Friday 10th February 2006 AD

"TRUSTING THE POSTMAN"

This morning, I was walking through our front office, when the postal deliveryman called out enthusiastically, "Mr. Judge I have a letter for you as well." Amidst a pile of general office mail was a crisp brown envelope. As he passed me the envelope, I was reminded that I had just become a 'beneficiary'. 

Let me explain; one week earlier in Australia, Keith, a good friend and client had taken a sheet of his best writing paper and penned me a letter (1). He then carefully sealed the letter in a matching envelope, which he addressed personally to me. From there, he took the letter to his local Australia Post office where he mailed the letter. 

By Keith's actions he had created a "TRUST." Trust relationships are so very simple and have existed for as long as men have walked the earth. In essence, a 'Trust' exists when someone gives something to someone else for the benefit of yet another.

Keith by writing and mailing the letter had become the 'Settlor' or 'Grantor' of the trust. 
The letter itself had become the 'Property of the Trust'. The Postal Service (all the way to the mail delivery man) had become the 'Trustee', and I, as the final intended recipient of the letter was the 'Beneficiary'. 

What about the 'Rules of the Trust'? Every trust ever created is subject to several rules and potential future events. Normally the rules of a particular trust will be laid out in the 'Trust Deed'. In our case, the rules could be found on Keith's letter, which included an address to deliver the letter, and even an address to return the letter should the Trustee be unable to 
complete the terms of the trust by delivering the letter to the ultimate Beneficiary.

The Trustee has a solemn and earnest duty to protect the property of the trust and, at all times, uphold the rules of the trust for the sole benefit of the beneficiary. For example, if someone interferes with the delivery of the letter, the Postal Service and its agents will defend the letter as if it were their own property. The postman will hunt down the thief as if the 
letter was his, and stolen from him.

For thousands of years, Trusts have been used to hold, manage, safeguard & protect, move and increase property and assets. It is said that Plato used a non-profit trust to finance his university in Greece about 400 B.C. while formal Trusts were also known and used in Roman law. 
In Feudal England, trusts were being used as early as the 11th century, and by the 15th century were being enforced by the Courts of Chancery. 

To this very day, a correctly structured trust (2) remains an ideal way to hold property and assets for family, specific individuals, discretionary groups, and future generations. Most importantly, well structured trusts hold assets and property at arms length from casual would-be-opportunists and more serious gold diggers. 

As Individuals - our job is to equip ourselves with the knowledge that will help us survive and prosper in our changing world. At Daily Dig - our job is to dig up the relevant information that will provide you, our valued readers, with this knowledge. 

Sincerely - Philip Judge pjudge@anglofareast.com 

(1) from a privacy in communications standpoint, many people (and with good merit) still prefer to communicate instructions with their private bankers and/or trustees by standard post. It is not unusual for people communicating in this fashion to use a group of previously agreed words 
or phrases to indicate or express a particular wish or instruction. Electronically encrypted communications such as PGP encrypted email and encrypted internet phones such as 'Skype' also remain reliable and strong ways of protecting one's private communications. 

(2) In our experience, all too often, Trusts are not correctly structured from the outset, making the property, assets and beneficiaries vulnerable to future attack. Proper planning, forward thinking and trust advice is a must.

Don't miss this Tuesday's teleconference : 
WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HAPPENING?
http://www.anglofareast.com/teleconference.html

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ANGLO SILVER STOCKS FUND

For the month of January 2006, Anglo Silver Stocks Fund Units rose a very strong 26.5% while silver bullion sustained a healthy increase of 12% for the same period. 

Fund managers are delighted to start 2006 with Fund Units posting a new all time high for the opening valuation month of January 2006. The Fund is well positioned to perform very strongly moving forward as the silver bullion price continues to increase.

This month's SSF Valuation commentary : 
http://www.anglofareast.com/downloads/SSFVAL.pdf

More information on Anglo's SSF :
http://www.anglofareast.com/financial_ssf.html