Expat Investment - £75k

got2bfunky

Hi all, been a while since i was on this site but remember how great it was for info and advice.

I am UK expat now living in the Middle East, i have amassed a size-able amount in an offshore account and to frank feel like it is just wasting away in there and should be doing more for us, hence i would appreciate some help.

We have just shy of £75k in a Lloyds Offshore account, we don't access it and are still tryign to add to it as we go, but don't want it to be locked away for a great deal of time just in case.

We do have a mortgaged property in the UK, we bought in 2007 in B'ham so unfortunately its not in a great place. Has £130k remaining over 27yrs, but is rented and covering the mortgage and a little more. I have looked to sell it but its only worth approx £135k so i figured while someone else is paying the mortgage best to hold onto it. Should i be paying some of this off?

Aside from this we are lucky to have no overheads, so as you can see we are in a fortunate but not royal position and just want to be a little more clever with what we actually have. Any suggestions are very welcome.

Thanks!!

brasso

What currency are you paid in? Could that be a factor? For instance, I get paid in a currency strong against the £ so I would regard it as a good time to pay off UK debt.

Currency aside, if I had a UK mortgage and was 'amassing' cash overseas, I think I would definitely be using this as an opportunity to pay down the mortgage. The other consideration is your pension arrangements. If you think they are lacking I might be addressing this area too rather than have a pile of cash doing nothing.

kingrulzuk

brasso wrote: »

What currency are you paid in? Could that be a factor? For instance, I get paid in a currency strong against the £ so I would regard it as a good time to pay off UK debt.

Currency aside, if I had a UK mortgage and was 'amassing' cash overseas, I think I would definitely be using this as an opportunity to pay down the mortgage. The other consideration is your pension arrangements. If you think they are lacking I might be addressing this area too rather than have a pile of cash doing nothing.

I Agree.
Age and where in middle east?

What are your future plans?

got2bfunky

kingrulzuk wrote: »

I Agree.
Age and where in middle east?

What are your future plans?

35, married with two kids. Have a separate pension investment scheme in place so i'm not concerned about that.

In UAE with no plans to leave here in next few years. Paid in AED so yes its a good time to send money to the UK offshore account, just need to figure where to send it next.

Thanks for your advice.

kingrulzuk

got2bfunky wrote: »

35, married with two kids. Have a separate pension investment scheme in place so i'm not concerned about that.

In UAE with no plans to leave here in next few years. Paid in AED so yes its a good time to send money to the UK offshore account, just need to figure where to send it next.

Thanks for your advice.

In UAE The best way to send money transfers is by using a currency exchange house which will offer you wholesale rates. Once an account is set up you simply call them to secure the rate before making a transfer to them which is then transferred on to your other account. Takes no longer than a standard transfer.

Or you can open if you dont have HSBC Advance Current account in UAE (min 15k AED salary requirement) and it will be Cheaper to send money to uk.

kangoora

I've no specific advice for you but a general warning from threads I've seen on this site. Be very, very careful about using an overseas 'IFA'.

There's been quite a few horror stories about insane charges, high commissions and exit penalties on a number of products people have signed up to whilst on ex-pat deals.

kingrulzuk

kangoora wrote: »

I've no specific advice for you but a general warning from threads I've seen on this site. Be very, very careful about using an overseas 'IFA'.

There's been quite a few horror stories about insane charges, high commissions and exit penalties on a number of products people have signed up to whilst on ex-pat deals.

I totally agree

got2bfunky

kingrulzuk wrote: »

I totally agree

Yes i'm aware of the charges but i have no plans to remove it from the scheme and its performing very well thus far. I think its more the people who aren't aware of the rules that cry foul play.

Spidernick

What rate are you paying on the UK mortgage? If it's at a rate higher than you might get investing the money elsewhere then it may be worth paying off some of the mortgage (but leave yourself some accessible funds). This would then obviously reduce your allowable expenses against the rental income and so increase your net profit, but as long as the overall profit is no more than £21,200 (I gather from the OP that the rental property is in joint names with your wife and so two personal allowances of £10,600 each for 15/16 - I assume your wife is a British or EU national) there won't be any UK tax to pay on this (and none of course in the UAE).

There has been talk of getting rid of personal allowances for all non-UK tax residents, but that seems to have been kicked into the medium grass for now, but another aspect to consider just in case this changes.

Also bear in mind that non-UK tax residents now have to pay UK Capital Gains Tax on UK residential property once sold (with a rebasing to the April 2015 value), but that seems unlikely to affect you for a good while yet from what you have said).