Did Mitt Romney Use An EVG Strategy To Earn 100 Million Dollars Tax-Deferred?

It’s no secret that US Republican Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, is said to be worth $250 million dollars. But we were surprised to hear $100 million of that fortune may be inside his IRA.

EVG Research Team here, and this news has us checking our customer records to see if Mitt Romney might be an EVG member.


One of our most popular “Black Box” strategies at EVG is freeing your IRA from stocks and bonds to build real wealth tax-free.


Now we’re certainly not endorsing anyone for US President - we’ll stay out of those weeds. We’re not even trying to say anything positive about the candidates other than this:


At $100 million, Mitt Romney isn’t just familiar with this EVG strategy... he’s extremely good at it.


But is it for everyone? Or just another one of the many...

Loopholes of the Rich and Famous?

Not at all.


It’s a strategy anyone with an eligible IRA can take advantage of to build wealth... even though IRAs were only meant to provide a comfortable retirement, not riches.


The maximum annual contribution to an IRA is $6,000 – or $5,000 if you're under 50. And typically, the person managing your IRA (the “custodian”) invests the funds in stocks and bonds.


If your IRA just happens to buy shares in a young company that skyrockets to 100 times the purchase price, then you just turned that $6k into six-hundred thousand dollars.


So the value of your IRA can explode if you get lucky OR you know what you’re doing.


And Mitt Romney, just like EVG members, knew what he was doing.


Because another way to skyrocket your IRA besides hitting a lucky stock is to “free” it from your custodian’s stock picks and invest in a company you know has potential – your own!


Romney may have done the same thing by investing in Bain Capital or a related firm.


This takes some paperwork and legal maneuvering. But as we’ve covered before, a Federal tax court has settled the matter and this “Black Box” strategy is completely legal.


It does invite the question, though?

Why Build Wealth Inside Your IRA?

Moreover, why would Romney stockpile $100 million in an IRA?


It’s for the tax advantages.


When you start an IRA, you can choose to pay taxes when you withdraw the money in retirement... OR you can choose to pay taxes now and withdraw tax-free once you reach age 59 and a half (as long as your IRA is more than 5 years old).


That means if you contribute $6,000 to your IRA, and you choose to pay taxes on that $6,000 now rather than later... if it balloons to $600,000.00, you owe no taxes!


That means it’s possible that much of Romney’s $100 million IRA is tax-free income.


This may smell bad to people who plan to vote against Romney or think millionaires shouldn’t avoid taxes.


But it is the law of the land that made it possible. And according to Justice Learned Hand, there’s no obligation to pay more than the law demands:


Any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes.
Justice Learned Hand,
in Helvering v. Gregory

Who Else Wants to Grow Wealth Tax-Free With the Money Inside Your IRA?

It’s not too late to take control of your IRA and start growing tax-free wealth.


If you haven’t already dived into Module #10, “How to Legally Free Your IRA and Invest the Money Wherever You Choose,” now is the time. And EVEN IF you didn’t pay taxes on your contributions upfront.


As you’ll discover in the lesson, it’s possible to roll your traditional IRA over to a Roth-IRA where your wealth can grow tax-free. You’ll have to pay some taxes now, but then you’re off to the races.


Many EVG members use their self-controlled IRAs to invest in silver, gold, commercial real estate... one member even wrote in to say they purchased livestock! Real, living cows!


Again, this is one of our most popular “Black Box” strategies.


And if a Presidential candidate worth $250 million is doing it, you can bet it’s worth trying out.


To take advantage of this “Black box” Strategy of the ultra-rich, go here now:


How to Legally Free Your IRA and Invest the Money Wherever You Choose

Facebook Founder’s “Vanishing Act” Has Many Riled Up

Facebook’s recent initial public offering (IPO) generated a lot of media buzz. But the actions of one of its founders created a public outcry.


Facebook’s recent IPO made instant billionaires out of all four of the original Facebook founders.


You’ve likely heard of Mark Zuckerberg. He’s the main founder and current CEO of Facebook.


At the tender age of 28, his net worth soared to $19 billion after Facebook’s IPO in May.


Eduardo Saverin is one of the lesser-known founders or Facebook with less than a 5% stake ... but he’s still worth an estimated $3 billion dollars after Facebook’s IPO.


