Moving To Monaco

 

Named as the most liveable zero-tax country in the world by The Nomad Capitalist (https://nomadcapitalist.com/global-citizen/second-passport/ultimate-guide-monaco-residency-citizenship/), the city state of Monaco can offer substantial financial advantages, particularly for high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs and athletes. 

 

The secret to Monaco’s success in attracting these wealth individuals is its super easy residency scheme. There is also no lengthy application process which in Australia can take as long as 6 – 10 years. All you need to do is deposit 500,000 Euros into a bank account in Monaco and present a bank reference letter together with a residency application form, birth certificate, proof of sufficient financial resources, proof of a rented or owned property and a police clearance certificate. The waiting period is between four to six months. 

 

What do you get in return? 

 

No Personal Income Tax. 

No Capital Gains Tax. 

No Inheritance Tax. 

 

Monaco’s proximity to most major European cities within a two hour flight away, high net worth Europeans can take advantage of Monaco’s low taxes while avoiding high taxes back home. With Nice’s Cote d’Azur airport barely 30km away from the heliport located on the southern edge of Monaco, near the sea, in the Fontvielle district,7 minute helicopter transfers offering stunning views of the French Riviera are a popular option. 

 

With a meticulous secretary in charge of efficient travel planning and scheduling, most of these individuals would be able to satisfy the required stay of 3 months of the year. (compare that to Australia where you need to spend two out of five years if you are an Australian Permanent Resident).

 

Just like Monaco, there are other places around the world that offer similar advantages to people who want to live a life different from their fellow citizens. Not all of them are as centrally located as Monaco but still offer all the other perks. The list is extensive :-

 

Europe

 

Andorra

Liechtenstein

Malta

 

Caribbean

 

The Bahamas

Cayman Islands

Bermuda

Saint Kitts and Nevis

 

Middle East

 

United Arab Emirates

Qatar

 

Asia and Oceania

 

Vanuatu

 

#MonacoResidency #TaxFreeLiving #GlobalCitizenship #LuxuryLifestyle #FinancialFreedom#NomadLife#ResidencyPlanning #GlobalCitzen

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/justin-santiago-544944a_monacoresidency-taxfreeliving-globalcitizenship-activity-7286851201789304832-s-

Flag Waving at the Australian Open

Flags of countries are displayed next to the players’ names on the draw cards of major tennis tournaments. There is fervent national pride for the players and flags of nations are commonplace in the grandstands held up with pride by fans. A tennis player becomes a symbol of national success, carrying the hopes and dreams of millions on their shoulders. Whether it’s Novak Djokovic representing Serbia or Jannik Sinner embodying Italian gravitas, their victories ignite celebrations at home.

 

Yet, many of these tennis players no longer reside in their home countries and spend the majority of their lives outside the countries they were born in, living and training in places like tax free Monaco. While the players have moved on to environments chosen for practical and financial reasons, their home fans wave national flags, chant slogans, and bask in the reflected glory of their compatriots' achievements. 

 

Djokovic as well as German Zverev, Russian Medvedev and Italian Sinner have long been residents of Monaco where residents enjoy zero personal income tax, a massive draw for athletes who earn millions in prize money, endorsements, and appearance fees. For someone like Djokovic, who has earned over $175 million in career prize money, the difference in tax liabilities between living in Monaco and Serbia is staggering.

 

For tennis players, their home country becomes a part of their brand, a source of identity that exists independently of their day-to-day lives. Connecting a player to his nationality makes commercial sense as then you would have the following of an entire nation behind the player. Fans would rarely hold it against a player from their home country and their passion and pride outweigh any concerns about the fact that their idol is now a global citizen. 

 

The irony of citizen support for tennis players who live abroad encapsulates the complexities of modern identity and global sports. It reveals the dual realities of professional tennis: a sport where national pride and personal pragmatism coexist uneasily. 

 

Meanwhile at the Australian Open currently being played out at venues full of flags bearing colours of the nationalities of the players on the court, the players continue to put on a show for their countrymen even as they know they are not going back home once the games end. 

 

Freedom Through Financial Privacy: What HNWIs Need to Know

In today’s interconnected world, financial privacy has become a cornerstone for those seeking true freedom. High-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are particularly vulnerable to overreach, whether from governments, hackers, or unwelcome scrutiny. But financial privacy isn’t just about keeping your wealth secure; it’s about creating the conditions for personal freedom and peace of mind. Let’s explore this concept through the personal journeys of two fictional characters based in China: Wei Zhang and Ling Chen.

