America’s hidden wealth havens

👋🏾 Hey there, I’m Ronnie. Every week, I break down the money games the 1% play so the 99% can finally level up.

Let me start with something blunt enough to wake you up.

The real money in America isn’t hiding offshore.

It’s hiding in South Dakota, and six other states you probably never think about.

You know what’s wild?

We spent years obsessing over Swiss banks, Cayman accounts, and Panama shell companies.

Meanwhile, right here on U.S. soil, a handful of states quietly transformed themselves into domestic tax havens, and almost nobody outside the wealth-management world noticed.

This is the part that pulled me down this rabbit hole.

I started with a simple question about dynasty trusts, and I ended up staring at the financial equivalent of an underground tunnel system.

Let me walk you through what I found.

The Moment the Puzzle Clicked

It began with a map — a really boring one, if I’m being honest. The map displayed a list of states with favorable trust laws.

Then I realized what I was actually looking at:

South Dakota, Alaska, Nevada, Delaware, Tennessee, Wyoming, and Ohio.

A cluster of states that, at first glance, have nothing in common — except one thing.

They each made a deliberate choice to become safehouses for the country’s largest fortunes.

And when I say “deliberate, I mean drafted, negotiated, sharpened, and passed with surgical precision.

These states didn’t stumble into this; they engineered it.

Initially, I discovered Ohio as one of the seven states, but later found through deeper research that New Hampshire had better trust laws than Ohio.

How the 1% Persuaded States to Rewrite the Rules

A few decades ago, wealthy families and their lawyers started telling lawmakers across the country a simple story:

“If you let us build stronger trusts — longer trusts, private trusts, harder-to-penetrate trusts — we’ll move our money to your state.”

And the states listened.

Because when you establish a trust, money doesn’t just sit in a trust. It brings:

• Banking activity.

• Legal fees.

• Administrative jobs.

• Data center growth.

• Investment flows.

• Long-term financial infrastructure.

So these states got competitive — I’m talking really competitive.

Think of it as a quiet bidding war for the wealth of America’s richest families.

And the winner, by a landslide, was South Dakota.

South Dakota: The Unchallenged King

I knew South Dakota had become a big deal, but I didn’t understand how big until I looked deeper.

South Dakota eliminated the rule against perpetuities back in 1983, decades before anyone else caught on. That single decision allowed trusts to last forever. Not 100 years or 200 years, but FOREVER.

Then they stacked on:

• No income tax.

• No capital gains tax.

• No inheritance tax.

• No limit on trust duration.

• Complete privacy (sealed court records).

• Strongest asset-protection laws in the country.

• Trust companies that operate like financial fortresses.

Essentially, it created a legal black box.

When the Pandora Papers hit, we saw names like:

• The Pritzker family (Hyatt Hotels).

• Billionaires from Latin America and Europe.

• Individuals tied to political scandals in foreign countries.

• Wealthy U.S. families aiming to shield multigenerational fortunes.

And what did South Dakota say?

“We did nothing wrong. We just have good laws.”

They weren’t wrong. They created exactly what they set out to create.

Nevada: The “If South Dakota Can Do It, So Can We” State

Nevada followed fast, carving out its own place in the dynasty trust world.

They built 365-year trusts (practically forever in financial terms) and stacked the deck with:

• No state income tax.

• Confidential court processes.

• Aggressive asset-protection laws.

• A thriving network of trust companies.

And of course, Nevada already had a culture of privacy thanks to its casino industry. Secrecy isn’t just a feature in the state of Nevada — it’s heritage.

So what happened?

High-net-worth families from California, Arizona, and New York started shifting assets into Nevada trusts like it was the new gold rush.

Alaska: The Arctic Fortress

Alaska came out swinging with something new: The Domestic Asset Protection Trust (DAPT).

This structure is like the financial equivalent of a bunker. If done correctly, it can shield assets from:

• Creditors.

