- Information is dated as of book publishing in 2004. Updated info can be found on website: howtobeinvisible.com (password: ssndob).
- You never know what circumstances will put you under an investigator’s telescope. Be prepared! Lawsuits are common and random. Even if a lawsuit is completely without merit, you can still lose and it is expensive and time consuming to defend.
- There is no way to disappear completely. Given enough time and money, a good private investigator (PI, good one available in the Appendix) or the police will find you. You can only make it expensive and difficult to find you.
- State laws vary. Use a lawyer.
- Avoid offshore entities (trusts, corporations, bank accounts). Secrecy is being continually being compromised by tax treaties and information sharing. There are similarly or more effective privacy measures to use onshore.
- Important: never allow your real name to be associated with your home address. Avoid giving out your home address and phone number, only to people you trust. Get a “ghost” address (one’s available in the Appendix). At a minimum get a private mailbox and avoid giving out your true identity and location when opening it. Do not receive any mail at home—cancel magazine and newspaper subscriptions to the home, do not include the home as a return address. Do not even have a house number posted on the outside of your house.
- Luna misleads and gives incorrect or withholds information if no harm or fraud is done. Otherwise, he gives truthful information. Never file a false tax return.
- Use Jehovah’s Witnesses for cleaning and secure work. They do not lie or steal.
- Shred your trash—financial statements and any sensitive documents.
- Get utilities under a business name or a false name. Telephone lines are not secure. Use prepaid phone cards or cell phone in a disguised or nominee’s name. Or use an old-fashioned pager.
- Do not give out your S.S. number or date of birth. Avoid furnishing it for all non-government entities. Give a different date of birth.
- Practice to be able to use an illegible signature. Use an alias, alternate name similar to your own.
- For added privacy, find a nominee. Ideally someone old, with no assets (“judgment-proof”) and willing to help. Use the power of attorney form in the book. Bank account: use a nominee to open the account and pre-sign checks. Don’t include your true/full name or address on the check. Or use money orders (small amounts) and bank cashier checks (large amounts).
- Use a New Mexico LLC to title a car or a house. If it’s a single member LLC, it will be disregarded for tax purposes (“flow through”) and the name needs not be revealed on the tax filings.
- Much easier of the assets are owned outright or purchased in cash.
- LLCs avoid transfer taxes upon selling.
- Buy insurance under own name, dba LLC name.
- Computer security: don’t register it (or ISP) in own name, use a removable hard drive, avoid common passwords (p. 203), don’t connect to a telephone line, and limit van Eck/ radio emissions. EnCase will find things even on completely wiped hard drives.
- Nothing on the Internet is completely secure! Keep that in mind.
- Run a business with an LLC (or two layers) for privacy. Do not evade taxes, or work “off the books”.
- Hiding things in the house:
- Do not hide valuables in the master bedroom. Suggestions on p. 241
- Use private storage.
- Install a panic room in your house
- Use GPS and compass to locate a hidden spot in the wilderness. Take a picture.
- For every desired action, set a date, and when the date arrives, just go ahead and do it, NO MATTER WHAT.
Finished: 18-Nov-2010
Skip College: Go Into Business for Yourself (E-Book), by J.J. Luna
- Because of mass enrollment, a college degree is less valuable than in the past. Get a good education—but don’t necessarily have to get it in college. If you do go to college, at least take a gap year to travel and reflect.
- Read!! Mark Twain: “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”
- “Dime con quién andes, y te diré quién eres.”
- Learn to earn money from work. Don’t endow children with money at a young age—they will not learn to earn it.
- “If you want to make money, go to where the money is circulating.”
- Avoid starting with debt. Try to start a home-based, simple, low capital business. If you fail, you will not be further set back than when you started. Try to work alone (no partners) and hire contractors (no employees).
- “You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they ”
- Old advice: “find a need and serve it”. New advice: “create a want and serve it.”
- You only get one chance to make a first impression. A good first impression buys you a few moments of time to sell your product, that’s all. Therefore, dress neatly, be clean, show important items on you. Be and act first class. Be a consummate professional—always deliver on time! Never be late, have back-up plans, be honest.
- Strive to live simply and modestly. Have your wife work at home. Ask: 1) Is this a need or a want?, and 2) will this simplify my life? “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
- Will Rogers: “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.”
- Spend some time in solitude. Solitude nurtures creativity, allows for reflection, and recharges mentally.
- Believe in a higher power (God) and live your life by that lead. Living a moral life has many benefits, though not immediately obvious (less crime, less health issues, less family issues).
- Be persistent. “One fails forward towards success.”
- Maintain personal privacy to protect yourself.
- In the Appendix: Luna has a reading list of books and reasons why not to become a lawyer.
Finished: 2-Nov-10