Gyroscopic Investing

I'm interested in putting a little cash into a foreign bank account, just for the sake of diversity.  

Does anyone have any recommendations?  

Looking for a safe bank that is relatively easy for US citizens to use.

I might start with a Canadian bank.

Let us know how it goes.

Bank of China has a New York branch, and you can deposit USD into a Remninbi account.  This has been becoming popular lately as a combination savings vehicle, plus a little bit of a Forex play in the sense that since the Remninbi is pegged to the dollar, as China slowly relaxes it's peg, the currency has nowhere to go but up.

http://www.bocusa.com/portal

I haven't done it myself, but it might be a good way to diversify as well as get a nice increase in value, as long as the chinese economy doesn't crash.

Depends on where you live and what banks are around, I suppose. Ideally, it would be nice to have the account in the other country. So, if anywhere close to Canada, I'd second MTs idea.

Canada has an abundance of natural resources and a very sound banking system. If you had <$10K, it would not have to be declared. And...  if you lived close enough, you could store some Maple Leaves in a safe deposit there, giving you an added measure of security. Not Eagles, BTW, since I believe that there is a provincial tax on the sale of alloyed gold in Canada, and you might want that as an option in the event of catastrophe.

I got to Canada a lot...Probably the best choice. 

For those interested, there's another option that allows you to open a foreign account without traveling.  You have to use a big, international bank though.

The example I read about was HSBC.  You can call, say, HSBC's Hong Kong branch and have them fax you the paperwork to open a new account, and then go to an HSBC in the US and turn all of the paperwork in.  Still a bona fide foreign bank account, but some may not like using this type of bank.

Storm wrote:... as China slowly relaxes it's peg, the currency has nowhere to go but up.

http://www.bocusa.com/portal

I haven't done it myself, but it might be a good way to diversify as well as get a nice increase in value, as long as the chinese economy doesn't crash.

Note the first sentence and the last sentence contradict each other.  If China were to have a destabilizing event (e.g. revolution or civil war due to food price induced unrest or real estate collapse), it is quite likely that the Bank of China would say, "US investors? PFFT, their accounts are all now worth zero."

The conventional wisdom is indeed that the RMB only go up.  This is a strong contrarian signal that it will go down

Good call Fnord... as I said I haven't invested in it, but I can definitely see where you are coming.

fnord123 wrote: The conventional wisdom is indeed that the RMB only go up.  This is a strong contrarian signal that it will go down

Absolutely.  You should hear the people who call into the Peter Schiff show.

"Peter, I just sold my US stocks and invested in 1/3 silver, 1/3 Chinese RMB, and 1/3 mining stocks.  What do you think the time frame is for the dollar to finally collapse?"

(That's a made up quote, but fairly representative of the average call).

I don't think these people realize the risks that they are taking.

Adam1226 wrote:

fnord123 wrote: The conventional wisdom is indeed that the RMB only go up.  This is a strong contrarian signal that it will go down

Absolutely.  You should hear the people who call into the Peter Schiff show.

"Peter, I just sold my US stocks and invested in 1/3 silver, 1/3 Chinese RMB, and 1/3 mining stocks.  What do you think the time frame is for the dollar to finally collapse?"

(That's a made up quote, but fairly representative of the average call).

I don't think these people realize the risks that they are taking.

LOL!


we need a "like button"

Adam1226 wrote: For those interested, there's another option that allows you to open a foreign account without traveling.   You have to use a big, international bank though.

The example I read about was HSBC.  You can call, say, HSBC's Hong Kong branch and have them fax you the paperwork to open a new account, and then go to an HSBC in the US and turn all of the paperwork in.  Still a bona fide foreign bank account, but some may not like using this type of bank.

HSBC has what they call a Premier Relationship account.  If you're willing to start out with $100K across different accounts (brokerage, checking, CD, savings, etc.--or all in just one account), you can open an account at a branch in the USA.  As a Premier customer, you can then open accounts in any location in the world where HSBC has branches.  And you can manage them--make transfers into and out of accounts--over the Internet.  It's all under one bank's umbrella, no "correspondent" relationship or currency exchange fees.  There are a lot of other benefits, too, but if I say more it will sound like an advertisement.