New series of guides for expat finance
The Guardian and HSBC have launched a series of guides for expat finance. The first installment is online now: Expat Guide to Money Management. Lisa Wood, Head of Marketing at HSBC Bank International, said:
Starting a new life abroad is a fantastic and exciting experience, but there is a lot of planning to do to ensure all the necessary arrangements are in place ahead of the move. We speak with expats on a daily basis, and through this we know the financial frustrations they face when looking to move to a new country– from moving money between different locations and currencies to dealing with differing tax situations.
Some interesting content in there, including an intro to tax issues for offshore banking with some starting points like this:
At its heart, holding your savings and investments offshore allows you to manage the repatriation of your wealth tax efficiently on your return to your home country. “By holding cash offshore, ideally in an offshore bond, you may be able to shelter [income] growth from tax,” says Philip Teague, an independent financial adviser at Expat IFA. “If you decide to return [to your home country] and bring back the money held offshore you may have an income tax liability on the gain, though it can be carefully managed by using tools like time apportionment relief to reduce the amount of tax payable.”
Later this year, there will be additions for ‘Family finance’ and ‘Growing your wealth’.