In case you missed the news ... last September Eduardo did what many feel is the unforgivable sin.


He renounced his United States citizenship.


The IRS revealed Eduardo’s decision in April 2012. The public outcry was immediate.


Angry citizens flooded blogs and message boards calling Eduardo a traitor. They accused him of being unpatriotic.


Maybe you’re angry at him too.


After all, a young kid makes billions of dollars, benefits from the American way of life, and then renounces his citizenship?


Sounds pretty selfish. Greedy. Un-American.


“Running away to avoid paying taxes?” they complain. “Shame on him!”


But once you hear Eduardo’s backstory and understand his family history, you may change your mind about his actions.


And even if you don’t change your mind about Eduardo, you’ll definitely learn an important lesson about your own “sovereignty”...


...and how it could mean the difference between the Poorhouse and Easy Street for you and your own family in the coming financial crisis.

The First Flight Was to Protect the Family’s Life

To understand Eduardo Saverin’s decision, you have to go back two generations.


His grandfather, Eugênio Saverin, was a hard working and industrious entrepreneur. But being a Jew living in Germany during the 1940’s didn’t mix well.


Rather than face concentration camps, Eugênio snuck his family out of Hitler’s reach and resettled in São Paulo, Brazil.


Eugênio brought nothing with him except his entrepreneurial spirit.


But that was enough.


By 1952, he founded the kidswear brand “Tip Top,” which went on to become the most popular brand of children’s clothing in Brazil.

The Second Flight Was to Protect the Family’s Fortune

Eugênio had a son, Roberto, who grew into the family business.


Using the entrepreneurial spirit he inherited from his father, Roberto grew Tip Top into a successful franchise of retail chain stores in Brazil.


He increased the family’s wealth by investing in real estate and in some of Brazil’s vast natural resources.


But in 1993, Roberto packed up his bags, took his wife and child (Eduardo) and fled the country.


He did it because of the economic chaos brewing in Brazil at that time. Then President Fernando Collor had just frozen all savings accounts.


Roberto knew more capital controls were coming.


Rather than hand his family’s fortune over to people who hadn’t worked for it, Roberto migrated to the United States. He and his family started a new life in Miami, Florida.


Eduardo Saverin was 11 years old at the time. A few years later he and his family went through the legal process of becoming U.S. citizens.


Up until September, 2011, Eduardo maintained a dual U.S. citizenship along with his native Brazilian citizenship.


(Here’s an interesting side note. Many internet sites claim that Eduardo’s family fled to the U.S. because young Eduardo’s name was found on a list of possible kidnapping targets due to his family’s wealth.


The story spread like wildfire after the book "Billionaires by Chance" presented it as fact.


While it’s a compelling story, we did a little more digging to find out if it was true. What we found was a recent interview (June 2012), given in Portuguese for the Brazilian news magazine, Veja.


In that interview, Eduardo explains that the names of his father and grandfather had been found on a kidnapping list, but the family only found out about it years after moving to the U.S.


(Just thought you’d like to know the real story.)

How America Made Eduardo Rich

Eduardo spent his teenage years growing up in the Miami area. He was a top student and a chess prodigy (The International Chess Magazine featured him after he beat a chess grandmaster at the age of 13).


He enrolled at Harvard University in 2003 to study economics. That’s where he met Zuckerberg and became the first investor in Facebook.


The rest is history. Facebook has gone on to become the most popular website on the planet. During its rise in popularity, Eduardo watched his own net worth skyrocket into the multi-billion dollar stratosphere.


He’s now one of the top 100 richest people in the world.


So it’s easy to see why people are mad. It seems obvious that Eduardo gave up his U.S. citizenship to avoid paying taxes on his newly acquired Facebook fortune.


That’s not entirely true, though.


He’s been living in Singapore since 2009 and loves it there. It’s the place he’d like to make into his new home.

The Third Flight Was to Protect the Family’s Legacy

And that’s why many tax experts think Eduardo’s strategy has nothing to do with avoiding taxes ... at least not right now.


You see, he’s NOT getting off scot-free. The U.S. requires everyone who renounces his or her citizenship to pay a 15% exit tax.


That means Eduardo will be paying hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to the U.S. – even if he doesn’t cash in his Facebook stock.


