Expat financial advisors in Kenya 2021 – what is the best option?

Expat financial advisors in Kenya 2021- that will be the topic of today’s article.

I will compare some of the options available locally, alongside more portable, online and international options like what we offer.

For any questions, or if you are looking to invest as an expat, you can contact me using  this form, or via the WhatsApp function below.

It makes sense to have a portable option as an expat, as opposed to a localised one, and that is something we specialise in. 

Introduction

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa. Covering 580,367 square kilometers, Kenya is the 48th largest country in the world by total area. With a population of over 47.6 million according to the 2019 census, Kenya is the 29th most populous country. 

The capital and largest city of Kenya is Nairobi, and its oldest city and first capital is the coastal city of Mombasa. Kisumu is the third largest city and also an inland port on Lake Victoria. 

Other important urban centers include Nakuru and Eldoret. As of 2020, Kenya is the third largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and South Africa. Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast.

According to archaeological dating of related artifacts and skeletal material, the Kushites first settled in the lowlands of Kenya between 3200 and 1300 BC, a phase known as the Low Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. 

Nilotic herders (ancestors of the Kenyan Nilotic speakers) began migrating from present-day South Sudan to Kenya around 500 BC. E. European contacts with the Portuguese Empire began in 1500, although the effective colonization of Kenya began in the 19th century during the European exploration of the interior. 

Modern Kenya emerged from the protectorate established by the British Empire in 1895 and the subsequent colony of Kenya, which began in 1920. Numerous disputes between Britain and the colony led to the Mau Revolution, which began in 1952, and the subsequent declaration of independence in 1963. After gaining independence, Kenya remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The current constitution was adopted in 2010 to replace the 1963 independence constitution.

Kenyan Economy 

Kenya is the largest and most developed economy in East and Central Africa, it is home to a wealthy urban minority, its Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.519, it is ranked 145th out of 186 in the world In 2017, Kenya was ranked 92nd in the world. 

The bank’s ease of doing business ranking from 113th place in 2016 (out of 190 countries). Kenya is generally classified as a frontier marketer and sometimes an emerging market, but it is not one of the least developed countries.

The Kenyan government is generally investment-friendly and has undertaken several regulatory reforms to facilitate both foreign and local investment, including the creation of an export processing zone. 

The export processing area is expected to grow rapidly through foreign direct investment. An increasing proportion of Kenya’s foreign inflows are remittances from non-resident Kenyans working in the United States, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Compared to its neighbors, Kenya has a well-developed social and physical infrastructure.

Vision 2030 is Kenya’s current roadmap for future economic growth. The long-term goals of this vision are to create a prosperous and globally competitive nation with a high quality of life by 2030. To this end, it aims to transform Kenyan industry while creating a clean and safe environment. The vision is divided into three main elements: economic, social and political governance.

Currency: shillings. GDP per capita: $ 1,455 GDP: $ 70.53 billion GDP growth rate: 5.8%. Inflation rate: 7.6%. Labor force: 75-80%. Agriculture.

Financial advisor need in Kenya

Modern Kenya is a forward-looking country where many investors, including businessmen in Dubai, are actively looking for investment opportunities in the republic. The country’s economy is growing and there are many job opportunities in the country.

That is why with the time you will feel the lack of a financial advisor, as being an expat in a foreign country and trying to control all funds, especially if it is a big amount, could be difficult. 

In this article, we will try to explain and show the functions and effectivity of a financial advisors, present what services they can offer you, discuss three main types of advisors in Kenya and of course help you to choose the most cost-effective and best option. 

Who is a financial advisor?

Financial advisors give valuable and strategic-based advises to their clients on different types of investments, accordingly taxes, estate planning, college savings accounts, insurance, mortgages, and retirement. They are also known as personal financial advisors, financial planners, financial advisors, financial services advisors, and investment advisors.

A financial advisor will provide you with a variety of different financial products and services to individuals, companies and other organizations and even families. Most often, a long-term relationship is established with a consultant, which includes ongoing services such as investment portfolio management and annual financial planning reviews.

While financial advice, products, and services are needed by most from an early age, a relationship with a financial advisor usually begins when both parties are mutually beneficial. Knowing when this threshold of mutual benefit has been exceeded depends on a number of factors, such as the complexity of a person’s financial and personal life and, for example, the amount of wealth that needs to be managed.

Financial advisors can help everyone. People tend to view financial advisors as people who only help very wealthy people and families, but this is not true. Financial advisors, believe it or not, usually help middle-class families who need help with retirement planning, saving up for their kids’ college, buying a home, and other important financial goals.

