Offshore investment is an expression heard often, but not necessarily understood by the masses. Here is a breakdown of the definition of the phrase and some generalizations concerning it.
First of all, the term offshore indicates something being foreign or outside of the domestic territory of one of the G8. The G8 (Group of Eight) refers to the annual summit of the government heads of the eight most prominent nations in the world. These eight nations are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Offshore investing, or alternative investing, is conducting financial business outside of the investors home country, which is usually one of the G8 nations.
By having anything from a foreign bank account or credit cards to more intricate offshore financial dealings, such as trusts and multi-level investments, investors gain access to varieties of international trade.
Many large financial institutions have offices in popular offshore locations to capitalize on the increased interest in this type of investing. Studies calculate that about half of the worlds money is offshore from the location of the money...