News & Insights

It's 10 years on from the Northern Rock collapse. But have we all become complacent enough again to believe that the banks are now too big to fail. Well wake up and look at the facts.

Britain's finance sector is an "accident waiting to happen", according to a report branding the Bank of England's stress tests as "worse than useless" on the 10th anniversary of the Northern Rock collapse.

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.

While many expats are overseas because they've retired, a significant number of Britons move away for work.

Taking your skills abroad can be a thrilling prospect, and, of course, where in the world you end up will greatly depend on global career opportunities, but for many Britons, the chosen destination is the Netherlands, one of Europe's most popular expat havens when it comes to relocating for work.

The term “frozen pension” can be misleading, because a frozen pension can be defined in multiple ways. In short, however, a frozen pension is one which no longer increases in value. This could be because you have moved abroad and no longer eligible for increases through inflation, or you’ve moved employer and are no longer contributing.

Now that September is here, the summer is definitely drawing to a close for another year. For those of us living in the UK, we no doubt have a dark, cold, and almost certainly, wet autumn and winter to look forward to. While this summer may have been better than some years – 2017 saw the country blessed with bursts of intense heat, including the hottest August Bank Holiday weekend on record – the warm sunshine was only fleeting.

It's no wonder then, that so many Britons become tired of the long stretches of gloomy weather of their native land, choosing to move to warmer climates; and this is backed up in the the latest Expat Insider survey from InterNations.

When you move abroad to a popular expat destination, whether that's to France, Italy, Spain, or Grand Cayman, good wealth management is key to ensuring you'll enjoy your life abroad to the fullest.

Proper financial planning should ensure you have enough saved for retirement, but some people are always looking for ways to boost their pension pots. One of the key methods used by many expat retirees to accomplish this is by owning a UK property and renting it out.

However, expats who rely on rental profits from buy-to-let properties back home for a steady stream of income may face issues thanks to new tax changes, which apply to all landlords letting out UK property regardless of where in the world they themselves reside.

There have been new developments regarding Gibraltar in recent Brexit negotiations and they should give Gibraltarians hope that Spain will refrain from making any unnecessary demands to make things difficult for Britain.

Spain's foreign minister, Alfonso Dastis, has confirmed that Spain will not "jeopardise" any Brexit agreement in a bid to reclaim the Rock. "I won't make an agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom conditional on recovering sovereignty over Gibraltar," Dastis said, speaking to the Spanish newspaper ABC.

If you're an expat living in the EU, you've no doubt Brexit on the mind since the referendum in 2016, worrying about what the future may hold. So, it's reassuring that the British negotiating team managed to secure rights of residency for existing UK expats, as part of the Withdrawal Agreement.