In Focus News & Insights

So, you’re wondering – what is ‘robo-advice’?  There is a growing market in the UK of online offerings where, instead of going for a consultation with a financial adviser, you use a questionnaire devised by the provider which, depending on your responses, advises you where best to put your cash.  Investors are placed in a broad investment strategy that, in theory, suits their objectives and attitude to risk. These strategies largely consist of passive investments which ‘track’ an index.

The move has come about in response to the retail distribution review which ruled on how advisers were paid and, in essence, meant they had to charge an up-front fee.  This led to many advisers devising a minimum sum they would accept for a consultation.  Clearly someone with a modest pot of money might feel that the charge was too great and therefore miss out on the opportunity to receive professional advice.

As a Financial Adviser the most common question I get from people is about the Euro versus Pound exchange and which direction will it go.  My usual answer is ‘well if I knew that I would be a millionaire’!

Now, for the first time that I can remember there is the consensus of all the experts saying the same thing.  If the UK exits the EU after the referendum in June, then there will not be that much of a change as impact will be felt on both sides (it will be as bad for Europe as it is for the UK).  If the UK stay in, then there should be some sort of a rebound back to fair value levels to around the €1.40/£1 mark.  If this is the case, you should really try to hold off buying Euros until after the referendum.

Many UK expatriates do not realise that even if they have left and are no longer resident in the UK, they remain UK-domiciled and therefore subject to UK Inheritance Tax (IHT) on their worldwide estate at a rate of 40 per cent after allowances. This can come as a major shock. 

What can be done about this? There are several options. 

Transfers of wealth on death between husband and wife are exempt from IHT, but only if the spouse is also domiciled in the UK (or both are non-domiciled). This catches out many expatriates who have married a foreign passport holder who is likely to be domiciled elsewhere. Even then, the IHT is only delayed rather than avoided, because on the death of the survivor the tax will be payable on the passing of the family assets to the next generation. 

A new report published by the Cabinet Office has found that expat UK pensioners will be in need of sound expat financial advice should Britain choose to leave the EU following June 23rd’s referendum.  The report states that any such Brexit would cause a “decade of uncertainty” for expat UK pensioners, potentially prompting the need for urgent expat wealth management advice.

Under current arrangements UK pensioners living abroad within the EU receive full state pension increases and there are concerns that this would change if Brexit goes ahaed; leaving the UK government needing to renegotiate terms for indexed social security payments for expats living in Europe.

While the markets are going up and down madly, are you being looked after by your financial adviser? The economy has dominated the headlines since the turn of the year, and many people are concerned about their hard-earned savings and investments. Very often, the best approach is to either wait out for markets to calm down, or take advantage while they are lower.

Although there is a risk in wanting to take action every time big market moves are on the news, it’s still worth asking a few questions regularly: does the reasoning behind your investment strategy still hold true? If so, should you be taking advantage of lower valuations by committing more resources to your long-term finances? If it doesn’t hold true anymore, is it the right time to move out of certain investments and take a different approach with your money?

Although having solid expat regular savings is important no matter what the financial climate, it is good to see that recent efforts by campaigners to end the freeze on state pensions currently endured by more than half a million retired expats abroad may be gaining momentum.

As it stands around 550,000 retired Brits abroad have to rely on their expat regular savings to top up a state pension which was frozen at £67.50 a week; nearly a full £40 less than the sum received by other pensioners.

The unfairness of their situation is compounded by the fact that the Government has struck individual deals with certain nations ensuring the full, unfrozen pension, but has left the expat residents of another 150 countries stuck with the year 2000-level pension.

That is the question concerning many expatriates at the moment. What a difference a few days can make to the whole issue, before Cameron went to the EU to try to negotiate with a group of people that dislike anything that could disrupt the status quo or threaten their position (no matter how valid the argument), it looked like the in vote had the upper hand. 

Since returning and announcing the referendum on 23rd June, people he once considered good friends, allies and colleagues who he could count on for support have decided to join the out camp and now this is gaining momentum.

The Dividend Aristocrats are S&P 500 constituents that have increased their dividend payouts for 25 consecutive years.

The FTSE also has its own Aristocrats which many people who read this article will recognise and even have in their own portfolios, some of the dividend returns can make very interesting reading: