You might be surprised to know just how many people have, like you, have taken the decision to live and/or work abroad. According to statistics from the UN, there are currently more than 200 million expatriates around the world. The highest number – reported to be over 3 million – come from the UK. But many other countries, such as Germany and Italy, are strongly represented in expatriate numbers also. Rather uniquely, almost 80 per cent of the population of Dubai in the UAE is made up of non-resident Indians.
Working overseas is very good for your CV of course. It shows you’re committed to your career, that you can adapt to new surroundings and that you have an international perspective on life. There are plenty of other attractions too, of course, such as the opportunity to travel and experience different lifestyles and cultures.
It’s important, however, not to let all these positives distract you from some of the other factors that you need to take into account as an expatriate. Ensuring your family are happy is probably the most vital. Whilst you will be able to focus on your work, which will give you the opportunity to meet new people, how will your partner settle in? In Middle Eastern countries, for instance, cultural restrictions can make this difficult.
If you have children, then finding the right school for them is crucial. It’s not unknown for expats to return home early because of problems with education, so time spent researching this will be very well spent.
Financial considerations are bound to have played a part in your decision to make an overseas move. When you start working abroad, often the combination of an improved salary and a favourable tax regime can mean that the amount of disposable income you find yourself with each month is much improved.
Of course an agreeable overseas lifestyle can all too easily mean that this money somehow seems to end up getting spent. This is not ideal, given that one of your objectives in moving abroad was probably to accumulate some capital.
You may want to build up reserves to pay for your children’s education, or to fund your retirement plan. Or you could be looking to put money aside for a child’s wedding, to fund leisure travel, or to pay off a mortgage or other debts. Indeed, you might just like the idea of building up some savings.
An excellent way to achieve this goal might be to save money on a regular basis. Putting away a proportion of your earnings each month is a relatively painless means of ensuring your saving goals are met, without compromising your standard of living.
Whatever your objectives, you’ll want a plan that allows you to be flexible, and to react to changing circumstances or unexpected emergencies as they arise. It also needs to be portable, so you can easily transfer it if you get a job in another country at some point in the future. And without doubt you’ll want to know you are dealing with an experienced and qualified financial adviser with a good track record.
Expatriate Specialists
At Forth Capital we specialise in providing financial advice for expatriates. We have an in-depth understanding of what’s involved in working abroad, and all of the products that we recommend are designed to meet your aims, in a way that’s clear and easy to understand.
Our teams of advisers have the knowledge and experience to help you get clear about exactly what your needs and goals are, and can then recommend a solution that will deliver them. So start by having a chat with one of our team today and take an important step in ensuring that your time working abroad is every bit as rewarding as it should be.
Our Expatriate Financial Advice
By help you with your financial planning, we can help you make the most of your money. This will allow you the flexibility to plan for the things that you want in the future.
Financial Planning Review
We can take a step back with you and look at the whole picture of your current financial planning arrangements. It is imperative to understand fully what you already have in hand before looking to make any changes or additional arrangements.
Financial, Investment & Tax Advice
Our financial advisers will plan with you and structure a portfolio to make the most of your savings.
Client Support
Right from the first moment of contact, our financial advisers and support staff will be available to you – regardless of where in the world you may move to.
Expatriate Advisers
One of the reasons why our clients take comfort and confidence from our advisory teams is that many of our personnel are dealing with similar issues themselves in their own lives. We are expatriates too.
Forth Capital CEO Tom Tracy has himself lived as an expatriate in Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Switzerland, Tanzania and the UAE. He knows the challenges of expatriate financial planning first hand and can empathise directly with every single one of the company’s clients and what they are trying to achieve.
Regulation
Increasingly financial advice is, rightly, very tightly supervised in many parts of the world. There are some less regulated areas still, but gradually the landscape is one of full regulation.
At Forth Capital we fundamentally believe in regulated financial services. Our keystone offices in Geneva, Hong Kong and Dubai did not evolve at random. These locations offer an environment where full regulation of financial services exists locally and our company takes this route in every case – one of the many facets of our profile that separates us from many other companies in the market today.
Our advice is regulated, our products are regulated, and our clients are protected.
Global Reach
British expats not only exist the world over, but they also move around. A client of ours today living in Hong Kong, could be living in South America in 5 years’ time. But in today’s world distance need not be barrier, and our clients enjoy continuity of service no matter where in the world their lives take them. Depending on the location your Forth Capital adviser may still be able to meet with you on a periodic basis but more and more we are utilising video calling channels via platforms such as Skype or Facetime to stage ‘virtual’ meetings with our clients and thus ensuring that regular dialogue can occur as normal.
In fact today many people have become clients of Forth Capital on an entirely virtual basis – such is the strength of our global reach. We have clients based in some of the world’s remotest locations and give them the exact same standards of service as any of our clients in our office locations.
Specialist Financial and Tax Advice for the British Expatriate
We are specialist expat financial advisers and as such we can offer expats tax efficient pension and investment solutions that are tailored to work across borders, offering a fully portable portfolio.
The creation of our fully qualified UK tax advisory office at the start of 2015 has added a new depth to the in house knowledge that our clients have at their access.
Our tax team can give formal advice on the taxation of our client’s UK assets such as pensions and property, no matter where they are living right now, and are also authorised to give local tax advice in certain other countries. This means we can give full end-to-end tax and financial planning coverage to our clients, and with it peace of mind.
Our in-house expertise is then matched by that of our chosen partners. We work with exclusive and regulated financial products from leading international providers who understand the British expatriate market and have a deep history of serving that market.
Low Cost Expatriate Investing
Service level is of course important to our clients, and so is cost. We offer best-in-class investment strategies from blue chip companies and that cannot be beaten on price. And so by reducing the cost of investing for our clients we are ensuring that expats are better off for working with Forth Capital even before their money has been invested.
Get Advice
Everyone, whether they live abroad or in the UK, needs to think about their finances. But if you live outside the UK, there are additional questions to be answered and there are different products which might be more suitable for you than those available domestically.
If you haven’t done so already, we invite you come and speak to us today. Find out how Forth Capital can help you and how you can achieve financial independence and tax efficiency as a British Expat.
Contact us for a no-obligation conversation and we’ll take care of the rest.
