Are We A Good Match & FAQs
(This article will explain what you should expect from me, what I expect from clients and all FAQs. It will regularly be updated)
When I was a kid, I often heard the expression “there is no point in trying to put round pegs in square holes”.
It was only years later that I finally realised that there is no point trying to match with an unsuitable person in business.
As I explained in this article, when I started out, I wasn’t that selective.
Times have changed.
I have over a billion social media followers and I am regularly featured on the media, including on CNBC and Forbes.
This means that I can now be quite selective about who I take on- take my eligibility quiz today.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
In this section, I will deal with some frequently asked questions (FAQs).
I was born in the UK and Scotland and lived most of my life in England.
That was until I moved overseas over a decade ago. Most of my time overseas has been in Japan and China, although I have also spent time in Southeast Asia and the Middle East and spent one year in Europe.
Therefore, I understand expat life’s ups and downs and financial priorities.
We currently have admin offices in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, clients in 109 countries, and over thirty staff members, including freelancers and joint ventures (JVs).
My business works differently from most others in the financial services industry.
I have the largest social media traction in my industry globally, with over 800 million views across channels such as Quora and YouTube. I am also regularly featured in the media, including a regular Forbes column and a recent CNBC appearance.
You can see the latest CNBC interview here: CNBC Interview 2023 full
As a result of this, I only accept clients who reach out to me, either via client introductions or by consuming my online content. Therefore I no longer do free introduction calls for people who are merely shopping around.
Ultimately, my model is based on the premise that you have all the information on hand to make an informed, transparent decision before reaching out to become my client.
This page contains all the information you will need to make that informed decision about whether to become my client.
There is 24/7 online access.
Of course. We never sell your data to third parties.
In the early days, it tends to be very frequent, as things are new to people and often people ask questions.
Over time, I usually communicate with clients once a month via email or WhatsApp. Everybody also get invited to client events, such my event with Shark Tank/Dragon’s Den star Kevin O’Leary.
I always try to tailor investments to what an individual is looking for – assuming they are realistic. A conservative 65-year-old might be looking for 4%-5% per year, whilst a younger investor could be willing to take a bigger risk to get double-digit returns.
You can see fact sheets and performance data for some of our preferred investments on question 22 below.
It depends on your country of residence. Most can apply but a few can’t. For example, American residents (both expats and Americans living in the US) can’t apply for most services, even though I have partnered with an SEC-regulated firm for such cases.
I also have minimum investment amounts depending whether you invest with me directly or with my team.
These are:
Directly with me: $150,000 USD lump sum.
My team: $50,000 USD lump sum or $500 USD per month.
I don’t hold the money of new clients personally . I use third party investment platforms. I am the advisor and not holding money directly. This avoids conflicts of interests.
From speaking to my clients, there are two main reasons people become my clients.
Either they have been introduced by an existing client, and they are reassured by the returns and consistent communication.
There are also many clients who find me from Quora, Google and other sources.
Many private equity, hedge funds and private banks charge 2% a year + 20% of profits and don’t give clients access to high-net-worth millions (like downside protection) unless the person is investing millions.
Most banks also offer an “off the peg solution”, which isn’t tailored to your needs, hold the money and make investment choices and/or only offer their own investment funds. The latter two can be conflicts of interest.
Many banks also close down closer accounts if you move overseas or at least stop you from adding new money.
Beyond that, for larger client portfolios especially, the banks overcharge.
They often charge a percentage fee on top of their already high fees for trading.
So, if you trade $1,000,0000 of Apple shares or Vanguard index funds, that flat fee could be $1,000-$5,000 if the charges are 0.1% or 0.5% for the trade.
With most of the platforms I use, you are charged as little as $20-$40 per trade, regardless of the size.
In addition, there are discounts for clients who invest larger amounts of money and stay for longer periods of time.
This, combined with lower fees, portability, and enhanced investment choices, differentiates us from the banks.
Firstly, given how many people reach out to me, I don’t need to compete on cost.
The fees depend on the product and solution.