• Lawsuits.

• Claims.

• Certain divorce proceedings.

• Business liabilities.

And it can last for centuries.

Public records show that Former United States Vice President Dan Quayle’s family used Alaska trust structures as part of their long-term estate and asset planning.

Alaska turned itself into the cold, quiet stronghold of American wealth.

Delaware: The Establishment Power

Delaware didn’t need to reinvent itself. It was already the corporate capital of the U.S.

So it weaponized what it already had:

• A court system tailored to business interests.

• A century of legal precedent built for corporations.

• Strong privacy norms.

• A competitive trust industry.

Old-money families, finance dynasties, and East Coast wealth already trusted Delaware. So adding dynasty trusts was an easy plug-in.

If South Dakota is the rebel king, Delaware is the quiet general — steady, consistent, always in the game.

Wyoming, Tennessee, New Hampshire: The New Blood

These states saw an opportunity and sprinted.

All three passed:

• Long-duration trust laws.

• Strong privacy rules.

• Asset-protection frameworks.

• No state income tax.

Wyoming, in particular, became legendary for anonymous LLCs. That naturally complemented dynasty trusts.

The connection gets interesting here.

Members of the Walton family (Walmart heirs) have long used Wyoming LLC structures to manage and consolidate holdings. Wyoming is practically part of their financial DNA.

It’s not hard to see how dynasty trusts fit into the broader Walton strategy of multi-generational control.

What Dynasty Trusts Actually Do

Let’s strip away the jargon. A dynasty trust is a vehicle designed to:

• Hold assets.

• Protect assets.

• Invest assets.

• Grow assets.

• Transfer assets to future generations with little or no estate tax, and often total privacy for centuries.

It’s the closest thing to financial immortality that U.S. law allows, and it works extremely well.

Think about this.

Most people lose wealth each generation through:

• Estate taxes.

• Divorce.

• Lawsuits.

• Bad decisions.

• Business failures.

• Market downturns.

Dynasty trusts cut almost all of that risk out of the picture.

It’s like putting money behind bulletproof, fireproof, lawsuit-proof, tax-resistant glass and giving your family the key for the next 400 years.

This is why families like Mars (candy empire), Getty, Cargill-MacMillan (agriculture empire), Walmart heirs, and the Pritzkers continue to grow wealth while many millionaire families lose their fortunes by the third generation.

Why This System Exists at All

There’s a deeper layer here that most people miss. These states didn’t do this for fun.

They did it because the trust industry is insanely profitable.

Every billion parked in a trust means:

• Trustee fees.

• Legal fees.

• Accounting fees.

• Custody fees.

• Investment management fees.

• Administrative infrastructure.

In some states, trusts now represent one of the largest financial industries they have.

This is why they fiercely protect these laws. It’s not just wealth sheltering, it’s economic development.

South Dakota literally built a financial empire out of trust statutes.

The Big Picture: This Is the 1% Money Game

The more I dug into this, the clearer it became.

Most Americans are playing checkers while the wealthiest families in this country are playing 3D chess.

They’re not thinking in years; they think in centuries.

They’re not fighting over tax brackets; they’re setting up structures that skip entire tax eras.

They’re not worried about leaving money for their kids; they’re building frameworks that keep wealth flowing through a family line like a private river.

This isn’t illegal, and it’s not even particularly hidden. It’s just not part of the financial vocabulary that everyday people are exposed to.

Why This Matters for Us

You can’t play a game you can’t see.

Even if you’re not setting up a dynasty trust tomorrow, understanding the architecture of how the wealthiest Americans protect their money is valuable.

It teaches you the principles of:

• Long-term thinking.

• Asset protection.

• Tax-efficient structures.

• Multi-generational planning.

• Privacy and control.

• The power of the right jurisdiction.

You don’t have to be a billionaire to learn from billionaires, but you do have to know what they’re doing.

And now you do.

Until next time…

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