Wei Zhang: The Tech Tycoon Seeking Global Opportunities

Wei Zhang, a tech entrepreneur from Shanghai, built a successful AI company that gained international recognition. As his wealth grew, he encountered the challenges of China’s stringent capital controls, which limited his ability to move money abroad for investments and personal endeavors.

Initially, Wei tried to navigate the system using traditional methods, but he faced constant bureaucratic roadblocks and delays. Frustrated, he decided to explore alternatives. With the help of international advisors, Wei set up a Hong Kong-based holding company, allowing him to legally channel funds for global investments. He also invested in real estate in Singapore and Canada, diversifying his portfolio and securing assets outside China.

Wei further embraced digital assets like cryptocurrency, leveraging blockchain technology to move small amounts of capital efficiently and discreetly. By adopting these strategies, Wei not only ensured compliance with local regulations but also gained the flexibility to expand his ventures globally. For him, financial privacy became a tool to achieve both business growth and personal freedom.

Ling Chen: The Businesswoman Protecting Family Wealth

Ling Chen inherited a successful export business based in Guangzhou. While the company thrived domestically, Ling was acutely aware of the risks posed by economic instability and potential government scrutiny. Her family’s wealth was tied to China’s financial system, making it vulnerable to sudden policy changes.

To protect her family’s assets, Ling established a trust in Singapore, a jurisdiction known for its robust legal framework and financial privacy. She also diversified her wealth into offshore bank accounts in Switzerland and investments in Southeast Asian startups. These measures provided her with a safety net in case of economic or political turbulence at home.

Ling’s financial strategy also included obtaining residency in Portugal through the Golden Visa program. This gave her family access to the European Union and additional options for education and healthcare, further reducing their dependence on China’s systems. Ling’s proactive approach ensured her family’s security and allowed them to plan for a future with greater freedom.

Key Lessons for HNWIs from Wei and Ling

1. Understand Local Regulations: Both Wei and Ling respected China’s capital controls while finding legal pathways to achieve their goals. Understanding the rules is the first step to navigating them effectively.

2. Diversify Across Jurisdictions: Setting up holding companies, trusts, and offshore accounts provided Wei and Ling with financial resilience and flexibility.

3. Embrace Emerging Technologies: Cryptocurrency played a crucial role for Wei, enabling him to move small amounts of capital discreetly and efficiently.

4. Plan for Mobility: Ling’s decision to acquire residency abroad opened new opportunities for her family, highlighting the value of geographic flexibility.

5. Seek Expert Advice: Both characters relied on trusted advisors to navigate the complexities of financial privacy and international wealth management.

Conclusion

Financial privacy isn’t about evasion; it’s about empowerment. For HNWIs in countries with strict capital controls like China, it can mean the difference between being restricted by local policies and enjoying a life of global opportunities. The journeys of Wei and Ling illustrate that with the right strategies, financial privacy can be a powerful tool for securing freedom and building a future without boundaries. By taking proactive steps, you can create a robust financial strategy that not only safeguards your wealth but also opens doors to a life of limitless possibilities.

Ways to Market Your Invention

GRANTING of a patent does not guarantee commercial success no matter how ingenious your invention is. There are many factors other than patent protection involved in the commercial success of a product.

Obtaining a patent is only the first in a series of steps by the patent owner to make a commercial success of his or her invention. The common saying 10 per cent inspiration and 90 per cent perspiration holds true when getting a patented invention into the market.

Marketing and commercializing is a crucial stage of an invention and could determine whether that invention that was supposed to make people’s lives easier actually gets brought by those same people for whom it was intended!

Marketing and commercializing and invention is an expensive affair. One way is to take a major gamble and go into it alone. The individual inventor would surely be short of cash. A more popular method of raising funds is to get into a joint venture either with a partner (doesn’t matter if he is a sleeping partner or an active one, as long as he is rich!)

There are however many government grants available today to the inventor who has a solid idea and a solid business plan. Next on the lists are venture capitalists and finally banks.

The other option available to the inventor is to sell his idea by way of licencs or assignments to others and let them develop and market the product. In this way, he is able to make some money by collecting either royalties or lump sum payments. In the process he may lose control over the future of the object of his invention, but you win a few, lose a few – right?

