John T. Reed’s news blog

In a Facebook discussion, I said, 4. FINCEN only covers financial accounts. You are not required to report gold or other precious metals or cash held abroad. Your statement that the rules apply to the contents of safe deposit boxes is false. There is an IRS FAQ that says so. I linked to it repeatedly. Reader Dog Thorburn responded, On # 4, respectfully John, you are incorrect.I had such a case. My client thought reporting the contents of his safe deposit box in Switzerland might be required when this crap began to come down in '08. I didn't believe it,...

I advocate putting enough money to live on for 24 months into foreign currencies that are held abroad. Most mine are in foreign saving accounts denominated in the currencies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. I have a lesser amount in gold and foreign currencies (CHF, DKK, SEK) in cash in a safe deposit box in Canada. I would prefer savings accounts, but those countries have little or no inflation or even deflation and they make it near impossible for an American to have a bank account there.Anyway, if you follow my advice to do that—and the Venezuelans and Iranians wish...

The ruling class does not like Trump’s style, to make the understatement of the year. But here’s perhaps a more important problem. They consider themselves to be the ruling class. That means the person that they choose gets to be in the White House and the party of that person also controls both houses of Congress.In 2015 and 2016, the ruling class, which includes the media, not only directed the public to vote for Hillary; they laughed at the mere mention of Trump. Huff Post put any mention of him on their entertainment page.The ruling class is influential. What they...

My first baseball coaching book came out in 2000. It said to bat left handed, not right-handed, no matter which is your dominant hand and that switch hitting was a waste of time, especially at the amateur level where about 90% of the pitchers are right-handed. The 7/25/18 Wall Street Journal has an article titled “Lost Art of Switch Hitting.” Google the title to read it. It’s subtitle ends with, “it isn’t really worth the extra effort.”Told ya. I ran into my neighbor Tony LaRussa at the local gas station once. I sent him an article I wrote on batting left-handed...

I was asked to join a Facebook group called the USMA [United States Military Academy, a.k.a. West Point—my undergraduate alma mater] Real Estate Group, and I did, briefly. I was asked to leave by the head of it and I did. He said I was too self-promotional.  Another member, Realtor® Todd Heatherington, seemed to do nothing but promote himself when I was there, giving his contact information any time anyone sought a Realtor® anywhere in the U.S. (Typically, a Realtor® who refers you to another Realtor® gets 10% of any commission you generate for the Realtor® to whom you are referred....