Back to Sweden

More proof that money goes where it’s well treated. That’s why IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad left Sweden in 1973. And now that the family wealth is protected by lawyers, guns and money it’s time to come back home at age 87. The Wall Street Journal reports:

IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad intends to move before the end of the year to Sweden, a country he left in the 1970s due to high tax rates.

Mr. Kamprad’s decision to move back to the small town of Älmhult in the Swedish province of Småland—where he started the company some 70 years ago—comes after the 87-year-old founder left the board of the parent company of the furniture brand earlier this month. One of Mr. Kamprad’s three sons, Mathias Kamprad, 44, was appointed chairman of Inter IKEA Group, which owns the IKEA brand and concept.

“To move back to Sweden brings me closer to my family and my old friends,” Mr. Kamprad said in a statement. After his wife died about a year and a half ago, he said “there is less to keep me in Switzerland.”

Mr. Kamprad left Sweden in 1973 due to Sweden’s high income and corporate taxes. Initially, he relocated to Denmark and then became a resident of Epilanges, Switzerland, in 1976.

Since then, the Nordic country’s tax laws have softened somewhat. A wealth tax has been abolished and income taxes have been lowered.

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E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.