We have written about M-Commerce in the past and still believe it is the wave of the future in regards to payment processing. Self Bank Mobile is the newest player on the block that appears to have the infrastructure and management in place to take it to the next level. They could possibly be the next “PayPal”, but much better.

Why would we write about an M-Commerce payment processor in our blog about alternative investments? Here is why, it is all a matter of reading the fine print and seeing the hidden opportunity. Self Bank offers both a free user account and paid merchant accounts. While we like the affiliate program that earns residual monthly commissions from referring new users, we really like the opportunity to own an equity stake in the company.

Just those two factors alone have set them apart from other online payment processors like PayPal, Alert Pay, Safepay or standard credit card merchant accounts. When was the last time you got paid from your current online payment processor for introducing your friends to them? The opportunity to earn residuals month after month and being able to receive equity shares in what will become a powerhouse is enticing. To find out more you will have to sign up for a free account to get all the details.

There is much more to this company that will ensure their eventual success. Among the benefits are lower transaction fees, no charge backs, a rewards program and a soon to be launched world’s first mobile social networking site called Meet Franklin. A percentage of interchange fees and advertisement revenue will go to the affiliates that help promote their services.

Self Bank will soon launch in the USA/Canada & UK first in early 2009 then to all other countries internationally. The time to get involved is now while it is still on the ground floor. This is a secure service that millions of people will want and need. Ask yourself this:

How many people around the world do not have credit cards?
How many people around the world do not have a banking account?
There are 10 times more people with a mobile phone than there are PCs!

Unlike many of the current M-Commerce competitors, the service will be hardware and telco independent. Self Bank Mobile is the killer app solution for all people to be able to buy and sell both online and offline. It is in our opinion that they will capture a large share of the multi Trillion dollar payment processing market in the next few years. Wouldn’t you like to own shares in this company when that happens? They are definitely in the right place and at the right time.

$100 Dollar Sign Up Promotion:

The company has a goal of giving out $100,000,000 dollars in ‘Cash Advance Dollars’ ($100 per user or $500 per merchant signup) in the next 90 – 120 days. When the program goes live after the BETA launch, then you will be able to redeem your ‘Cash Advance Dollars’ at participating SelfBank Mobile Merchants through your own personal spending. When you spend money at participating SelfBank Mobile merchants, above all other discounts provided by the merchants, 25% of the interchange fee collected by SelfBank Mobile from your purchases, will go back to you.

Why pay more for transaction fees than you have to? For more information and get your sign up bonus, visit Self Bank Mobile.

a

It should be noted however, that there is a big difference between legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion. You can read more about this topic here, “Legal Tax Avoidance vs Criminal Tax Evasion”.

While taxation is one reason why many individuals may decide to go offshore, other individuals and businesses find the following advantages as important reasons why having accounts offshore as a part of their wealth protection strategy.

• Privacy
• Tax Efficiency
• Asset Protection
• Regulatory Advantages

Below is the explanation for each of the advantages of “going offshore”. (Source: www.offshore-library.com)

Privacy
To protect the free flow of your personal information and dealings. An offshore entity has no obligation to release your personal or business information, affording you with a great deal of privacy & confidentiality.

In general terms your personal information will not be divulged to any governing body or tax authority unless suitable evidence can be shown to prove that you have been involved in criminal activities, such as money laundering or drug trafficking.

Financial privacy is becoming a thing of the past. Almost every single transaction made at a bank or ATM, by law, must be recorded and filed. Consumer credit agencies maintain databases full of sensitive information that is used and shared by other organizations and agencies. Asset collectors routinely advertise their ability to locate bank accounts, brokerage accounts, and real estate and business holdings. Should asset collectors find substantial wealth, the individual or corporation becomes an easy target for a lawsuit.

