The announcement made by the UK Government on the 5th of April 2015, regarding the possibility of YOU being able to access your Private Pension Entitlement (at the age of 55 years) resulted in literally thousands of enquiries to each and every Pension Scheme Provider in the UK, from both Expats and UK Residents alike.  No wonder then that the stock response when telephoning, is “We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls…”, “Your call will be answered in approximately … minutes, you may wish to call back at another time.” etc.  Infuriating?  Yes, absolutely!  Well, here´s something else all of you ex-pats need to know…

A leading comparison website’s customers were directed to savings accounts that could leave them £500 worse off than the best possible rates, according to an investigation.

Savers who compared ISA’s and bonds on the site were not offered the best rates on the market. Thousands of savers who used the website to select a savings account were misled, costing them potentially up to £500 a year in lost interest, according to a recent investigation. Channel Four’s Dispatches said that the comparison website advertised poor-value savings. 

One of the biggest challenges that expatriates confront when moving abroad is the complexity of expat finances. According to HSBC’s Expat Explorer Survey, 75% of respondents (9,288 respondents worldwide) say that their finances have become more complicated since they left their home country.

Compounding this, many expats don’t consider all aspects of their finances before, during and after moving abroad, therefore making organising their finances even more complex than it needs to be. What are the common mistakes seen time and time again?

Social Media is now a prime area that investment scams are targeting.  Be careful of very clever advertising using your friends to lure you in.  

I am came across one very recently on Facebook where a friend of mine had supposedly ‘liked’ a company that claimed to compare rates of investment interest from all providers available for Expats in Spain.  The rates offered looked extremely good, as an IFA I am supposed to know all the best rates available so I was intrigued to know more.

According to the Daily Mail Savers have £450 billion stuck in dinosaur savings and investment plans, millions are stuck with policies bought decades ago and which are no longer fit for purpose. Today, the returns they offer are rotten. Could this be you? Have you just let your financial planning take a back seat?  Well now is the time to act and make your money work for you.

Savings accounts and cash ISA´s 

Banks and building societies across the UK and the Banks in Spain have again slashed the interest rates they are offering on savings accounts and cash Isa´s , Lloyds, Halifax , Sabadell to name just a few.  The rates they are offering now are between 0% and if you are very lucky 0.75%.

Under a new law in Italy, a couple can now lodge a petition for divorce 6 months after the decree of separation if the separation was “consensual” (both parties were in agreement as to the terms of the separation agreement) or 12 months if the separation was “judicial” (the parties were not in agreement and a Judge was called upon to make a decision upon the terms of the separation).

This new law applies to all couples, regardless of whether they have minor children, and can be applied retrospectively to couples who have already been granted a legal separation.

The much talked about UK election is now well and truly behind us, how can the opinion polls have been so wrong you may be asking yourself, it had most investors worried about a hung parliament or even a Labour victory which we were led to believe would send the markets crashing down around us.

Well now you can let out a sigh of relief, or can you, the result was taken well by the UK equity markets and in the short term should provide businesses with a stable political and legislative background in which to invest for the future.

However it is debatable as to whether the UK election results will have any impact on interest rates, the Bank of England voted last week to keep the base rate at 0.50%. Official figures at the end of the last month showed the total size of the economy increased by just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015. That was half the 0.6 per cent growth rate seen in the previous quarter and the worst performance since late 2012 – raising fears that the recovery is running out of steam.