by Frederick Mann

Note: The quality of some programs changes over time. On the Freedom Business Opportunities page we have a Risk Meter with the most current information on the programs we recommend. The Risk Meter is updated regularly.

Q. What steps would you suggest for the average person to achieve financial independence as quickly as possible?

A. In the Money Masters Seminars' newsletter by Melissa Foster, YOUR MONEY - YOUR LIFE - Volume 2, Issue 1, January 24, 1999 , three steps are given (edited):

Step 1 is to eliminate (NOT reduce) your debt in as short a time as possible, INCLUDING your mortgage. Less than 10% of people will ever live without a mortgage unless they own the same home for 30 years or more, and statistics show that almost no one does that. But it can be done step by step -- in most cases with money they already have. A key component of this strategy is that -- once you HAVE thrown off the bonds of owing money to someone else -- you never put yourself in that position again. Plastic has become necessary in our society for a lot of things -- renting a car, reserving a hotel room, for instance. But a person can accomplish the same goals with a debit card, or a credit card that doesn't carry a revolving balance, like American Express.

Step 2 is to protect your assets -- this becomes really important when you DO own your home mortgage free, and your vehicles, and things like that. Another reason is taxation. Folks, the biggest expense you will EVER have throughout your life is NOT your mortgage, and NOT your kids' college education. It is taxes. You can minimize your tax liability through the use of entity structuring that is commonplace among wealthier people. In fact, I was just reading the book The Millionaire Next Door again this weekend, and it made the point that the affluent (those with a net worth of $1 million or more) consistently and statistically pay a much, much lower rate of their income and their net worth in taxes than does the average, middle-class household.

And step 3 -- the step that no one else has ever thought to incorporate into their plans -- is the use of the private financial sector to enhance the value of their assets -- to make even the smallest amount of money grow at rates that are not available to most people.

Q. How do the above steps correlate with your personal thinking on these issues?

A. Precisely what steps particular individuals need to take depend on their circumstances and what kind of risks they're willing to take. For some, the first step might be to study the Millionaire Reports and the articles on Liberty Money Machines and Zero-Risk Money-Making.

The second step might be to participate in one or more of our Freedom Business Opportunities in order to generate additional income streams.

A third step might be to educate yourself regarding Fiscal Freedom, so you can reduce or even eliminate most taxes.

A fourth step might be to explore the best ways to protect your income and assets -- see our Offshore and Trust reports. For banking purposes you may also want to explore:

PILL;
ALH & Co., 17220 Newhope St. #201, Fountain Valley, California [92708] - 1-714-957-1375;
NCE, PO Box 596, Boring, OR 97009 - 1-503-668-4941.
A fifth step might be to generate further additional income streams and to develop them into Money Machines that bring in money with minimal time and effort on your part.

A sixth step might be to eliminate your debt.

A seventh step might be to stop working for money, once you can afford to do so. This will give you more time to do other things.

Q. Of the programs you promote, which do you consider the safest?

A. BIG International and PILL. The biggest risk is probably that the principals of any given program will at some point "run away with the money." I'm very confident that the principals behind BIG won't do this. Over the past six years, the PILL principals have demonstrated their reliability and integrity and I think the possibility that they'll "run off with the money" is remote. With Stockgeneration this is probably the biggest risk. The answer is to take out the original money you put in as soon as you think appropriate and then to regularly take out profits thereafter.

Note: Since the above was written, we've added many programs to BigBooster.com. We've also introduced a Risk Meter that rates our programs. Obviously, the safest programs are those where you don't have to risk any of your own money.

Q. Which programs are the best for making short-term gains?

A. Generally those that make high returns, provide good customer service, and have efficient payment systems. Generally, the programs using e-gold (colored green on the Risk Meter are in this category.) [You can open a free e-gold account here.]

Q. Which program is the best for long-term gains?

A. BIG International. You can achieve phenomenal leverage by purchasing additional PRs with your earnings. BIG also has the best system for "referral earnings." If you can build a significant downline, the long-term earnings will become phenomenal, particularly when those in your downline use some of their earnings to buy additional PRs -- further sales credited to your account.

Note: Since the above was written, the nature of BIG has changed. See The BIG Paradox. Our best programs for long-term gains are probably Success Arsenal!(sm) (if you're willing to risk $86 and are willing to invest time in marketing and learning marketing) and the high-rated Private Programs (if you're willing to risk your money and not necessarily interested in spending time on promotion).

Q. I'm concerned that BIG seems to generate their funds through so-called "bank debenture programs." It's well known in financial circles that all these programs are scams.

A. Although probably all such programs offered to the general public are most likely scams, there are exceptions. For more information on this, see A Big Stumbling Block for Some. See also the Appendix at the end of this FAQ.

Q. I want to maintain as much privacy and protection as possible regarding information about me and any returns from my capital. Should I take the time to investigate offshore trusts/corporations now (before committing any money), or is that something I can reasonably put off for a while?

