I don’t know about you, but as soon as I get to about November-time every year I start to become so distracted at work and at home that I begin to repeat a terrible phrase over and over again. The phrase in question is: “I’ll get around to doing that in the new year…”
Now ‘that’ could be anything from finding a new accountant - (mine is utterly useless and I’ve been meaning to find a new one for about 3 years) - to catching up with long-lost friends who’ve relocated elsewhere abroad and who’ve subsequently slipped off my network radar. Inevitably the new year makes an appearance of course, but my long-sliding commitment to get my various tasks ticked off slips even further!
If you’re like me then chances are you’ve been putting off a review of your savings accounts for month after month. But trust me, the time has now come for you to prioritise this task – because interest rate offerings have crept up significantly in the very recent past, and you could be missing out on some inflation busting deals if you continue to ignore a review of your financial affairs. Don’t worry however, this dull task can be made much easier if you re-utilise the assistance of your financial adviser…
Any financial adviser worth their salt will tell you that you need to have a certain percentage of your wealth close at hand on deposit in a savings account. This is to ensure that you have access to emergency funds should a situation arise that calls for them. The percentage will be relatively small of course, bearing in mind the fact that interest rates on instant access savings accounts are invariably rubbish! For example, the best I could find with a quick internet search today were 2.5% from AIB International for easy access savings, 2.4% from Nationwide International or 2.01% from Lloyds TSB International (but only if you have £100,000 on deposit with them!).
However, your adviser may have determined that a slightly larger proportion of your personal wealth needs to be placed in a short to medium-term savings account, enabling you to have future access to certain funds for any specific ambitions or plans. And it’s on these types of accounts where we’ve seen a number of offshore banks and building societies increasing interest rates in recent weeks.
Now, depending on where you live abroad, you will be being exposed to different rates of inflation of course, therefore you may or may not find that you can beat it with the following available options: -
Alliance & Leicester 3yr fixed 4% (3.93% for monthly interest).
Alliance & Leicester 2yr fixed 3.8% (3.74% for monthly interest).
Or you have Irish Nationwide offering 2yr at 3.68% and Clydesdale offering 2yr at 3.5%.
Bank of Ireland offer a 1yr fixed at 3.6% on a minimum balance of £25,000 – compare this with AIB International’s 1yr at 3.5% or Irish Nationwide’s at 3.5%.
If you fixed your savings in recent years you may well have struggled to get anywhere near these rates…which is why it’s critical that you have a review of where your money’s housed, and at what rate of interest it is being saved.
The above deals are easily accessible with just a Google search – meaning you can do all of the leg work yourself if you prefer. However, as we’ve often discussed in the past, there are advantages to having your financial adviser do the hard work for you.
For example, if you utilise the services of one of the larger, regulated and reputable brokerages which have terms of business with the best offshore financial institutions, you may find they can get preferential (so-called institutional) rates of interest for their clients – i.e., people like you…
Additionally, depending on your own personal circumstances, your adviser may determine that an alternative approach is embarked upon for the overall management of your finances.
For example, they may determine that it makes financial and administrative sense for you to have your affairs managed through an offshore portfolio bond for example. Such a solution can mean that you can switch between offshore savings accounts more easily, to ensure you’re always chasing the best interest rates, without having to do the usually required and time consuming due diligence every single time you want to move a sum of money.
Your adviser will also take into account any changes to your circumstances when reviewing your financial affairs, and take on board everything from global to local changes to elements of life that may affect your financial standing in the future. This means that a good adviser will look holistically at your situation, and give you best advice accordingly…therefore rather than you just moving a lump sum to a higher paying savings account and hoping for the best, your adviser might determine that now is the right time for you to put more into a pension, or to hold more on deposit or in a given investment class for example.
With their expert input you can ensure you make the right decisions – what’s more, by handing over the reins to a qualified, reputable, regulated and experienced offshore financial adviser, you will have more time available to you to tick off all those other tasks you’ve been postponing until the new year! If you want us to refer you to an offshore financial adviser to assist you, with no obligation at all, please do get in touch – otherwise stop putting off this task, as you could be losing money!!