- Joined
- Aug 30, 2009
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Basic rough outline is that an American is going off to live in Fictitious European Country sometime soon-ish after the end of WWI (1920-1925'ish?) because Reasons. She's making her way there, and not looking forward to it, but it's taking a long time because she's in the middle of a Tour of Europe first.
With all of the turmoil going on in so many places, she's not really confident in how stable her future in Fictitious European Country is going to be in the long run, so she's trying to put together a safety net of investments so that even if the revolutionaries topple Country X, she won't be totally impoverished. However, with all of the turmoil and poverty in post-Great-War Europe--- I'm not sure what would make sense to a relatively astute individual, or how she would go about it. Would "her agents" snap up various factories or properties in Rome/Berlin/Paris/London, or would she be worried about Bolsheviks/Socialists/Fascists taking over things as happened in Russia? (Random fact-- I was reading a memoir from an American who experienced the Russian Revolution from within the nobility, and had no idea that the Germans were the driving force behind the Bolsheviks.)
Anyhow. Suppose she pawns her jewels in Paris or Rome or Amsterdam and she telegraphs her agents in (major city). How does she get the money from her location to her agent-investors so they can go buy (things), whether the (things) are an Australian cattle ranch, or a paper mill in America, or a hotel in Paris, or whatever? Can she go to just any bank and go through them, or does she need to set up a new banking relationship in each country before Bank A, B, or C will communicate with/relay funds to her American bank? She's trying to keep this safety net a secret from her husband (a subject of Kingdom X) and her family (back in America), so she's not able to rely on either of them to help her accomplish what she wants.
Suggestions on how to approach the scenario? I'm trying to bridge the gap between her preference for physical tangible things (rather than shares in someone else's things), despite her not being able to be involved in their management and day-to-day running because of her secretiveness and remote location. I think the "agent-investors" is a good start, but I'm still not sure how to keep it from being impossibly clunky, or contrary to practices of the period.
With all of the turmoil going on in so many places, she's not really confident in how stable her future in Fictitious European Country is going to be in the long run, so she's trying to put together a safety net of investments so that even if the revolutionaries topple Country X, she won't be totally impoverished. However, with all of the turmoil and poverty in post-Great-War Europe--- I'm not sure what would make sense to a relatively astute individual, or how she would go about it. Would "her agents" snap up various factories or properties in Rome/Berlin/Paris/London, or would she be worried about Bolsheviks/Socialists/Fascists taking over things as happened in Russia? (Random fact-- I was reading a memoir from an American who experienced the Russian Revolution from within the nobility, and had no idea that the Germans were the driving force behind the Bolsheviks.)
Anyhow. Suppose she pawns her jewels in Paris or Rome or Amsterdam and she telegraphs her agents in (major city). How does she get the money from her location to her agent-investors so they can go buy (things), whether the (things) are an Australian cattle ranch, or a paper mill in America, or a hotel in Paris, or whatever? Can she go to just any bank and go through them, or does she need to set up a new banking relationship in each country before Bank A, B, or C will communicate with/relay funds to her American bank? She's trying to keep this safety net a secret from her husband (a subject of Kingdom X) and her family (back in America), so she's not able to rely on either of them to help her accomplish what she wants.
Suggestions on how to approach the scenario? I'm trying to bridge the gap between her preference for physical tangible things (rather than shares in someone else's things), despite her not being able to be involved in their management and day-to-day running because of her secretiveness and remote location. I think the "agent-investors" is a good start, but I'm still not sure how to keep it from being impossibly clunky, or contrary to practices of the period.
