Expatriate investors have suffered from a paucity of support in managing their financial affairs. Now, Andrew Hallam has sought to fill that gap with “The Global Expatriate’s Guide to Investing”. However, his book goes further and delivers a no-holds-barred exposition of some of the worst practices of expatriate financial advisers.
Aimed at the non-expert investor, Mr Hallam begins with a look at targets for financial independence and offers a clear and easy-to-follow guide for establishing financial goals. After this, I was hoping to read about the asset classes available and how they would fit in to achieving the goals with some balance of risk and reward. The section on assets is simplistic, focusing only on shares and fixed interest, offering an excellent explanation of what an equity holding is, though a less comprehensive explanation of bonds. The result left me feeling that the inexperienced reader wanting to follow Mr Hallam’s investment suggestions might be left bewildered.
A major section of the book is given over to a detailed analysis of the costs of investment with the unsurprising conclusion that passives are cheaper than active funds. There are numerous examples of the compounding effect of charges, which become repetitive and may deter less numerate readers. That said, the book is well-researched and the arguments well-presented, leaving the reader in no doubt about the impact of higher charging funds on the financial outcomes of an investment.
What surprised me was the chapter entitled “Don’t climb into bed with a silver-tongued player”, in which Mr Hallam holds expatriate financial advisers to account. Names are named and punches are not pulled. High commissions and sharp practices are exposed and rightly so. Providers, many of them subsidiaries of well-known UK parents, are similarly caught in the crosshairs. The message is so important that it left me wondering if this chapter should have been at the very start of the book.
The final eight chapters are specific to expatriates intending to manage their own money and return to their home country. The detail in each chapter is missing but there are still enough tips and advice for the average expatriate to more than recoup the costs of the book in savings on costs and taxation.
A well written and entertaining book which, despite tackling a massive subject, manages to deliver what the target audience will be looking for.
Richard Leeson is chief executive of Adviser Advocate