To decide whether you need to hire a financial advisor or what type of advisor to hire, you need to first ask yourself a few questions and rate your comfort level in making financial decisions, and then do your research.

Here are some of the services offered by financial advisors:

• Investment advice. Financial advisors study various investment options and make sure that your investment portfolio stays within the desired level of risk.
• Debt management. If you have outstanding debts, such as credit card debt, student loans, car loans, or mortgages, financial advisors will work with you to come up with a repayment plan.
• Budgeting assistance. Financial advisors are experts at analyzing where your money goes after it leaves your paycheck. Consultants can help you budget so that you are ready to meet your financial goals.
• Insurance cover. Financial advisors can review your current policies to identify coverage gaps, or recommend new types of policies, such as disability insurance or long-term care coverage, depending on your financial situation.
• Tax planning. Tax planning involves developing ways to reduce the amount of taxes you can pay, for example by making large charitable donations or collecting tax losses. Remember that not all financial advisors are tax experts and tax planning is different from tax knowledge. You will probably still need CPA or tax software to file your tax return.
• Retirement planning. Financial advisors can help you raise funds to achieve your ultimate long-term goal of retirement. Then when you retire or get close to retirement, they will help you keep your money safe.
• Estate planning. For those looking to leave legacy, financial advisors can help pass your fortune on to the next generation, be it family, friends, or charity.
• College planning. If you are hoping to fund your loved ones’ education, financial advisors can come up with a plan to help you save on their college education.

Bank financial advisors

The bank’s financial advisors help their clients determine how best to manage their money through short and long term investment planning.

Bank financial advisors can work as consultants for the bank through which they work, or for individual and corporate clients of the bank. Either way, a financial advisor works closely with their clients to determine how best to manage their money and assets.

Self-financing planning is good, but seeking professional help takes your monetary strategy to the next level. A financial advisor to a bank is someone who has ideally acquired years of study, education and experience in everything related to finance. They can significantly affect the quality of your financial choices, but trying to sell banking products and instruments.

The bank’s financial advisor should collect personal and financial information about you and use this data to help you plan for your current and future needs. Your financial planner should take the time to understand your goals and formulate a long-term monetary plan for you before making any recommendations.

Remember when a bank advisor starts talking about a financial product that a bank sells, before asking about your situation or financial goals is most likely a salesperson or investment advisor and his main goal is to sell a bank product or service and only after giving you financial advises.

Usually bank advisors will try to offer you mortgages options. Mortgage consultants must have certain mortgage qualifications. Consultants recommending products for a share issue must also be an Issuer qualified.

These advisors are still allowed to receive commissions on any mortgage or securities issue they sell. Some mortgage consultants also charge a fee for their services.

Many mortgage consultants can also advise on protection insurance such as life insurance.

Mortgage consultants can offer a full range of market services, although this does not necessarily mean that they can recommend any mortgage from every lender, as some lenders only offer mortgages directly to the public.

Some mortgage consultants offer “limited” advice and may be tied to only one lender or may choose from only a small number.

An “independent” mortgage consultant will be able to offer a wider range of opportunities for the entire market.

Local financial advisors 

As an expat in Kenya, you will often face the problem of sending or receiving money. Especially if you have moved to Kenya to work and earn money, you will definitely need to find the most economical way to do it.

And in that case, you will probably need a local financial advisor who will provide you with the best options, low commissions, good deals, fast delivery, and more.

But we have prepared a short list for you and selected a few but the best money transfer companies to be used in Bahrain for your money transfers.

Xoom

• Available if you deposit money from a bank account. Xoom charges a small fee for bank transfers to many destinations, no matter how much you send.
• Xoom is fast. In most cases, money can arrive within minutes, even transfers financed from bank accounts, which for some competitors can take an entire week.
• High transfer limits for verified accounts. Send up to $ 50,000 per day to the recipient’s bank account, verifying personal information through Xoom.
• Minimum low gear. To transfer money using Xoom, you must transfer at least $ 10.
• Easy to use site. Xoom organizes its website by the country you are currently in, so you can see detailed information according to your country: costs, money transfer speed and shipping options, all available for your transfer without logging in. For regular customers, there is a function that allows you to quickly send a transfer that you have already made.