How To File A Patent Application

MOST people will stop from making that all-important step of filing a patent application either because their idea is too “strange”, they think it costs too much, or simply because they don’t know how.

To those hesitant inventors, here is some good news for you.

No idea is too strange. Patents have been applied for chewable chopsticks,
transparent greeting cards and “spring boots” for speed walking.
A patent application costs a few hundred ringgit if you do the application yourself. As for the last worry, this column is here to teach you how to apply for a patent.
Any person may make an application for a patent either alone or jointly with another.

Applying for a patent is a fairly simple process. The most important item of a patent application which you will have to prepare is the patent specification. The patent specification explains the invention in detail and defines the scope of the protection.

A patent specification consists of the following:

1. Title
2. Description of the invention
3. Claim or claims
4. Drawings (if necessary)
5. Abstract

The title usually describes the invention in a very concise form. There is no need to indentify all the fields of invention. Sometimes titles are sufficiently vague to avoid giving information to competitors in countries where the title can picked up before publication (Malaysia is one of them).

The description teaches the invention to the public.

The description and the drawings (if there are any) describe the invention.
It is drafted in detail and related to one or two preferred examples of the invention.
The description will usually have a general part which starts with the closest relevant prior art, goes on by mentioning how the invention improves on the shortcomings of the prior art and finally the invention itself.

Drawings are used to illustrate specific embodiments of the invention.

The claims define the monopoly upon which the public cannot infringe.
They are drafted in broad scope and the subsequent claims progressively narrow down the scope of the main claim.

The abstract is a condensed version of the technological information already covered in the description.

Drafting a patent specification is a highly skilled art as the writer must not only know the subject matter well but he must also clearly define what protection is being sought.
The contents of a patent specification can be the deciding factor when a patent infringement case goes to court. It is possible to prepare and file a patent application and to prosecute it through to grant of patent without professional assistance.
However, obtaining a commercially-useful patent requires a high level of expertise and anyone who is not thoroughly experienced in patent matters is advised to employ a patent agent.

The Role of A Patent Agent
The role of the patent agent is to provide professional services to inventors in respect of:
• advice relating to an invention in the pre-application phase;
• service and advice during the application phase; and
• representation and advice in the post-grant phase

Once the decision to file an application is made the patent agent’s services and advice is particularly useful in drafting the description and claims. It is the function of the claims of the patent application to define the scope of the protection of the monopoly being sought. The patent agent’s skill and experience are important to drafting claims to ensure that they protect the inventor’s rights by covering the invention in the broadest possible way.At the same time the claims must not be so broad that they cover anything which is already known or which does not work.

Published in the New Straits Times, Malaysia in 1993 under the coloum Patents Pending 

Patents and Intellectual Property

PATENTS come under the general heading of intellectual property. Intellectual property is the collective name given to legal rights which protect the fruits of a person’s intellect which can be an invention, a trademark, an artistic work or a design.

One of the earliest patents was granted in the Republic of Florence, Italy, way back in 1492. With the coming of the Industrial Revolution the concept of patents became an important means of encouraging industrial inventions and innovations.

What is a Patent?

Most inventors want to make money from their ideas or at least get them into use. “Can the A-bomb that I invented in my backyard be patented?”, shouts one inventor. “What do I do with my patent for a battery-operated stubble puller?”, cries another.

Patenting has never been an easy business but there is plenty to gain for those who have a first-class idea and who are determinated to make it happen – provided it is original in the first place. What exactly is a patent? Patents are documents conferred by the state upon the inventor which give him the exclusive right to exploit his invention in exchange for providing a full disclosure of his invention.

A patent gives to the owner of the patent the right to prevent others from making, using or selling the invention for as long as the patent remains in force, which in Malaysia is 15 years.The relevant bodies entrusted with the task of processing patent applications and granting patents are the Patents Board and the Patents Registration Office in the Ministry of Internal Trade and Consumer Affairs.

Applications for a patent must be made at the Patents Registration Office and the patent application will be processed, examinated, approved or rejected on its own merits. If a patent application is successful a certificate of grant is issued.

An unsuccessful patent application does not mean that your idea stinks. It simply means that someone else beat you to it!

Inventors come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Thomas Edison was one of the more prolific inventors coming up with more than a thousand patented inventions before his death in 1831. Then there were the three Terengganu school-boys who invented what is probably the world’s first onion peeler which does the job perfectly minus the tears. Or businessman Anil Vora who specializes in mostly low-tech inventions, who has already come up with 100 inventions, including an easy-to suck baby bottle which prevents babies from burping too much and a non-flip umbrella which doesn’t flip inside out when blown by a gust of wind.

