Asklemmy

Heroin is quite compact, and always holds its value of you're travelling from lower socioeconomic to higher.

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.

GOLD JEWELRY

Transfer your money to an overseas bank in your target nation.

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.

Silver coins maybe

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.

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

Coins vs jewelry doesn't matter. Weight and purity are all that count when selling.

Good usecase for bitcoin, bring your private key

Printer ink.

I’m just kidding… listen to all the other smart people in this thread and not me.

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.

A few iphones, they tend to have a high demand and prices are stable for a few years.

This is not advice

If you are fleeing from the US, get a bunch of guns. Gotta make money from illegal weapon sales overseas, just as the founders intended. 😎

God Bless The 2nd Amendment 🙏

(Also, build a backyard nuke while you're at it, sell it to the Libyans)

You could also explore some crypto options like monero (XMR). It can be theft resistant if you set it up properly.

Edit: Mind replying to me instead of downvoting? What is the problem with crypto in this scenario?

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.