Why Do Expats Need Specialist Financial Advice?

If you’re a regular Shelter Offshore reader you will have noticed that we’re always banging on about the importance of seeking financial advice from qualified, professional and experienced expatriate financial advisers.  We like to impress upon our readers that when it comes to getting their finances in order, they need this specialist advice – but why do expats need specialist financial advice?

Well, that is a very fair and good question – after all, it could just be that we’re trying to sell you a line or drive you down one particular route.  However, the fact of the matter is actually far more transparent and simple than this.  When you move abroad your taxation status changes and this has a significant and far reaching impact on every single area of your financial affairs.

If you embrace your new situation correctly and you enhance your savings, investments and banking practices appropriately you can make the most of living offshore and being an expat – and it is these expatriate financial advisers who we talk about who are best trained and who correctly understand your situation and how best to make the most of it.  In this report we will talk in depth about why expats need specialist financial advice…

Your Changing Tax Status

When you move abroad, if you do so permanently and you meet various time criteria living in your new nation, your entire taxation status changes.  For most people this simply means they lose tax residence onshore in their old nation, and they become tax resident in their new expat nation of choice.  And it is at this point that it can become very interesting!  Some nations that you may move to may not tax you on foreign sourced income, some may not tax you as long as that income remains offshore, others may tax you on your worldwide gains, some may or may not have a double tax agreement in place with your old home nation.

There are huge differences between all nations therefore, and there are also differences for expatriates depending on the nation they originally herald from.  So as you can imagine, to get a handle on all of these many differences in tax status, and to know how each individual person can potentially benefit from his or her own personal circumstances, an adviser has to understand complicated taxation rules and regulations.  With respect, a financial adviser back in your home nation probably won’t have a clue about how best you can utilise your expat status therefore, and a financial adviser onshore in your new nation won’t understand how a foreign resident can perhaps entirely legitimately pay far less tax in the given nation than the domiciled and resident financial adviser himself!

In direct contrast, it is in the best interests of an expat financial adviser to have a complete handle on these complex tax rules around the world, and to understand how, on a case by case and individual basis, a given expatriate can make the very most of their tax status to save and invest in the most tax advantageous way.

Embracing Offshore Banking, Saving and Investment Options

Expatriates are probably the largest single group of people who can entirely legitimately make the very most of the fantastic world of offshore.  Whether they want maximum banking flexibility, they want the best interest rates on their savings or they want the most exciting and potentially high returning investments, all can be found offshore.  However, as you can well imagine, there are so many service providers, finance houses and investment institutions in so many different offshore jurisdictions around the world, that it can make it almost impossible for an expat to select the best method of approach to banking, investing or saving by themselves.

What’s more, depending on the nation you herald from, the country you’re now living in and any future plans you have for relocation or repatriation, some offshore jurisdictions may be better than others for you to consider, some offshore investment vehicles may not be suitable for you, and some offshore banks may not be able to service your needs.  Who on earth is going to know how to find a path through all of this confusion for a given, individual expatriate?  Only someone who make is their sole business to understand the incredibly diverse and complex world of offshore saving, investing and banking.  I.e., an expatriate financial adviser.

So, hopefully you can see that we’re not talking rubbish or trying to sell a single method of approach in a one size fits all sort of a way when we try and impress upon you how useful an expat financial adviser can be to you!  And yes, we can put you in touch with brokerages in your location if you want us to, because of the nature of topics we write about, we have many contacts with the best expatriate financial advisers in the business.  Just .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).  Alternatively, seek out an adviser who you feel comfortable working with, who has global reach in case you relocate, who is professional, experienced and qualified, and who truly understands how you as an individual and you as an expatriate can enhance your financial situation