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Offshore investing opportunities and expatriates - here Offshore Boffin looks at:
- Who are the Plan Providers?
- What types of Provider are there?
Who are the Plan Providers?
Swiss Life, AXA, HSBC, Nationwide Mutual and Nordea are all household names - some in their home countries and some on the world stage. These companies provide the domestic savings plans with which investors in many countries are familiar.
The Providers and their savings plans are usually regulated by their domestic Financial Services Authorities to ensure their reliability and dependability.
Many of the same plan providers also offer offshore investing opportunities through their subsidiaries in tax havens.
Like domestic savings plans, these offshore plans are regulated by tax havens' Financial Services Authorities to ensure reliability and dependability too!
Savvy investors and their financial advisors will want to investigate these offshore plans.
You can research them by
joining Offshore Boffin now and viewing the details of about 250 offshore plans and over a thousand offshore funds and offshore mutual funds catalogued here.
You - like one of many expatriates - and your advisors considering offshore investing opportunities will weigh up both offshore and domestic savings plans - their advantages, disadvantages and risks.
You may decide that that:
- the balance favours offshore plans, offshore funds and offshore mutual funds, or
- that both offshore and onshore plans are required.
This is particularly likely if you are one of the many expatriates reviewing with your advisors your needs for:
- Retirement Planning
- Regular Saving for those with jobs overseas
- Inheritance Tax Planning
- Living Abroad
What types of Providers are there?
Two types of company offer offshore investing opportunities:
- Asset Management Companies
- Life Assurance Companies
Offshore Asset Management Companies
Most investors are familiar with the names of Invesco, UBS and Merrill Lynch. They manage people's savings, holding them in funds regulated by their domestic Financial Services Authorities.
Some plan providers are asset management companies too - except the plans they offer and the offshore funds in which they invest are regulated by the tax haven's Financial Services Authority. Have you guessed? Invesco, UBS and Merrill Lynch all have subsidiaries providing offshore plans.
Offshore Life Assurance Companies
There are offshore life assurance companies offering offshore plans too! Again they have familiar names such as Canada Life, Royal Skandia and Friends Provident.
These companies provide offshore investors with offshore plans written as life assurance contractswith an investment content. Although this may sound complicated, it just means that the investor has as well as an offshore investment fund, a promise that in the event of death an agreed sum will be paid.
For example, a life assurance-based offshore plan may make sense to an expatriate saving - say - $ 1,000 a month for retirement planning over a period of perhaps 20 years.
An expat in this position may also want a fund of $ 250,000 in the event of death to protect any dependents' lifestyles.
In the early years of the plan, the retirement fund will be much less than the $ 250,000 required in the event of death. If there are young dependents the need for life assurance over is more sharply defined..
A life assurance-based offshore plan would allow a small proportion of the monthly contributions to pay towards life cover for perhaps $ 250,000 with the balance invested in offshore funds or offshore mutual funds of the expatriate's choice, building his retirement fund.
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