Introduction PT: The Six Flags Theory. What is a PT?
HARRY SCHULTZ
In 1964, Harry D. Schultz – the world’s highest paid financial consultant, according to “Guinness Book of World Records”, and author of a number of books on investing that were bestsellers in the 1970s – published a book entitled “How to Keep Your Money and Your Freedom”. He espoused his Three Flags concept that described the need to have a second passport, a safe location for your assets outside your own country and a legal address in a tax
haven. The concept later expanded to Five Flags to include a conventional place of business and a place to play.
W.G. HILL (later known as Grandpa)
Dr. W. G. Hill, former American citizen, entrepreneur, self-made millionaire, author and inveterate traveler, was influenced by the concepts of Harry Schultz. He had found a winning formula on which to base his future. In 1989, after years of living a PT lifestyle and fine tuning many new ideas, Hill wrote the first definitive book on the subject, entitled “PT”. This valuable work discusses the essence of the philosophy and is definitely recommended reading for anyone who aspires to a free and uncompromising way of life.
SIX FLAGS UNFURLED
PT is not a fixed set of rules. It’s just a way of thinking… an attitude to life. In a classic 1950s pamphlet, he explained how this ideal can easily be achieved by spreading your interests out over various unrelated countries. It’s not expensive (indeed it’s probably cheaper than any alternative). He wrote about international arbitrage through the use of three different nations, jurisdictions, or – as he called them – ‘flags.’ Later, in the 1980s, legendary author W.G. Hill expanded the number of flags to five – so it became the ‘Five Flags Theory.’ The original theory was based on ‘three flags.’ During the eighties and early nineties, this grew to five flags. With the advent of the internet and cyberspace, when Bye Bye Big Brother was first published in 2006, we added a sixth flag to the previous flags. Marvelous new opportunities had been opened up that were ‘made for PTs’ as a result of the internet. Cyberspace was added as the sixth flag that brings all the other five flags together. W.G. Hill, and later Grandpa, have always been at pains to point out that the Six Flags Theory is not a hard or fast set of rules. It is rather an attempt at putting a little structure to the PT lifestyle so people can understand what international arbitrage really means. Almost nobody really lives the six flag lifestyle, but many people choose to live parts of it. Living is an art, not a science, and each individual will interpret PT ideas in his or her own way.
What’s a PT?
In a nutshell, a PT – The Perpetual Traveler merely arranges his or her paperwork in such a way that all governments consider him a tourist. A PT is somebody who is Prepared Thoroughly for any eventuality or situation. A PT lives stress-free and sleeps soundly at night because he or she is Prepared Thoroughly, free to concentrate on the good things in life. A person who is just “Passing Through”. The advantage is that being thought of by government officials as a person who is merely “Parked Temporarily”, a PT is not subjected to taxes, military service, lawsuits, or persecution for partaking in innocent but forbidden pursuits or pleasures. Unlike most citizens or subjects, the PT will not be persecuted for his beliefs or lack of them. PT stands for many things:
A PT can be a….
“Prior Taxpayer”
“Prepared Thoroughly”
“Protector of Treasure”
“Potentially Treason”
“Privacy Thinker”
“Privacy Trained”
“Proto Types”
“A Possibility Thinker”
“People of Talent”
“Pretty Tasty”
“Perpetual Tourists”
“Perpetual Traveler”
Introducing PT: The Six Flags Theory
The Six Flags Theory written by Grandpa and others.
www.TheTaxHavenReport.com
“Permanent Tourist” who is just Parked Temporarily”
“Practically Transparent”
“Permanent Traveler” just “Passing Through”
“It’s the Perfect Thing”
The individual who is a PT can stay in one place most of the time. Or all of the time. PT is a concept, a way of life, a way of perceiving the universe and your place in it. One can be a full-time PT or a part-time PT. Some may not want to break out all at once, or become a PT at all. They just want to be aware of the possibilities, and be prepared to modify their lifestyle in the event of a crisis. Knowledge will make you sort of a PT. A “Possibility Thinker” who is “Prepared Thoroughly” for the future.
PT is also a form of defense: Protection against Tyranny. Some people have called PT “a coherent plan for a happy, prosperous international lifestyle.” PTs would probably just say it is the ‘Perfect Thing.’ Under the guise of helping us (“for your own safety”) governments have intruded into every area of our lives, taking the largest part of our earnings in taxes and rewarding us with little aside from restrictions and harassment.
PT is a way to assert your freedom – to escape from the growing repression and intrusiveness of Big Governments everywhere. Like the corporations who have learned to internationalize and diversify, PT shows productive people how to get out from under the thumb of Big Brother. An alternative title could be: How to Remake Yourself into a One Man Multinational.
PTs don’t ask for or expect government help or protection in any way. In the same way, we refuse to contribute to superfluous socialist welfare states. But we don’t believe in fighting. We will simply resist quietly, under the radar. Hopefully nobody will ever notice we have gone!
Today, millions of the wealthiest and most productive people on the planet take advantage of the best that each country has to offer. Governments are viewed as providers of facilities and services, like hotel keepers. If they offer good accommodation and make you feel comfortable and prosperous, you stay. If your government becomes too demanding or too nosy, or if a competitor offers a better deal, you can move on.
Economic opportunities, financial privacy, taxes, extradition treaties, social values, military obligations, quality of passport, stability of government, medical standards, respect for property rights, personal safety and freedom of travel, thought and action – these factors are all taken into consideration when choosing legal residence and citizenship. People of intelligence and wealth owe it to themselves and their descendants to have more than one flag. No one with common sense should give all their assets or allegiance to just one country, one flag. Why? No country or government has ever survived more than a few generations without totally annihilating itself or its own middle and upper classes.
Even in that last bastion of capitalism, the US, people of property have been thrice pushed out of the country. In 1780, the entire middle and ruling class was forced to move to Canada. They were the Tories who supported England in the American Revolution or War of Independence. In 1865, it happened again. All large land owners who supported the Confederacy in the Civil War migrated to Mexico, Europe or South America.
In the post 1917 period, prohibition, compulsory military service, confiscatory income taxes and suffocating government regulations once again caused many independent-minded Americans and their European counterparts to seek new flags. They made the amazing discovery that as expatriates or taxexiles abroad, they need not belong to any particular country nor participate in its senseless policies. Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein might be considered early PTs
The PT’s relationship with – or divorce from – government is a matter of choice. It is an option. The passport you hold and the country where you live need not be a burden that you were born to and will be saddled with forever. No government can be trusted to control your money. They will not take your best interests to heart. Politicians are interested in redistributing wealth – usually into their own pockets. In the end, they will only succeed in redistributing taxpayers. The major portion of all liquid private wealth, the smart money, has already been anonymously registered offshore. It has been reflagged.
Individuals can remove themselves from the control and jurisdiction of any government by acquiring dual-citizenship, investing internationally and becoming human multinationals. Departing physically and permanently is not required. A PT can live where he wants, leave when he wants. The secret is paperwork to effect a change of legal status. Many wondrous benefits can be achieved by merely wrapping yourself and your assets in a new flag.
In order to accomplish this miracle, you merely have to re-arrange, relocate and re-title your possessions and persona according to this simple outline.