Let’s focus on most lump-sum clients.
On accounts below $500,000 (USD) I charge at least a 1% per year management fee on the account value. Above $500,000, there are sizeable discounts and huge ones above $1m.
There are also discounts for long-term clients. For example, let’s say a client has $200,000 to invest.
In this case, I often charge 1% for the first 8 years, and then after that, average fees will fall to 0.1% -0.3 % per year, including for my guidance.
As the portfolio should have grown beyond 200k in 8 years, assuming markets have done well, this is a steal, as you could be paying 0.2% on 350k or 400k.
The fees are usually slightly higher for clients looking for shorter-term structures (say five years).
Existing clients also get discounts on certain assets, increasing the value proposition.
I have been able to negotiate with fund providers to charge 0%- 1% for assets, which usually cost 5%, as they are high-net-worth solutions.
For monthly accounts, the net fees are typically between 1.15%-1.9% per year.
There are also platform fees that I can’t control.
Regardless of the account size, fees will never be below 0.5% per year of account value and aren’t negotiable.
For people who want a consultation with me and aren’t looking to invest their money via our preferred partners, I charge at least $1,000, depending on the scope of the work.
This route is more appropriate for people looking for reviews of existing portfolios and advice on structuring, such as setting up trusts, bank accounts and foundations.
No.
Most likely they will keep increasing due to rising demand.
Each solution is tailored to you and your risk appetite. Some clients are invested entirely in ETFs or fixed returns.
Others are invested in assets that most people can’t get access to directly unless they are multi-millionaires.
On question 22, I gave some recent examples and fact sheets for assets we have traded into.
I have clients in more than 100 countries and 5 continents for a simple reason; I can be incredibly efficient online due to technology.
Clients come in all shapes and sizes; expats and locals and in different industries.
The majority of my clients are either expats, due to the cross-border nature of what I do, or locals who plan to become expats or want to avoid currency depreciation in their own countries.
The later point is pertinent for my clients based in Latin America, Africa and some parts of Asia.
Your investment is safe as i never hold money and other staff members can take over.
Yes, I do. My model gives the client access to platforms which don’t restrict you to one specific fund house. Please see question 22 for further details.
We aren’t tax advisors and can’t foresee the future and how taxes will change. With specific product providers, we have partnered with some tax advisors who can help our clients with tax minimization – including inheritance tax planning.
In general, some people overthink tax, though.
This is because
The tax rules could change in your country of tax residency when you sell your investment, and you can’t always future-proof that.
Your country of tax residency might change in the future
In the vast majority of tax systems in the world, you are taxed when you make a gain and not when your account is going up
Neither you nor we can control what tax laws will be in the future . So, there is no point in worrying about something we can’t control. It makes sense to carefully consider how to withdraw tax efficiently at the end of the account once the laws are known.
Capital gains is a good problem to have. Paying capital gains or dividend taxes due to a significant gain is better than getting a smaller increase and paying little tax!
Most of our investment solutions are in 0% capital environments, which means neither we nor the investment provider charges you tax.
If you also live in a 0% capital gains environment (like in many Middle Eastern countries), or in a country which doesn’t tax international income or overseas capital gains, that usually means you don’t need to pay tax – but again we aren’t a tax advisory service.
With that being said, we do have strategic relationships with many tax advisors.
We are, therefore, sometimes able to pay for a few hours tax advice for new investment clients, depending on the nationality and location of the individual.
Anybody who is low-trust, inefficient and unreasonable in how they use my time.
My model is simple. I produce a lot of content for my readers and followers on my website and third-party websites, such as CNN, Forbes and CNBC.
Therefore, people who become my clients already trust my expertise, which makes the process easier.
We don’t do FX trading or Bitcoin. We do, however, have an option with one provider where you can fund your investment with cryptocurrency.
We don’t advise that gold should be a big part of your portfolio either.
On the lump sum accounts it is possible to buy Bitcoin ETFs and other cryptocurrencies, but buying is at your own risk.