Unless ethical and legal steps are taken to insure privacy, sensitive and confidential information could easily get into the wrong hands. Placing your assets, investments, savings bank and brokerage accounts offshore will keep them off the asset collector’s radar screen. Consumer credit agencies and government departments do not have access to foreign account records or transactions. Domestic property may be held in the name of a foreign corporation (IBC) or trust. This insures that asset collectors and agencies cannot locate it. By taking advantage of these methods an individual or corporation becomes a smaller target and the likelihood of being sued is reduced. Utilizing offshore tools to protect privacy could mean the difference between keeping and losing what is rightfully yours.

Tax Efficiency
As stated above, your savings, investments, assets or business profits can grow almost free of any form of taxation. This does not mean tax avoidance, it simply means whilst your assets are held offshore they will benefit from very favourable tax advantages. There will for many however, be a potential tax liability when you look to repatriate your assets to your home country. This will depend on your nationality and your country of residence at the time of repatriation.

Asset Protection
There are many methods in which to protect your assets using an offshore structure, in the form of an investment product, an IBC (International Business Company) or a offshore trust, or even a simple offshore bank account.

These will protect your assets from:

• Protection from invasive bureaucracy
• Protection against lawsuits
• Protect your assets from seizure

The simplest form of protection offshore is the nature of the offshore privacy rules. What isn’t known can’t be attacked. The basic form of offshore privacy combined with a IBC or Trust is a very secure method to legally protect your assets from prying eyes.

Lawsuits are filed every week. Ex-spouses, ex-business partners, disgruntled employees or predatory lawyers may file a suit if they believe a potential defendant is an attractive target. Losing such a lawsuit could cause a lifetime’s worth of savings, investments and real estate holdings to be lost. In light of this, placing assets offshore is a wise and effective means of protection from frivolous lawsuits.

Once your assets are held offshore they are unreachable by domestic courts. In the event of a lawsuit, a defendant may be forced to forfeit domestic assets, but offshore assets will remain untouched. Offshore courts do not recognize or carry out domestic judgments. This insures that assets sent offshore will remain confidential, secure, and permanently in the hands of their rightful owners. Moving assets offshore will create peace of mind that what’s yours will always be yours.

Regulatory Advantages
The regulations in force within most high tax countries, are there to protect investors, and rightly so. However, due to the very strict nature of these regulations, fund managers feel as if they are wearing a financial straight Jacket. It is difficult for them to compete with the returns of their offshore-based partners who enjoy less restrictive regulation. Many offshore jurisdictions have very mature regulatory systems in place, often based on those present within the US or the UK, yet they allow fund managers great freedom to add value for their investors. This is why offshore funds nearly always outperform their onshore equivalents.

Within the high regulation onshore countries, excessive rules and bureaucracy often plague domestic businesses and operations. Valuable resources are diverted away from the productive process in order to monitor compliance as a result of the restrictions imposed. Curing this problem is as simple as moving to friendlier shores. Offshore jurisdictions are intentionally business-friendly and have regulations that are straightforward, simple to understand and inexpensive to comply with. Moving a business offshore and enjoying a more pleasant business climate may require nothing more than forming an offshore corporation and transferring assets from the domestic corporation to the foreign one.

Is all of this legal?
Do you trust your current bank or investment provider? Chances are that they too have an offshore operation; most of the world’s major banks and investment companies have an offshore present. Do you honestly believe that a triple A credited rated investment company or bank would operate in an illegal activity?

Companies such as Merrill Lynch, HSBC, ING Barings, UBS, Barclays, Deustche bank, ABN Amro all have offshore operations. It is not the offshore industry itself that is illegal, it is only the devious activities of certain individuals who may give the offshore industry a poor reputation. It is also true that the due diligence, and money laundering checks performed by offshore companies is increasing, especially after the 911 terrorist attacks. Which will ensure that it becomes difficult for criminals to abuse the offshore industry

In fact the offshore industry is probably one of the fastest growing sectors within the financial services industry. Many of the worlds most talented fund managers and analysts are leaving their well paid positions as onshore fund managers, to set up their own offshore funds, due to the greater flexibility and choice they can offer to their clients.

