This guide will be continuously updated. Last updated on Nov 14, 2023.
This guide is about establishing credit and banking in the US for non-US residents. Basically, if you’re not North Korean, Cuban, Iranian then this guide works for you.
Why? A lot of reasons.
In short, it’s to:
protect your value
de-risk from local politics, conflicts, safety, currency devaluation
get perks like cashback, points for airlines and hotels
getting 0% float from credit cards
0% float is always a good idea but this is the list we’ll be covering in this guide. With zero filler.
Getting float is a second step in your financial journey. The first step is to actually establish a discipline of saving at least 1/5th of your income (go and do that first before diving into the Third World Freedom series as without discipline of correct behavior it’ll be a problem).
So…
To start reading this guide we have to establish two facts and you have to agree with them:
The US is the greatest economy in the world. Why? Population? Yeah, it’s huge. Military carriers? Yea, for sure! Most important factor though? Accessible credit. Average American has $30,000 in credit limit on personal credit cards (source: Forbes). Need I remind you that median yearly global income per individual is around $10,000? It means, that 3 years of an average worker’s life is available as debt to an average American. Need I remind you what average American is? I'll refrain.
Internet erased borders. We live in two realities. One is where we stare at pictures from Chinese influencers, African mime artists, American rappers, Indonesian tourists. The other is where governments control the borders, tell you what to do and what not to do. The smart mind manages to get the best and avoid the worst from both sides.
Our task in this guide is to take advantage of both of these facts with a practical know-how of implementing the system, right habits, and possibly changing your mindset.
This is what this guide and the series about. If you agree with the statements above and want to dive head first, carry on. If not, then I don’t know what to tell you other than don’t waste your time and go do something else.
Hmm…okay. You’re still here.
Seriously, if you come from a developing country your reality is likely this:
interest rates are very high (10-25%) – they are high because everyone knows that currency is not stable
inflation is higher than 10% – currency is getting less valuable and central bank declares it officially
currency devalues every other year – it’s obvious looking back
politicians are pursuing their own interests (what, this is universal, why am I putting this here?)
This is a chart of USD/KZT currency pair. KZT is a Kazakhstani tenge, currency of the country where I grew up. 1 USD was equal to 5 KZT when the country declared independence in 1991. In 2023 it’s more than 470 KZT to get same 1 USD (which lost a lot in value too).
The bottom line
your country getting poorer
wealth gets extracted by the banks and power that be
your labour gets devalued (which ultimately means that typical worker needs to exchange more of their limited life for same amount of money, which gets devaluated over time due to inflation)
you become stressed (and stress kills)
Yeah, every point sucks but the last one is really what’s this all about.
We don’t live forever. Stress kills us, it’s backed by science (and really we all know that, who needs some professor to tell them that?).
Most families get ruined because of the financial burden. (Source)
People die younger when they are stressed. (Source)
Children don’t see their parents.
It’s truly rough out there and all very sad if you think about it.
So, what can be done about it? The system appears kind of rigged.
The Solution
Building a fortress of solitude and becoming a king of it.
Before taking on bigger endeavours, we need to get into a right state of mind. For that to happen, we need to manage thinking on a longer timeframe with daily habits that correct your course of action.
It’s easier said than done (I know) but it always comes down to buying more time so that other laws of nature could have enough time to kick in for the compound effect to work.
So, what’s the breakdown Kaz? Let’s get on with it. (I hear you say). Show me the solution:
interest rates are very high (10-25%) — a big problem, especially with a stop of zero interest rate policy environment but ultimately it means you have to escape your environment (currency, country) and bank elsewhere
inflation is higher than 10% — use other currency that keeps more value than your home country’s currency
currency devalues every other year — covered by two steps above (in a positive scenario you’ll get more value for the same units in a country where currency devalues)
politicians are pursuing their own interests — (eh, can’t be done, sorry)
Questions and vague answers
So, how to bank elsewhere? How to use other currency? How to avoid local nastiness?
First, open a bank account that is insured and has USD/EUR/GBP/SGD support.
Second, open credit cards, start with a low limit of $2000. Slowly but surely grow it to $50,000 and then $100,000. Get 0% loans with introduction 0% APRs.
Credit cards even give your perks like:
flying business class on points
staying at network hotels for points
getting upgrades, free breakfasts, late checkout/early check-ins at hotels
Third, read other books in the series to take advantage of brokerage accounts, international business practices.
The goal is simple:
Save value we create using our labour and assets
Avoid local risks of politics, currencies to ensure safety for you and your family
Get an X, Y, Z plan in order to save your ass when something bad happens (it eventually will, it always does)
We are where we are
Now, I don’t know why your country/city/state is in dire state. Maybe it’s because wealth tends to concentrate and your location is not where it happened.
There are many possible reasons as to why that happens. We don’t need to know why. We know the consequences of it and it’s more than enough. Strong kills the weak, laws of nature, you get it.
Globalization processes, geopolitics, corruption, lack of institutions, etc. Who knows, could be a sum of these factors or none of them. I don’t have enough expertise to explain it but what I can do is to share a few tools to help you assemble an evacuation plan by giving you these tools. The only way is through. So, if you start today then tomorrow becomes a slightly better situation and that’s more than enough to get going.
Our goal is simple — to protect our lives.
We’ll build a financial bridge for you to have that. It’s simple.
Money, money, money
It’s important to understand that money is not valuable by itself.
Money is only a tool for transferring wealth because money is debt.
True wealth are goods that are actually helpful to you. Classical example of this notion is:
“not even a billion US dollars in cash can help you if you are on an uninhabited island” (other than setting it on fire as an SOS maybe).
With that said, a little caution here — anything you read further relies on your self-discipline and it comes with a lot of responsibility. It's essential to understand that. Going bankrupt is not part of this guide. Tread carefully.
Armed with the knowledge gained from this guide, you’ll be better equipped to embark on your journey of building a ”safety, peace of mind“ setup. Embrace it but always remember the responsibilities that come with that knowledge.
Wanna know how they did it? Credit.
— “The Story of O.J.“, Jay-Z