WorldRemit 

• Money for a widespread presence can be sent to over 140 countries.
• Various payment options such as bank transfer, debit card, credit card and others.
• Various delivery options – bank transfer (for select countries), cash pickup, airtime top-up and mobile wallet.
• Fast transfers

TransferWise 

• Delivery in minutes. Fast delivery of transfers from a debit or credit card is possible.
• Low fees. The fixed cost for many countries is a combination of a fixed amount of about US $ 1 and a percentage of just under 1% of the transfer amount. Credit card fees are higher. Using an ACH transfer from your bank account or debit card is generally cheaper. If you pay by bank transfer to Wise, your fees will be the same as for an ACH transfer, but your bank will most likely charge a fee (see “Bank Transfer Fees in More than 40 Banks” for details).
• No extra charges. Unlike banks and other providers, Wise does not charge an exchange rate premium on its transfers. It targets the mid-market rate, which fluctuates from minute to minute.

Online financial advisors

An online financial advisor should be someone who can help you achieve your goals and who understands your life. This does not necessarily mean that you need to share intimate thoughts and feelings (although you can), and you do not need to choose someone who is exactly like you. But you are served best by someone who more or less understands what wave you are on.

So what do you get from working with an online advisor?

No geographic restrictions

Traditionally, people have worked with financial advisors on a geographic basis: the person who lives closest to you is the person you work with, for better or for worse. Alternatively, you can meet the one you see most often at social events or in the city. Right or wrong, this is exactly what you did.

You now have a variety of options from consultants around the world. It is still critically important to investigate the actions of advisors, but it is easier than ever.

• Make sure they have a clean regulatory framework by looking for them on broker checking websites.
• Find out what type of work they do and what types of clients they usually work with.
• To reduce conflicts of interest, make sure you work with a paid consultant who is always the confidant of all clients.
• Find out how long they have been working with people like you, not just how long they have been working.

If you don’t believe that a nearby store is automatically the best business for you, you can work with someone else. In addition to getting the help you want and deserve, you can enjoy privacy while working with someone remotely.

In many cases, online advisors can work with clients out of state, but they must follow certain rules. An experienced consultant should be familiar with these rules.

Save time

You get free time using financial advisory services on the Internet. Instead of driving to a meeting, looking for parking, sitting in a waiting area, and finally meeting to discuss your needs, you can deal with everything online.

There is also room for courtesies and small talk if you are in the mood for an informal conversation. But you get rid of the most burdensome logistics that take hours in a busy world. Wouldn’t you rather spend that time on more important things, like hanging out with loved ones and activities that you enjoy?

Filling time? As an added bonus, you can limit appointments to only the length of time you need to cover your finances. In a face-to-face meeting, you and your counselor may feel obligated to spend an entire hour justifying your trip to the office (even if it means discussing topics that don’t require your attention). Your consultant may feel obligated to consider details that you would not want to deal with – which is why you hired a consultant in the first place.

Flexible relationship

If you need special help, can you get it from local suppliers? Some people just sell insurance and call it a “financial plan.” Others will only work with you if you transfer a significant amount of money to their firm. But with the wider range of financial advisors available online, you are more likely to get exactly what you want. This could be:

• Someone to help you plan for the future without taking over your investment
• A second pair of eyes on your investment strategy, just to see if something looks wrong
• An overview of what your current consultants recommend
• One-time meeting to ask many questions for a fixed fee

There are many financial planners who can help with these questions, but you may not know them personally (yet) or drive past their office every day.

Save money

There is no guarantee that you will pay less with an online financial advisor, but there is a good chance that you will at least know how much you are paying. As a result, you are less likely to get a ride.

Again, the traditional model depends on geography and who you are familiar with. Unfortunately, there are some really great people who are stuck in surprisingly bad sales systems. 

These systems require them to sell certain products, many of which are not in your best interest. What’s more, it’s hard to tell exactly how much you’re paying, and some of these consultants are often unaware of the money changing hands behind the scenes. Your local consultant can distribute profits to a large extent.

Some people even tell you that you pay “no commission,” but you know this is too good to be true. Of course, you won’t see a transaction flagged as a commission, but there are always trade-offs in finance and the companies you send money to in order to have big buildings with well-paid executives.

The best online consultants are paid advisors that don’t get commissions for selling products.

Now you truly understand what you need, and what is best for you and your funds. If you are an expat, it will be easier to be in touch with an online financial advisors, just don’t be too sceptic and find the one that is trustworthy, with good reviews and the one who will help you in every goal you want to reach while living and working in Kenya.

Pained by financial indecision? Want to invest with Adam?

Adam is an internationally recognised author on financial matters, with over 267.5 million answers views on Quora.com and a widely sold book on Amazon

Further Reading

Digital banks are taking over the financial services industry and getting bigger over time.

Therefore, in the article below I answer a simple question – is Revolut a good bank and therefore one of the best in Europe?

Is Revolut a good bank?