A. I would suggest that you join the programs you select as soon as possible. With some of the programs there is some flexibility as to how money can be taken out. In the case of NCE (see above), there's considerable flexibility concerning what can be deposited. You can then also send proceeds from various programs to a PILL account. It's always prudent to have more than one avenue for handling money flows. Not only can you make good money from PILL (if you're a good marketer), you can also transfer proceeds from other programs to PILL for credit to your debit card, enabling you to withdraw money at any ATM.

Q. It doesn't look like using an assumed identity with BIG is the way to go, however, I would probably still want to put money through an offshore entity.

A. BIG requires details of your driver's license or passport. They may request a photocopy. (I would never suggest that anyone break the law.)

Q. I recently found your web business opportunities page. Programs like Big and Stockgeneration, even though they look almost unreal and risky, seem probably worth a trial. (Of course, If I were sending them money, I would use Terra Libra as my sponsor.) I have a few questions which I didn't find in your other FAQs: How do you justify gains from these kind of programs to your local IRS? In which category do you declare them? It's not a salary, it's not dividends or capital gains for actual shares, you don't receive a statement from your employer or bank. In France interest rates on loans are limited by law (less than 20% per year), so how could I explain any money I could get this way?

A. First, let me emphasize that I advise all citizens to obey all real laws that apply to them to the letter. If reporting to your "local IRS" is likely to cause problems, then you'll need to find a legal way to not report to them. Depending on how it's done, there may be a legal way to do this. You may be able to do this via offshore accounts. See our Offshore Reports.

Q. If I were to use offshore accounts, would I then have to hide forever that money from my local "government" and risk losing everything if my offshore account suddenly disappears?

A. Obviously, with offshore accounts (like with all others), there's a risk of someone "running away with the money." (Even national currencies are at risk in this respect in that the money can be wiped out through hyperinflation.) I'm reasonably confident that in the cases of ALH, NCE, and PILL, the risk of the accounts disappearing is very small.

Q. I've invested some money in Stockgeneration (SG), hoping it will be stable enough to make a good profit that I can then invest in safer places like BIG and a few other opportunities. Before doing all this, though, and before I try to take big amounts of money out of SG (I'm really hoping this doesn't become a problem for me!), I thought it would be a good idea to set up some protection for myself. From what I've been reading, PILL sounds like a great opportunity in this respect. If I wanted to deposit a check from an employer, could I just mail the check to my PILL trust? And would all this happen without any reporting? Also, how easy would it be for me to set PILL up so that I could use it to pay regular bills? Would I be able to open a regular bank account in the trust's name so I could write checks easily as I do now?

A. I checked on 6/17/99 that you can pay money into your PILL trust account by check made out to "PILL," or made out to the name of your trust, or made out to the name of an individual. In the last two cases, the check needs to be endorsed. (To deposit a check made out to a company, you could use NCE, POBox 596, Boring, OR 97009 - 1-503-668-4941.) Outfits like PILL and NCE, as a rule, don't report.

In recent years, most "regular" US banks have become very reluctant to open accounts for "unusual trusts." One option is to withdraw cash via ATM and use Money Orders to pay bills. Another is to have PILL, NCE, or ALH (17220 Newhope St. #201, Fountain Valley, California [92708] - 1-714-957-1375) send checks to parties you designate. E-gold can also be used to pay bills.

Q. Say you're me. You have about $1200 of graduation money and about $300/month you can spare from your budget to work towards your financial independence. How would you proceed? The plan I have now is this: I don't feel that I currently have the knowledge, personal/psychological power, or abundance of time to become an entrepreneur. Rather than pursue this time-consuming path right now, first I want to create a plan that helps start me towards financial independence with relatively little sales and business work. So, I begin by taking most of my capital and putting it into a high-risk venture (SG). As soon as possible, I take out this initial investment and put it into a safer, longer-term program (BIG). I then use the monthly income from what I left in SG to split between other low-risk, free-market investment opportunities I have learned of and programs that can protect these assets (PILL). How does this sound? Any tips/advice?

A. Sounds pretty good to me. It's prudent after two months or so to take your original capital out of SG, and after that to take out part of your gains every month. You could put part of the $300/month into BIG. It's important to diversify and develop five or even ten income streams. If you have only two or three, they may suddenly all "dry up" at the same time. It's dangerous to assume that any given income stream will continue indefinitely. (It may also be worthwhile to develop money-making skills in areas like computing/internet, painting/fixing, and professional gambling -- so you have something to fall back on, if necessary.)

Note: Since the above was written, we've added programs that we now rate more highly than SG and BIG on our Risk Meter. The principle of taking out some gains as soon as practical so you get into a can't-lose situation is very important. You never know when a good program will start deteriorating or fail completely!

Q. I have been fortunate enough to come across your website. My wife and I have been in business for ten years. Recently we had to endure the agony of bankruptcy. I'm not a young man anymore and with the limited resources at my disposal I've chosen to investigate Internet opportunities to maximize or rather leverage my time and finances. With cooperation from my webmaster associate I feel a "money machine" in the genre of your site may be the answer. I've read your pages and links thoroughly and I'm impressed with your straightforward and easy to understand approach. Obviously we would be very much inclined to participate under your sponsorship. May I use your site as a template to create my own site?