in my own writing.

BECAUSE the USD is the global reserve currency, a far HIGHER percentage of USD's are held by "foreigners" than is the case with ANY other currencies. There are two huge implications to this.

1) Movements in the value of the dollar are determined more by the decisions of OTHER nations than through domestic influences (I'm not including policy changes like interest rates, but rather assuming that other factors remain constant).

2) Because of the relatively small amount of dollar held domestically, even relatively small outflows of currency by the domestic population can quickly have a destabilizing effect.

The CONSEQUENCE is that the U.S. government has some justification for wanting to prevent its citizens from moving large amounts of money out of the country, and obviously our site would never encourage anyone to engage in any behavior outside the law.

The other point to consider is that this vulnerability makes the U.S. government more likely to engage in EXTREME measures than most others. The previous confiscation of gold was an example of this. In the FUTURE, a more likely measure would be a complete FREEZE on moving ANY USD's outside the country.

Same experience here. In addition, to get the Canada equivalent of FDIC insurance, you must convert to CAN dollars. US dollars in CAN banks have no govt guarantees, and don't earn as much interest. So they nick you on the conversion in, and then out.

But the good news is, the banks are solvent, and the govt is solvent. What is the total govt deficit? Something like 20 bill I think. You ( CANADA) could pay that off in a hurry if you wanted to.

An that's what you get if you pay your bills all along. Solvent banks, govt, and people. And on top of that, you have universal health care, but higher taxes. IT"S NOTE TOO LATE! THERE IS STILL ENOUGH TIME TO RUIN YOUR ECONOMY, AND START A PONZI ECONOMY, just like the US.

By no means would I wish to participate in any illegal currency schemes. That's why I asked the bank for what I wanted straight-out. And it does seem perfectly legal for U.S. Americans to open Canadian accounts, but you must be physically present in Canada to do so.

I'd say illegalities would occur if a U.S. citizen did the following:
1) fraudulently represented themselves as a Canadian
2) produced or presented false documentation (passport, etc.)
3) moved illicit profits from criminal activity abroad
4) attempted to hide funds from legal tax authorities by moving it abroad

I had none of those goals, but rather, I wanted to offshore some of the sovereign risk in holding unsecured U.S. debt, i.e. Federal Reserve Notes.

I can do this, it turns out, legally, by opening a currency trading account and buying Canadian dollars. Unfortunately the size of contracts are large, and they are leveraged -- which is a potential disaster of course. I have no wish to speculate with money I might need for month-to-month expenses, and I certainly don't want to lose money by being forced to liquidate at an inopportune time. All-in-all, a forex account is not the ideal use of an emergency/unplanned-expense fund.

I guess what I can do, if I like, is just notify my bank (JPM/Chase) that I would like $1000.00 CAD or AUD in cash. It takes them about a week to get the notes, but you can go and pick it up at your branch and then hold it in your home or safe deposit box. It's not ideal, but it's not illegal or particularly difficult either.

I guess I was just hoping for a convenient way to be able to offshore some risk while still maintaining the convenience of a bank and its many services.

Oh well.

From a ZH bulletin board, if you want to move your money to Canada:


Royal Bank

1 800 769 2511

They sell PM's too


Haven't checked it out yet. Cheers!

This doesn't preclude a US investor from openning a brokerage account that allows for global trade. Then change the USD into another currecy to trade abroad. Been there, doing that.

Thanks for the info, guys.

So for all of our American members/guests: get at least SOME of your wealth out of U.S. dollars, and try NOT to rely upon money-market funds AT ALL, if possible.