How to Find and Secure the Best Offshore Investments

This article will guide you towards finding and securing the best investments to suit your financial goals.

How much should good advice cost?

Opinions on this vary, however I don’t think a good adviser should ever charge you a fee for his advice.

Why?

Because he will be remunerated by the financial institutions that your business is placed with anyway.

A reputable financial adviser builds his reputation through the referrals and recommendations he receives, and so depending on the number of clients he or his company has you can be fairly well assured that if the numbers are high, the advice is good, but why not ask for client testimonials if you’re not sure?

Which financial institutions offer the best offshore investment opportunities?

As your personal circumstances are unique it’s impossible to say which fund house or financial institution currently offers the best opportunity for you...however, a truly independent financial adviser will be fully aware of all products available in the entire marketplace.

This means that once the adviser has worked with you to define and understand your financial goals he’ll be able to source the very best opportunity in the market place currently from every single opportunity out there.

You can ask any financial institution your adviser recommends to you whether the brokerage you’ve been advised by has put business through them before, whether they consider them to be reputable, whether they know how long they’ve been in business etc., which should afford you even greater peace of mind. 

It’s very important to make sure your adviser truly researches the entire market place and that he doesn’t just favour a few institutions because this could restrict your investment choice, financial potential and access to the best products out there.

How to determine whether your adviser is truly independent

Some advisers are tied to one company or a small number of companies - this restricts the products and market diversity they can offer you.

If you want a truly independent adviser make sure you get one!

Ask - because they are legally obliged to tell you whether they are ‘tied’ or ‘independent.’

And if you’re still in doubt, the brokerage the adviser works through may have a website which can give you the facts about their position in terms of independence or fixed loyalty.

Find out how many happy clients your adviser has

Why is it important to know?

Because if you are your adviser’s only client you are either SO high net worth and SO high maintenance or else your adviser has a potentially poor reputation!

Ask your adviser for numbers and facts in terms of his client base and that of his brokerage. 

Furthermore, as there is nothing worse than taking out an investment, and then 6 months later finding that your adviser has disappeared on you, you need to know that the company he works for is secure and likely to be around for the long term.

If the brokerage is servicing a lot of clients it is most likely doing a good job and as a result it is most likely that it will be around for the long term.

And finally - a good and reputable adviser will always be happy to help you with previous investments made through another broker.

Where to find the right adviser

The ‘right’ adviser will be someone who gives the correct answers to the above questions and someone with whom you are comfortable working. 

Personal recommendation is always a good place to start, then there’s the internet...but if you’re tired of searching or would like our opinion feel free to get in touch with us.

We can either help you find an adviser in your location, or if you have specific questions and requirements we have an information service offering free information packs custom prepared depending on your needs. 

or use the Offshore Advice Form, whichever is more convenient, we look forward to being of further assistance.

If you haven’t already read the first part of the series, “The Offshore Investment Guide” is a complete, clear and concise guide to successful offshore saving and investing.