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:
There is a lot of fear and scaremongering about the prospect of having Donald Trump positioned as the leader of the world’s biggest superpower. A lot has been written about the economic disaster that would inevitably prevail but I am not so sure. The last time a Republican high profile public figure took the post with Ronald Reagan Hollywood superstar becoming President, many sceptics would have had similar fears.
For many, the stresses and demands of work often leaves little time to consider your personal affairs and it is easy to put things on the back burner. International jobs whilst often paying “top dollar” can be transient in the regard that you may be in Paris this year and New York the next. Compound this with changes of employers and local pension regimes (if there is one) and one can quickly find that retirement provision is fragmented and very soon not in line with current earnings or expectations for your exit from business and eventual retirement.
A survey by Old Mutual Wealth has found that 38% of international financial asset management professionals would like a review of the new QROPS pension transfer scheme rules. Only 20% said they were happy with the new rules, while 40% described themselves as "unsure".
As part of rules introduced in April 2015 those undertaking QROPS pension transfers should receive independent and impartial advice from a professional appropriately authorised by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
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