Here’s how Eduardo describes it in his Brazilian interview (translated from the Portuguese):

“The decision [to denounce his U.S. citizenship] was strictly based on my interest in living and working in Singapore. I am obligated and I will pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to the American government. I already paid and I will keep paying whatever taxes I owe based on my time as a U.S. citizen.”

Paying the exit tax now will likely trigger a bigger financial hit on Saverin than if he had kept his U.S. citizenship.


You see, according to United States law, you don’t pay taxes on capital gains until you cash out. Many wealthy people simply borrow against their unrealized capital gains and live tax-free until after their death.


But, once you die, your estate can get hit with a 35% inheritance tax.


Tax experts are guessing that Eduardo would like to pay his exit tax now rather than give away a third of his fortune after his death.


They feel Saverin is using his family history of global mobility to put himself in the best situation to carry on the family legacy.


It’s hard to say, but that seems to be Eduardo’s sentiment. In the Veja interview he said: “I was born in Brazil, I was an American citizen for about 10 years. Now I live in Singapore. I’ve always thought of myself as a global citizen.”


Like him or hate him, you have to admit he’s got a fascinating family history.


And as a mobile, sovereign, global citizen, Eduardo Saverin is simply carrying on a family tradition: he’s taking care of himself, his fortune and his family legacy. All at once.

How This Relates to You

Listen, you don’t have to renounce your citizenship to protect your wealth. And you don’t need to be a billionaire either. Almost anyone can diversify his or her assets overseas.


This is NOT about evading taxes.


Lesson 5 - How and Why I'm Diversifying My Assets Overseas in The Elevation Group member site lists four reasons for investing overseas:


1. Diversification
2. Privacy
3. Asset protection
4. Tax efficiency


You can start small now by protecting just a portion of your assets overseas.


And if you want to protect more, Rob Wolmer can help. He’s the lawyer from Lesson 5 who specializes in protecting your wealth by diversifying you internationally.


He can tailor-fit a plan based on your specific needs. You’ll find his contact info in Lesson 5 ... or in the EVG Rolodex under the Resources tab. Mr. Wolmer's contact info at the bottom of the page under “International Investing.”


Setting up foreign accounts and tax entities can make a huge difference to your bottom line ... if you structure it right. But if you do it wrong, it can cost you a fortune.


Whether you’ve already built your fortune or are just getting started ... this is information you don’t want to miss.


Some of you may have dismissed this strategy thinking you don’t have enough money to make it useful.


Don’t make that mistake.


Even if you can’t use the information now, it’s part of your education that will help you start thinking like the wealthy. It may also become very useful for you down the road.


Click Here to review this strategy as outlined in your member’s area.


This article is reprinted courtesy of The Elevation Group. To find out more, please visit their website at:http://theelevationgroup.com

The Real Election Battle: Social Media vs. Big Data

As the United States heads into the last full month before its November presidential election, campaign rhetoric is on the rise. 

And apparently, so are campaign bank accounts, thanks to some crafty fundraising on both sides.

We’re not sure who will win the 2012 presidential election. What we are sure of is this:

It may very well come down to an epic battle between Big Data and Social Media.

Back in 2008, presidential hopeful Barack Obama surprised the United States – and the world – by beating out Hillary Clinton to win the nomination for the Democratic party.

It was a big blow to the Clinton camp and the “old” democrats.

But Obama continued his unlikely march to greatness into the Autumn of 2008 and (against all odds in many people’s mind), defeated his Republican rival...

...and was elected as the 44th president of the United States of America.

Love him or hate him (is there any in between?), you have to admit: it was an impressive political feat.

So how did Obama do it?

Was it his sonorous baritone speaking voice? His message of Hope and Change? His youth and vigor?

Those were all factors. 

But, according to most analysts, the real secret to Obama’s success was...

Obama’s Lean, Mean, Social Media Machine

After President Obama won the 2008 election, analysts zeroed in on how his campaign team used social media like Facebook and Twitter to rally grass-roots support.

Obama’s biggest asset in the whole process was Chris Hughes. The 24 year-old co-founder of Facebook left that company to become the architect behind Obama’s social media efforts.

Obama’s young commandos utilized Facebook and other social sites to funnel potential voters into their “One Million Strong for Barack” campaign.

Hughes then developed mybarackobama.com to become the virtual hub for all its communications. 

