Will Brexit provoke ‘travel tax’ for UK residents?

On many occasions, lay investors have a tendency to confuse banking and property revenues as useful gauges of the overall strength of the investment economy. But, however healthy (or unhealthy) these two sectors appear, this should not be allowed to cloud the investment opportunity available to you via your expat financial services manager.

This is why we should not be overly concerned that returns in banking investments currently sit below historical averages – what this potentially marks is simply the residual impact of the 2008 financial crisis and the fact that banking and the wider investment economy have evolved with the advent of new and disruptive players in the finance sector.

For example, a new piece of research by Accenture showed that in 2005 there were 24,000 firms operating in the worldwide banking industry; today this stands at around 15,000. But this alone cannot be seen as a true reflection of the current climate because during the same period we have witnessed the dawn of 600 FinTech firms, 1,900 payment institutions, 700 new banks, and 400 subsidiaries of existing banks – there has also been some consolidation in the area.

Germany has always been a popular EU country with those who want to relocate. And it appears there is good reason for it.

The recently released Expat Insider Survey 2017 tells us a lot about the country and portrays several of its key aspects in a very positive light, which is why it’s no surprise that Germany has such a large expat community. Such information will be invaluable to those planning to relocate to Germany in the near future, as it gives them a better idea of the sort of lifestyle they can expect and what other expats’ experiences have been like.