As a result of all of this, the offshore market place is no longer the exclusive territory of the rich and famous. Nowadays due to the reduced costs and entry levels, almost anyone can own a offshore fund, investment, bank account or company. Most people are still unaware of the opportunities open to them within the offshore marketplace, which is mainly due to the lack of information available.

For more information on the above topic and other financial matters, visit and the Financial Bookshop which contains over 4000 financial books and CD ROMS.

a

“The bold effort the present bank had made to control the Government, the distress it had wantonly produced … arc but premonitions of the fate that awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution, or the establishment of another like it.” – Andrew Jackson, referring to the Second Bank of the United States

“Congress Demands Answers from Fed, Bear Stearns” reads one headline on Reuters, while another from the Wall Street Journal online states “SEC Role is Scrutinized In Light of Bear Woes”. It appears that our dutifully elected politicians will hold a hearing next week to examine the details of the J.P. Morgan Chase & Co’s bailout of Bear Stearns and the role that the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department played in helping.

Why would Congress want a hearing for answers they should already know? Are they that ignorant or is it because it is an election year and they want to make it appear that they are working for the public good? Maybe the protestors in Bear Stearns’ lobby demonstrating against government bailouts of big banks while homeowners are abandoned had something to do with it. No, our lawmakers are just ignorant.

For the uninitiated and our naïve congressmen officials, here is a quick history of the Federal Reserve System which may be an oxymoron in terms of context. A grand illusion because there is nothing federal about it, no actual reserves and definitely not a system, but a central bank that our forefathers never would have approved.

The Federal Reserve System was a plan hatched in secrecy in 1910 on Jekyll Island by seven men representing ties to the major banks. Henry Davison a senior partner of J.P. Morgan and Benjamin Strong the head of J.P. Morgan’s Banker’s Trust Company were members of this elite group of seven.

In 1913, the Federal Reserve Act was passed and Benjamin Strong became the first head of the Federal Reserve System. The banking cartel was born with the full protection of our own government as its partner. The scam has been running for almost a century and really had only one purpose, making banks more money and creating a hidden tax to American citizens through inflation for the government.

(A central bank) is “a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country.” – Andrew Jackson

This leads us to the present day with the bailout of Bear Stearns. It’s a case of the banks’ version of the boys club. The Fed and U.S. Treasury brokered a deal for J.P. Morgan in haste without question. Usually, such huge deals or mergers would go through committees or FTC oversight, but none of that here –a quick weekend jaunt in the park. It was not surprising that no red flags were raised about J.P. Morgan’s chairman, James Dimon holding a board seat at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York when the deal was made. J.P. Morgan Chase walks away with a bargain and Bear Stearns’ executives keep their bonuses.

Bear Stearns is just another investment bank that could have gone under and we would all survive. Banks were going under a dime a dozen back in 1907 before the creation of the Federal Reserve System. The actions of the Fed in the bailout were nothing more than the banking system protecting their Wall Street friends. The same thing happened during the S&L bailout of the 80s.

Should the average American consumer feel sorry for the 14,000 Bear Stearns’ employees? Probably not when they realize that according to the January 2008 Annual report, $3.46B was paid out in employee compensation and benefits in 2007 and $4.34B in 2006. That’s an average of $244K/310K per employee respectively for the past couple of years. Do you feel sorry for them now?

“Using a central bank to create alternate periods of inflation and deflation, and thus whipsawing the public for vast profits, had been worked out by the international bankers to an exact science.” – Gary Allen

The end result is that the American taxpayers will once again have to take on the burden for the greed and excess of Wall Street. The hidden tax of inflation will rise as the Fed pumps more fiat currency into the economy bailing out and helping their Wall Street friends. The economic stimulus rebate given out this summer is but a pittance compared to the taxes that will have to be paid back.

“The new law (Federal Reserve Act) will create inflation whenever the trusts want inflation. From now on, depressions will be scientifically created.” – Charles A. Lindbergh

Before making a decision to cast your vote this election year, you should read this great book, “The Creature from Jekyll Island”, by G. Edward Griffin or read the excerpt here.

