I have started rewatching the Star Wars movies with my kids.
And yes, when I say “with my kids,” I really mean I am making them watch them. This is part of their education now. Math, history, literature, Star Wars.
These things matter.
We started with A New Hope, then moved into The Empire Strikes Back, which is easily my favourite Star Wars movie ever made. I know some people will argue with me on that, but those people are wrong.
Now, to be fair, Rogue One is excellent. Andor is also shockingly good, especially for a modern TV show, where the writers seem legally required to ruin everything good from our childhood.
But Empire is still the best.
And for the purposes of this conversation, we will simply pretend Episodes I, II, and III never happened. Those were embarrassments, and I do not want to talk about them.
Anyway, while rewatching The Empire Strikes Back, there was one scene that hit me differently this time.
Lando Calrissian thinks he has made a deal with Darth Vader.
He has handed over Han, Leia, and Chewbacca because Vader has promised that Cloud City will be left alone. It is not a great deal. But from Lando’s point of view, he is trying to protect his people with the leverage he has available.
Then Vader changes the terms.
Lando protests.
Vader looks at him and says:
“I am altering the deal. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”
That line has stayed with people for decades because it captures something brutally true about power.
When one side has all the force, all the weapons, all the courts, and all the rule-making authority, the “deal” is only a deal for as long as that side feels like honouring it.
This is not just science fiction.
This is how governments behave when they become desperate, broke, arrogant, or afraid.
You followed the tax rules? Good. The rules have changed.
You kept your money in the banking system? Good. Withdrawals are now limited.
You bought property? Good. A new wealth tax is being discussed.
You complied during the emergency? Good. The emergency powers are now permanent.
You thought citizenship meant an unconditional right to your own country?
Good. Now let’s talk about exit restrictions, vaccine passports, capital controls, digital ID, financial surveillance, or whatever new mechanism comes next.
The details change from country to country, but the pattern is old.
A government makes promises when it wants your cooperation. Then, once you are trapped inside its system, it discovers new reasons why the promise no longer applies.
That is the part successful people often miss.
They think the state is playing by contract rules.
It is not.
The state is playing by power rules.
Lando’s mistake was assuming that Vader cared about the agreement. Vader cared about control. Once Lando had surrendered his leverage, the deal was over.
I see families make the same mistake all the time.
They assume that because life is normal today, it will still be normal when they need it to be. They have a good accountant. They have a good lawyer. They have a good bank. They own a nice home in a safe neighbourhood. Their government may be annoying, expensive, and incompetent, but it has not become dangerous enough to force a serious rethink.
So they wait.
That is the dangerous part.
By the time a government becomes openly hostile, the easy options are usually gone.
And all the people who spent years laughing at the idea of a Plan-B suddenly want one by Friday.
This is where the Lando lesson matters.
He did not have a bad instinct. He was trying to protect Cloud City. He probably told himself that Vader was awful, yes, but still rational. Surely the Empire would honour the deal because that’s what you do.
That is exactly how a lot of productive families think about their own governments.
I would not build my family’s future on that assumption.
The strange thing is that wealthy families already understand this in every other area of life. They do not keep all their assets in one stock. They do not build a business around one employee. They do not rely on one customer, one supplier, one bank, or one source of revenue if they can avoid it. They diversify because concentration risk is obvious when you are looking at a balance sheet.
But when it comes to jurisdictional risk, even very smart people become strangely sentimental.
They assume their children will inherit the same level of freedom they grew up with.
Maybe they will.
But that is not a strategy. That is a bet.
And the people making that bet are usually making it with everything that matters most.
At Expat Money, we help families reduce that risk. We help them build practical, legal structures outside their home country so they are not entirely dependent on one government continuing to behave itself. Sometimes that means residency. Sometimes it means citizenship. Sometimes it means offshore banking, international investments, asset protection, or simply having a serious conversation about where the family would go if the rules changed quickly.
The point is not to predict the exact crisis.
The point is to stop being fragile.
Because when governments alter the deal, they rarely ask nicely. Lando learned that lesson the hard way.
Your family does not have to.
If you are ready to start building your family’s Plan-B, you can apply to work with us here: https://expatmoney.com/application
Speak soon,
Mikkel
PS. If you haven’t seen it yet, I strongly encourage you to watch this past Saturday’s presentation while it’s still available to the general public. My partner, Kiley Herold, and I unveiled a project that has been in the making for over two years and will revolutionize how expats live in Panama’s booming coastal region. This project is designed specifically with the Expat Money community in mind. Watch the presentation now at: expatmoney.com/webinar
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