Bitcoin is best. Can theoretically keep your wallet seed in your head instead of paper or on phone. Anything physical is subject to border guards or other transporation/exgress/ingress assisters.
Good advice. Same with real estate. There are all sorts of laws in target nations you'd never expect. For instance, some nations will tax your money hard if you try to leave them.
It only angers your intelligence officials if it is advice. "Not advice" means begging to stay friends. I advise staying friends, overtly, with NSA, to make sure that first they come for others.
Besides the utility of a go bag.. having portable wealth can get you into trouble with the police or border crossing agents.
Civil asset forfeiture is a very real thing at border crossings. If you must take portable wealth have documentation about where it came from a available
If you’re planning to leave with enough time, register a business or trust or something, transfer your money to a shell company, repeat as necessary then transfer it to the place you’re trying to go.
Use the tools of the people with money not the tools of people who get patted down for loose change by the tsa.
Y'all don't got that magic suitcase Leon S. Kennedy has? Ya know, the one that can disappear into thing air and re-appear, whenever you want, and can fit 2 rocket launchers, an automatic gun, a sidearm, boxes of ammo, a bunch of grenades, and vials of colorful herbs.
Currency. Paper money that has high acceptance internationally, like US Dollars or Euros, both can be easily traded by local currency pretty much anywhere in the world.
Idk how long the US dollar will have high acceptance internationally. I mean it may not change much or it may change a lot, depending on what happens the next few years.
My buddy grandpa left murica to go to his home country but traded all his dollars to local currency. When he got off the boat local currently collapsed hard. Huge fear of mine.
If you can't get a good stable currency or you have legitimate fears that the currency you can get is in danger of some kind of collapse, gold or silver coins would be your best second bet. In this case you'll want well known coins minted by an actual government such as an American gold eagle or the Canadian silver maple leaf rather than the coin shaped "rounds" that a lot of places sell. The rounds will have the same issue as jewelry, you'll have to haggle over weight and quality every time you sell one. Actual coins issued by a government mint will have pretty well established values so they will be easier to sell at a fair price.
If you're crossing a border they'll try to customs you about gold coins/bars, jewelry you can claim is like, a precious family heirloom or your wedding ring or whatever.
Probably a good amount to start over. Grandma wad a refugee and came over with way less. Granted she had to work like uncle ruckus but she also couldn't read either.
I'm fairly sure these days most refugees at least go through some manner of process in the country they claim asylum in. You can't really exist off grid anymore
US: The way to effectively do thos is to open a series of accounts, in a tree structure, in countries that aren't CRS compliant. Disperse the money into the structure. This will buy time, mitigating losses in the event of an asset freeze, likely not being caught until FACTA reporting to the IRS. Get the money out ASAP. There's better methods if laws don't matter.
Not a topic I'm super familiar with, but I feel I've heard people often are either robbed or have their items confiscated by authorities. Same with unhoused people not wanting to have stuff that would make them a target.
If it was something you had a little bit of prep time for, ziplocking USD or EU and seeing it into a grubby jacket where the repairs would blend in and not garner attention would be the most portable and effective thing to do while minimizing theft potential, other than having all eggs in one basket unless you split it between different garments. Also make sure it is pretty weatherproof to prevent mold damage.
It also has the benefit of being immediately usable, should you need to pay for transport or food. If it was seen in a puffy coat, one could discreetly remove one pack of bills while leaving the rest secure. The immediacy that cash can be used may make up for having something potentially more valuable that you would have to barter or fence, as pretty much any human has a need for cash.
To add that secret compartments in your accessoirs.
My sling bag for example has 2 velcro pouches on each side of the band. You would think they are sewn shut but on closer expections they are actually vecroed.
Using it as a emergency storage for some coins. Helped me once already.
Not putting in a link until requested. No need to advertise :)
I think I actually had a coat once with a hidden pocket like this that I didn't know about until I had it for quite some time! It wasn't big enough to hold a lot, but it was a very secret stash. Even some coats I have with inside pockets blend in very well, but those probably wouldn't pass someone searching me at a checkpoint of any kind.