Is this a reasonable fee for a financial advisor

jimjames

dunstonh wrote: »

This is a UK board and discussions are relevant to the UK. In the UK, advisers are fee based. There is no commission. The product you are talking about is not UK based and is a commission payer. Most Asian markets have regulation that ranges from non-existent to the level the UK had in the 80s. The distribution methods are similar to 80s methods in the UK. (i.e. sales, not advice and very little comeback if its wrong).

Would a UK based financial adviser deal with an expat to get more visibility and consumer protection for the buyer?

happylucky

Expat financial advisors are their own special brand of cowboy.

Pizza: the fees / commissions / charges are too high and inflexible.

Please do yourself a favour and buy a Kindle copy of this book which specializes in expat portfolio building & retirement planning. Excellent reviews and I'm a big fan:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00N99IK74/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

...and by this time tomorrow you'll be feeling a lot more in control I promise.

You'll probably end up getting yourself an offshore trading account with Saxo in Singapore (if it's a big pot of cash you'll get your own account manager) and never look back. Good luck.

dunstonh

Expat financial advisors are their own special brand of cowboy.

Yep. Always have been. They used to target the failed advisers in the UK (i.e. the ones that couldnt get the qualifications to UK standard). It is pure sales American style with the cowboy attitude to match.

Would a UK based financial adviser deal with an expat to get more visibility and consumer protection for the buyer?

You would expect a better standard but most firms do not deal with expats unless it is through natural progression (i.e. existing UK resident moving abroad). That leaves you with ex pat firms and the large ones dont have the best reputation.

jamesd

pizza_lord wrote: »

I am a digital nomad, constantly travelling and not tax resident anywhere ... I currently am in SE Asia

Just go with a normal investment trading account. These products normally only make sense for tax reasons that don't apply to you so the adviser is almost certainly just selling you something to make money for them.

And that P2P also, but stick to UK P2P and avoid Chinese P2P like the plague, the fraud/failure rates for P2P there are horrendously bad.

pizza_lord

P2P seems pretty risky, no?

jimjames

pizza_lord wrote: »

P2P seems pretty risky, no?

Have you looked at what you were investing in before?

jamesd

pizza_lord wrote: »

P2P seems pretty risky, no?

No but people not familiar with it often think it is, just like people who've never invested in funds or shares think that's more risky than it is.

Consider a P2P loan on these sort of terms:

1% a month interest rate.
Loan is to a business that does hire purchase sales of cars to consumers who are poor credit risks.
The cars all have trackers and other devices fitted.
Security is the cars and the HP payments, cars valued at 80% of retail, HP at 50% of the future payments.
If the consumer defaults, the borrowing business swaps out their car/contract for a new one to keep the security value up.

So you don't lose money if the consumer defaults and if the business defaults you have the cars and HP agreement cash flow as security.

That's a deal regularly being offered on the MoneyThing platform at the moment.

A range of others, that's just one of the options there and on others. Plenty secured on land or buildings around at similar rates.

pizza_lord

happylucky wrote: »

You'll probably end up getting yourself an offshore trading account with Saxo in Singapore (if it's a big pot of cash you'll get your own account manager) and never look back. Good luck.

Ok a few questions. I have just finished reading the book.

1) Would getting a Saxo acc in Singapore be better than getting a saxo (or other trading acc) in UK. If I wanted to trade EFTs in UK and I opened an account with a UK business would I be liable for things like capital gains tax in the UK even though I have not lived there for 10 years? Is that why it would be better to do it in Singapore?

2) If I did do this in Singapore, could I keep my cash in a sterling saxo account in singapore, buy UK EFTs and therefore avoid 100% of currency exchange fees?

3) In the chapter of the book where he talks about advice for UK expats he recommends various options (couch potato option for examples) where he balances bond and UK equities in them. Is the only advantage of a UK person buying UK equities that they avoid currency exchange fees? Bearing in mind I have no plans to go back to live in the UK why would I want to build my EFT / Index portfolio around UK equities? Is the avoidance of sterling -> other currencies FX costs the only reason?

dunstonh

) Would getting a Saxo acc in Singapore be better than getting a saxo (or other trading acc) in UK.

In the UK Saxo is either a car or a brand of salt.

If I wanted to trade EFTs in UK and I opened an account with a UK business would I be liable for things like capital gains tax in the UK even though I have not lived there for 10 years? Is that why it would be better to do it in Singapore?

1 - you would have to find a firm willing a non-resident as a customer
2 - you would have to deal with currency exchange
3 - I dont know the taxation agreements between the two countries but you would need to find out.

2) If I did do this in Singapore, could I keep my cash in a sterling saxo account in singapore, buy UK EFTs and therefore avoid 100% of currency exchange fees?

That would depend on the product offerings there.

3) In the chapter of the book where he talks about advice for UK expats he recommends various options (couch potato option for examples) where he balances bond and UK equities in them. Is the only advantage of a UK person buying UK equities that they avoid currency exchange fees? Bearing in mind I have no plans to go back to live in the UK why would I want to build my EFT / Index portfolio around UK equities? Is the avoidance of sterling -> other currencies FX costs the only reason?

Balanced portfolios dont have just UK equities. You have global equities. UK equity is just one part of the collection you would have.

Does he cover off investment bonds? As an ex pat, it still may be the best option for you.... but it may not.

jamesd

pizza_lord wrote: »

1) Would getting a Saxo acc in Singapore be better than getting a saxo (or other trading acc) in UK. If I wanted to trade EFTs in UK and I opened an account with a UK business would I be liable for things like capital gains tax in the UK even though I have not lived there for 10 years?

Maybe. You might be a tax resident of Britain if you really haven't established tax residency anywhere else, because I assume that your domicile is Britain even if it is not where you live.