Originally Posted by
SteveinTX
The best way to carry something easily convertible into cash would the US Postal Money orders. Buy them at the post office, redeem them at the post office. All cash, no official records.
That works fine for less than $3,000. But once you get to $3k there's a paper trail, and you can't do more than $10k in a single day. From
http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/503.htm#wp1150680
14.2.2 Purchase Restrictions
A postal customer may buy multiple money orders at the same time, in the same or differing amounts, subject to these restrictions:
a. The maximum amount of any single money order is $1,000.
b. Without exception, no customer may buy money orders on any 1 day whose total value exceeds $10,000. This daily limit applies regardless of the number of visits made by a customer to one or more postal facilities.
c. Any customer whose daily total of purchased money orders is from $3,000 to $10,000 must also complete Form 8105-A and show identification bearing the purchaser's photograph, name, and address.
And if you get caught doing a bunch of $2,999 transactions, you can get in trouble for structuring transactions to avoid reporting requirements. You'll see the boxes they would check on this blank SAR:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f902256.pdf