I only have two clients in these ETFs. Both wanted it themselves, only hold a maximum of 5% of the portfolio in it and understand that it isn’t my advice to get into it.
If you want to fund your investments with crypto, and then sell out to buy into the diversified portfolios I recommend, then it is possible on the lump sum accounts only.
The biggest mistakes are usually:
1. Caring about irrelevant things.
For instance, in terms of investment platforms, we deal with some that are regulated as investment platform companies (such as Moventum) and others that are insurers or offshore bonds (such as Investors Trust, one of the many providers we use).
However, that makes no difference to the returns, as the same funds and ETFs are used. It is merely a regulation issue.
The vast majority of clients are put on A-rated platforms with little to no debt and are using the biggest third-party custodian banks in the world to hold client assets.
These custodians include BNY Mellon, the largest custodian bank in the world, with $43 trillion in assets under custody as of 2024, and JP Morgan, with $28.6 trillion.
It is pretty difficult for A-rated companies with no debt to go out of business, but even if they do, your money is sitting in segregated accounts with the largest custodian banks in the world.
What matters is my relationship with you and the underlying investment performance.
2. Reading too much into the third-party vehicles I suggest. The providers I suggest will naturally have some good and bad reviews.
That is because some advisory companies write negative and often outdated reviews on solutions for self-interested reasons.
Furthermore, the performance is down to the advisors who use the solution, so your millage will naturally vary.
Most of my client recommendations on LinkedIn are connected to the platforms I am suggesting, and most happy clients recommend the advisor and not the investment platform/solution, so it is a mistake to read too much into online reviews.
Ultimately, I am the driver of the vehicle. A good driver can get you from A to B in a Bentley or the cheapest car on the road.
Accidents are usually caused by the driver, and not the machine.
So, negative online reviews for solutions are usually the result of bad drivers (bad advisors) or have just been written for self-interested reasons.
An example of this is Moventum in Luxembourg, one of the many platforms we use. Although there are mixed online reviews, most of my clients have been happy with it.
Each investment opportunity is tailored to the individual investor, so I can’t give out whole portfolios here. However, the following investments have been used in the past and most of them will be used for a portion of clients’ portfolios in the future:
1.BlackRock managed index funds
3. iShares NASDAQ 100 UCITS ETF
I can also give investors access to professional funds, which are usually reserved for ultra-high-net-worth investors, often at discounted prices.
Some of these investments have averaged 12%-20% per annum.
This PDF shows three recent examples of such investments we have made for clients.
Whilst past returns are no guarantee of future ones, many of my clients see these assets as being a crucial part of their diversification strategy.
Most funds and ETFs follow a UCITS structure – a European regulated structure. This is considered the gold standard of fund regulation, and can be bought on most platforms even if they are domiciled outside the EU.
99% of my clients want me to make the trades as your time is money and most people are confused by finance.
In a small number of cases, clients have approached us because they can’t get access to solutions like Vanguard in their home country, and they make their own trades, and we just help with admin and occasional support.
This isn’t recommended for most clients unless you really know what you are doing.
No. There’s a lot of free guidance I put out there for people who don’t have the money to become my client.
Yes, the CII for financial planning and insurance. You can search here.
Yes.
In reality, few people ask such questions these days. We are in a digital world and living through a pandemic.
The answer is no. I don’t have the time considering my clients live in over 100 countries. I do, however, occasionally meet existing clients when I happen to be where they are.
For example, my interview with Tom in Germany was done in Germany on a face-to-face basis, but he was my client for months, and we never planned to meet.
A few are afraid about what happens if something happens to my health, and other unlikely events that we can’t always control like markets and future tax rates, as I explain on the video below:
I have also created an article on the common investment fears people have.
The information provided on this page alleviates most people’s concerns.
This website is not designed for American resident readers, or for people from any country where buying investments or distributing such information is illegal. This website is not a solicitation to invest, nor tax, legal, financial or investment advice. We only deal with investors who are expats or high-net-worth/self-certified individuals, on a non-solicitation basis. Not for the retail market.