Examples of patented inventions are as varied as the inventors who think about them. They do not have to be as complicated as the jet engine which drives an air-craft. In Fact some of the simplest inventions are sometimes some of the most useful. One example is a button which may be secured to cloth without the necessity of using thread- the brainchild of three local inventors.

There is an unfortunate tendercy in the public mind to associate inventions with gadgets and gimmicks along the lines of the beer-making machine from the movie Young Einstein. However, virtually all machines, apparatus, products and processes across the industrial board are patentable provided that they satisfy three criteria: They must be new; in other words you cannot reinvent the wheel.

They must exhibit an inventive step, which means it would not have been obvious to a skilled man in that particular field.It must be industrially applicable which means there must be a use for it.

There are however certain categories of inventions that are unpatentable. They are scientific theories, mathematical methods, plant or animal varieties, business methods, methods of treating human or animal bodies by surgery or therapy and inventions which are contrary to public order and prejudicial to the interest and security of the nation.

Published in the New Straits Times, Malaysia in 1993 under the coloum Patents Pending 

Innovation and Creativity - Pride of the Nation

The most successful nations in the world all have one thing in common – they all have an innovation culture. This culture is one where innovation and creativity are valued and appreciated, adequately funded and protected.

Leveraging natural creativity or spontaneous innovation for financial gain and national economic growth requires appropriate institutional support which is much more than merely funding. It requires a climate, and a culture, that is supportive of R&D; where a certain amount of risk-taking is balanced by the use of market discipline and good practices to identify the best products and services to bring to market, or the most efficient programs for governments to deploy.

The level and depth of a country’s innovation culture can be measured by several criteria that include economic, social, health and educational factors. One of the most reliable indicators of innovation in a particular country or region is patenting activity. Patents are a key measure of the extent and success of an innovation culture. They reflect inventive performance,
they can track the diffusion of knowledge, and they are good indicators of the level of internationalization, regionalization and nationalization of innovation activities. They can be used to measure the level of R&D activities, and ultimately, how effective those are, what structure they are taking, and which industries appear to be successful, and which not.

Patent applications in Malaysia in recent years by local inventors has shown spectacular growth in the last 5 years with applications more than doubling from 522 applications in 2005 to 1234 applications in 2009. It would appear that efforts to create a more conducive environment for local innovation and creativity is beginning to bear fruit.

But we need to look further – how can we as a nation further enhance the climate in which innovation and creativity are the norm rather than the desired goal? How can Malaysia integrate into its national policies and economic development agenda those innovation and creativity mechanisms and platforms which will bring about the desired results?

Innovation and creativity will only move if there is an incentive for the innovator or creator. It is harder for an invention to see the light of day if there is no commercial value. In order to stimulate innovation and creativity we have to policies in place that would stimulate the commercialization of these innovations.

For instance if we can have directives that would ensure that government departments only procure locally invented products provided that the technology meets a certain standard and the price is competitive and that continued procurement will only happen if there is continuous innovation and improvement in quality.

We can make sure that all national projects utilize local innovations as much as possible. In this regard Proton was going the right way when it came up with Satria Neo and Proton Persona after two decades of rebadging outdated Mitsubishis. However the latest move by Proton to revert back to its initial strategy does not augur well for local innovation and instead of providing a vehicle for local innovations to ride on is merely licensing innovations from overseas.

I need to add this point here about innovation. Early prototypes of innovations or early models are high on inventiveness but low on quality. If you look at the early Toyotas and Hyundais they were ugly and could get you into serious trouble if you were involved in an accident. However perseverance and a firm faith in the technology and innovation behind these new machines as well as some protectionist policies ensured that subsequent models improved on quality and performance and today these cars have captured the world market – Toyota is the world’s largest car manufacturer and Hyundai is a respectable fourth after producing the first Korean car in 1975 merely 10 years before Proton.

We are coming to the end of Malaysia Innovative 2010, a year dedicated to encouraging local inventions. Let us not stop at the idea or the proptotype. Let us look at putting policies in place to ensure they have commercial viability. We need to be surrounded by Malaysian innovations just like the US, UK, Japan and Korea are surrounded by innovations developed in their respective countries. Only then can we look forward to a truly developed nation by 2020.