Have you noticed that a lot of things wind down at Christmas as we all get wound up in celebrating the festive season in style? Many advertisers cut back on their budgets, the likes of estate agents go in to hibernation, and anything to do with saving or investing money is less talked about around the Christmas period than at any other time of the year. Perhaps the likes of investment advisers and bankers know that to urge people to save money at Christmas is a pointless exercise…
However, as we are all acutely aware, things have changed. We have lived through a very difficult year of financial frugality on a global scale. We have witnessed global names going to the wall and have seen financial hardship on a much more local and perhaps even personal scale. All of this has done a lot towards tempering people’s attitude to wasteful spending – and personally, I don’t think that that’s a bad thing.
Now whilst I’m not going all baa humbug on you and suggesting you don’t spend any money this year, what I will say is that Christmas is actually a great time to get a better offshore banking deal for your savings – and in fact, this time of the year you can shop around, drive a hard bargain and find some decent returns on your bank account and investments too. It’s ironic really, because none of the banks are getting much business and financial institutions are not expecting much money to flow in at this time of the year, and so if you rock up and ask for a better deal, you may well be welcomed with open arms.
At Shelter Offshore we notice that a lot of our advertisers cut back over Christmas – they are either saving the money for an all out Christmas blow out at the office party, or they think fewer people are interested in looking after their cash at Christmas. However, the benefit of experience tells us that in some ways they are very wrong. International citizens – i.e., expats – are always on the look out for the best deals for their money, and perhaps because many live in nations where Christmas is not celebrated or where it is not such a consumer spend-fest, December is a month just like any other.
What’s of use to know for many such expats is that international banks and financial institutions may well work tax year to tax year in terms of looking at their balance sheets and books – but they look calendar year to calendar year to see how client acquisition is going and to see where the trends in activity are. Furthermore, if they’ve been pushing a product, service, solution or method of banking or saving, you can bet your bottom dollar that December is a very important month for them to try and get the final numbers in to see whether a given marketing approach has worked for example.
All of this adds up to rich potential pickings for any expatriate who’s thinking about moving their banking business, opening a new savings account or seeking out an interesting investment approach. You can be sure your requests for time, information and assistance from a bank or a financial adviser for example will not fall on deaf ears at this time of the year. Rather ears will prick up if you indicate that you’re seriously interested in getting the best approach in place for your money. What’s more, because business is quiet, you’ll be given plenty of time and support in making the right decisions.
So, cash in on the fact that banks think the festive period will be quiet, and force them to offer you a better deal than that which is already on the table – haggle hard, after all, a bank is a business just like any other. They want your custom – so make them work hard to win it. Christmas is possibly the best time to go on an all out assault of the financial marketplace to get a very good deal for your money for the New Year. Please let us know how you get on…