It connected Obama supporters to each other for camaraderie.  Then a matching iPhone application helped activate groups on the go.

The results were astonishing.

Not only did Obama quickly mobilize a grass-roots following of eager evangelists, he also raised a lot of money.

And the bulk of his fundraising came through social media connections (87% according to their campaign filings).

In his 21-month campaign for the 2008 presidential bid, Obama raised more than a half-billion dollars from 6.5 million online contributions that averaged around $80 each.

That trend has continued for the 2012 election cycle and it appears that Obama’s social media fundraising machine will top the one billion dollar mark before it’s all over.

Through the end of August, Obama had raised $439.5 million in 2012 alone.

Romney’s Big Data Approach to Fundraising

While Obama relies on small contributions spread over a large group, Mitt Romney has relied on larger contributions from a much smaller pool of donors.

The Associated Press reported last month that Romney has been utilizing a “secretive data-mining project that sifts through Americans' personal information — including their purchasing history and church attendance — to identify new and likely, wealthy donors.”

The strategy has paid off, too.

At the beginning of the summer, Romney trailed Obama’s fundraising efforts by $160 million.

Mining “Big Data” allowed the Republican candidate to close the gap by $40 million over the summer.

Still trailing the current president by over $120 million dollars, the former Massachusetts governor is hoping the short list of big donors will continue to pay off as the election cycle heats up in October.

The Texas Connection

Since June, Romney has employed a little-known (but highly successful) analytics firm out of Fort Worth, Texas called Buxton Co.

The firm uses sophisticated analysis of personal records including details about credit accounts, families and children, voter registrations, charitable contributions, property tax records and survey responses.

Its powerful computer software then combines marketing data with this “psychographic” information about Americans.  

The result allows precise pinpointing of likely donors.

CEO Tom Buxton says, "I can look at data of any kind and say, 'I want to know who that $100 donor could be.'" 

But his efforts for Romney’s campaign have been even more lucrative than that.

After analyzing details of more than 2 million households near San Francisco, Buxton was able to identify thousands of people who would be comfortably able (and inclined) to give Romney at least $2,500 or more.

So far, the average overall donation from those on Romney’s smaller donor list is around $400.

Buxton said he's working for the Romney campaign because he wants "to be on the winning team."

Which Method Will Win?

At the Elevation Group, we don’t know who will win in November.

But we are interested in the outcome of this election from a marketing perspective.

Obama’s approach is more in tune with the new, modern entrepreneurial style. It relies on connecting people with similar views and values ... and that networking creates a powerful force.

The key for Obama will be whether the individuals reached through Social Media will actually show up at the polls. 

Romney’s strategy is much more in line with marketing campaigns used by large Fortune 500 companies.

For Romney, the key will be whether he can use the money he raises from wealthy donors to appeal to the “middle.” 

Those are the swing voters that popular presidents like Reagan and Clinton were able to win over. They did it by empathizing with their problems and connecting to their needs.

Whoever wins in November is going to have a monumental task ahead.

Although social issues may fire up a lot of folks, there’s one pesky issue that will continue to hound whoever’s sworn into office next January. 

As Clinton’s 1992 campaign manager so famously said,

“It’s the Economy, Stupid”

That’s because the same economic problems we face today will still be here in 2013.

Problems that affect everyone. Like...

Soaring food costs. Escalating health care premiums. Higher taxes. Rampant unemployment. Shrinking retirement funds. 

And we expect the economy to get worse before it gets better. Much worse. 

Which will mean social unrest and unprecedented suffering.

That’s why we’re not waiting until the election is over to see what happens. We’re preparing for the worst today.

The time for action is now.

The Elevation Group offers a wide array of investment strategies for folks in any walk of life, no matter how much (or little) you make.

As a valued member of The Elevation Group, you’ve got access to these wealth strategies.

They are the same strategies successful millionaires are using right now to protect and grow their hard-earned money for the uncertain times ahead.

These strategies hedge against future wealth-robbing inflation ... or devastating deflation...

And still offer plenty of room for solid growth.

If you haven’t seen the new website yet, or just need a little extra inspiration to get your financial house in order before the November election...

Hop back into your member’s area and starting preparing for your future financial prosperity today.

Your Partner in Prosperity

The EVG Research Team