Libertarian Neonomadism
History
The first neonomad
David de Ugarte et al.:
“Sir Harry Schultz, a financial advisor from Milwaukee (United States) and the author of 23 books, developed from the 40s on a new way of living avoiding the pressures of nation-States: neo-nomadism.
Dr Schultz was for many years the best paid financial advisor in the world.
He became famous in the seventies, mostly due to his highly accurate forecasts on
currency fluctuations and his predictions on the evolution of financial markets and
metals like gold.
The Neo-Nomadic way of life started to develop during World War Two, when
Harry Schultz was posted in Shanghai as a soldier in the U.S. Army. During the time
he spent in China, he realised that it was very easy for him to do financial business
in his spare time. When he returned to the United States, he settled down in
California and with the money he had made in China purchased one of the Palm
Springs weeklies. In a very short space of time he turned it into a daily publication,
and the best selling newspaper in town. Later on, a large communications group
bought the paper, which Schultz had managed to revalue. With this experience,
Schultz discovered a very attractive way of doing business: buy a company, make it
grow in a short time, and sell it shortly afterwards. Within a relatively short period of
time, Schultz bought and sold more than dozen papers, until he decided to start
travelling around the world. From that moment, he never lived permanently in the
United States again.
Almost twenty years after he left, Harry Schultz realised that the American
society which had emerged after World War Two had changed considerably from
the America he had known in his youth. In those years, social control had increased,
and it had become a social custom – which still persists -- to sue any person or
entity for any reason in order to quickly obtain economic benefits. Schultz himself,
after a few bad experiences as a the sued party, decided to take off and live in
several countries all over the world in order to minimise his risks and preserve the
highest possible degree of independence and freedom. Thus, this businessman
became the first nomad of the post-industrial age: he was the first Neo-Nomad.
In 1964, Schultz created one of the most successful newsletters in the
finance world during the second half of the 20th century. The Harry Schultz Letter
(HSL), still active58, allowed its author to develop his work in an itinerant manner, as
he has edited the newsletter for forty years from his different places of residence.
Moreover, his fame as a financial advisor allowed him to have important clients who contracted his services wherever he was living.
Also in 1964, Schultz published the book How to Keep Your Money and
Freedom, in which, from his own experience, he described how to live as a true Neo-
Nomad. It was then he met Bill Hill, who would later become another libertarian
guru, and with whom he created and perfected some of the ideas which he later
developed.
These two authors, the parents of libertarian Neo-Nomadism, coined the acronym PT (Permanent Tourist, Perpetual Traveller, or Prior Taxpayer) in order to designate people who live with a very high degree of individual sovereignty, avoiding, to the utmost extent, the strict rules of States. Thus, PTs live in countries which only impose legal obligations on residents and never stay in these territories long enough to be considered resident citizens.
Neo-nomads or PTs move from country to country, avoiding becoming
"rightful" citizens in any of them, in such a way that they constantly enjoy the
advantages and the preferential treatment that many States accords to tourists and
visitors.”
(http://deugarte.com/gomi/Nations.pdf)
Discussion
The three-flag theory
David de Ugarte et al.:
“In the sixties, Schultz and Hill came up with the Three Flags Theory to sum
up the three conditions which must be met by anyone who wishes to live as a PT
and avoid State controls.
The first of the three conditions refers to the necessity of having a passport
and citizenship of a country which pays no attention to its citizens living abroad,
and which basically imposes no taxes on citizens who do not live within its borders.
The second condition involves having one's address and legal residence in a
well-communicated and stable tax haven or semi-haven. This should be a place with
a high quality of life, a certain degree of legal security, and an international position
which is stable enough for its residents to have minimum legal guarantees for their
own purposes.
The third condition suggests creating companies and doing business in a
third country, or in various other countries which are different from the citizenship
and residence States. Ideally, these places should have a relatively "soft" tax policy
with regard to entrepreneurial benefits.
However, the authors, in later publications, added two new
recommendations, including two more flags in their theory.
The fourth suggestion recommends keeping one's deposits or assets in
places where an accountant or representative can manage them in an anonymous
and safe way.
Finally, the fifth flag refers to the places where the PT spends a substantial
part of his or her time, spends money, and enjoys his or her freedom, but not
staying long enough to be considered a resident.
Since Schultz and Hill started to theorise on PT life, dozens of books and
manuals on how to develop this lifestyle have been written.”
(http://deugarte.com/gomi/Nations.pdf)