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Expats can stay strong in face of Brexit

However, these are the salient points to keep in mind:

  • Blacktower’s clients should be reassured that for now they retain the same residency status and healthcare benefits as they did prior to the Brexit vote.
  • Tax treaties, investments and financial arrangements are not dependent on the EU but on both individual wealth management firms and individual member states, Blacktower’s members should feel confident in moving towards the future.
  • Blacktower is in a strong position to take advantage of any volatility in the market and expects to be able to benefit from any opportunities which present themselves, such as the ability to make favourable purchases of high quality companies with solid dividends.
  • Blacktower operates right across the EU, including France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Canary Islands, Gibraltar, Grand Cayman as well as the UK. In the short to medium term our wealth management services and financial advice will not be affected by the Brexit vote and we look forward to serving the needs of our clients whatever the future may hold.

For contact details and to arrange to speak to your local IFA please see our country by country location pages. To fill in a contact form, please click here.

This communication is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice, investment recommendations or investment research. You should seek advice from a professional adviser before embarking on any financial planning activity. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the information contained in this communication is correct, we are not responsible for any errors or omissions.

Other News

The Pensions Black Hole

Meeting financial advisorThere’s quite a buzz around pensions at the moment – and rightly so, as they provide the backbone of our income in our later years. But currently, pension deficits are hitting the news, and figuring them out can still prove difficult.

Pension deficits concern what are commonly known as “final salary pensions” or Defined Benefit schemes.   Final salary or defined benefit (DB) schemes are essentially occupational pension schemes that provide a set level of pension at retirement, the amount of which normally depends on your service and earnings at retirement or in the years immediately preceding when you retire. Because your pensionable salary is used as one part of the formula in order to calculate your pension, a final salary scheme is commonly referred to as a ‘salary related’ scheme. Two common examples of ‘final pensionable salary’ would be your last year’s pensionable earnings or an average of your last 3 years’ pensionable salary.

Recently, there have been high-profile failures of these systems, such as the folding of Monarch Airlines – and the collapse of their pension fund. Initially, it appeared that owners could still walk away with a profit (after new hands tried to turn the airline into a more accessible and “Ryanair-like” product) by offloading debts, and this included dropping the pension fund. Ironically, this was once a major credit to the business. The fund, which is now in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), had been under speculation of being left short when the business first began to struggle back in 2014, after years of asset-stripping.

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Are you willing to turn to ‘robo-advice’?

robo adviceSo, 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.

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