Highly indebted, deficit-prone governments will inevitability seize your precious metals, either through excessive taxation or other arbitrary means ('emergency social solidarity tax' anyone?).

Plus I'll wager, it'll be pretty much next to impossible to internationally transport meaningful quantities.

Do you live in a precious metal friendly country?

Precious metal friendly countries make ownership, storage and transportation easy. They have fiscally responsible governments, often with substantial national gold reserves, citizens with high savings rates, strong property rights, and most importantly they impose little or no taxation on gold and silver.

Here's my top five.

Get ahead of the curve

Most precious metal investors are not collectors or gold fanatics. They just want to get out when the time is right into something else. For example:

Income producing business or real estate;
Cash flow to fund retirement or expenses.

Right now gold and silver are out of fashion, getting hammered regularly, and off the radar.

Perfect.

Now is the time to figure out how to be tax resident in a ‘precious metal friendly’ country for when the inevitable time comes to sell and realise that fat capital gain.

The 5 countries above are actually pleasant to live in and easy to obtain residency (I've visited all 5, spent significant time in 3 and lived in one).

Of course, if you are US citizen you are screwed and must bend over for the IRS no matter where you live.

If I was US citizen and didn't want to renounce my citizenship I'm not sure what I'd do, apart from moving to a low Captal Gains tax State. Any ideas my American friends?