Our great nation is on a downward spiral, it is no time to be complacent. Do not trust the politicians, lawyers, bankers or the government to tell you the truth.

a

Investors with winning bids for various maturities are getting some yields that are worth mentioning. Some examples are 3.26% for three-month CDs and 3.40% for six-month CDs. There are also one-month and one-year CDs up for bids as well. Currently, there are some one-month CDs priced to yield between 3.1 – 3.60%.

If one-month certificates are offered every month, it does not take a whole lot of math to figure out that if one is successful in winning a bid for them each month, one can make double digit yields over the course of 12 months.

One-month CDs is probably the way to go if you are concerned about not having cash tied up and available to get back into the stock market. Another strategy is staggering the CDs with a combination of one-month, three-month, six-month or one-year maturities. That way, as the CDs mature you will have some cash on hand to move back into the stock market or reinvest in better yielding CDs. Do you due and good luck in your biddings.

Here is the complete press release from Zions First National Bank:

CD Auction Winners at zionsdirect.com Get Great Rates
Wednesday February 20, 8:00 am ET

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Winning bids in last week’s zionsdirect.com online auctions for FDIC-insured certificates of deposit (CDs) received higher yields than national averages. Similar to popular Internet auction platforms, zionsdirect.com auctions allow individual investors to bid on the yield of CDs of various maturities.

During the week of Feb. 13 to Feb. 20, winning bidders obtained three-month CDs at a yield of 3.26%, compared to the national average annual percentage yield of 2.41%; six-month CDs at a yield of 3.40%, compared to an APY of 2.82%; and one-year CDs at a yield of 3.30%, compared to the national average of 3.94%. One-month CDs were priced to yield 3.45%. (Source: Informa Research Services).*

The online CD auctions are administered by Zions Direct, member FINRA/SIPC, a nonbanking subsidiary of Zions First National Bank. There are no fees, and the only requirement to participate in an auction is to register to bid, a process that is easily completed in a few minutes. Since February 2007, Zions Direct has successfully held in excess of 250 successful CD auctions totaling approximately $325 million. Nearly 2,000 investors have purchased CDs in these auctions.

CD auctions allow private investors to obtain yields previously available only to large institutional investors. Yields can be further enhanced by purchasing a discounted gift certificate from the Zions Direct eBay® store and then using the gift certificate to purchase a CD in an auction. CDs of varying maturities are available in amounts as small as $1,000. Investors can effectively increase the level of FDIC insurance by purchasing CDs from multiple banks, conveniently offered at zionsdirect.com. Currently, CDs are being offered from Amegy Bank of Texas, Vectra Bank Colorado, Nevada State Bank, National Bank of Arizona and Zions First National Bank. Investors not wanting to participate in the auctions can purchase CDs by using the “Buy Today” feature.

To participate in a CD auction, go to zionsdirect.com, click on “CD Auctions” and “Register for Auctions.” The registration process takes only a few minutes. Current auctions, as well as the results of previous auctions, can be accessed at zionsdirect.com.

Zions First National Bank is a subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation

(Nasdaq: ZION – News), one of the nation’s premier financial services companies, consisting of a collection of great banks in select high-growth markets. Zions operates its banking businesses under local management teams and community identities with more than 500 offices and 600 ATMs in eight banks: Amegy Bank of Texas, California Bank & Trust, Commerce Bank of Oregon, Commerce Bank of Washington, National Bank of Arizona, Nevada State Bank, Vectra Bank of Colorado and Zions Bank. The company is a national leader in Small Business Administration lending and public finance advisory services. In addition, Zions is included in the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Financial 100 indices. Investor information and links to subsidiary banks can be accessed at http://www.zionsbancorporation.com.

* Past auction performance does not guarantee future results. Source: Informa Research Services, Inc., Calabasas, CA. http://www.informars.com. Although the information has been obtained from the various institutions themselves, the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Investment Products: not FDIC insured, no bank guarantee, may lose value. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) are FDIC insured up to applicable limits.

Source: Zions First National Bank

a