No Regrets, Say UK Expats

Despite a belief that a significant number of British retired expatriates are regretting their decision to retire abroad and are planning to return to the UK, retiring abroad is very much still a popular decision according to the third annual NatWest International Personal Banking (NatWest IPB) Quality of Life Report.

Jurisdiction Special Focus: Antigua and Barbuda

In common with many of its Caribbean neighbours, Antigua & Barbuda is probably a location more synonymous with the upmarket end of the tourist trade than as a place in which to invest. Whilst tourism is indeed an important part of the nation's economy, a notable offshore financial industry has in fact been developed by government over the last two decades, helped along by some generous business and personal tax incentives, the major aspects of which we will attempt to cover here.

Bearish Sentiment Waning As Risk Appetite Grows

Bearish sentiment among investors about the outlook for the global economy and corporate earnings has eased, according to the Bank of America (BofA) Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for August.

Singapore - Another Hong Kong? Located in South East Asia, Singapore is a highly developed and successful free market economy which enjoys an open and corruption-free environment, stable prices, a low tax regime and a per capita GDP equal to that of most parts of Western Europe.

Alternative Equity Investment Once upon a time, before the Internet and before globalization of the financial sector, investment for most people meant buying stocks, shares or collective investment units through a broker, using the mail and the telephone. You can still do it that way, but more and more people, especially globe-trotting expatriates, do it on-line, and do it for themselves using a whole zoo of techniques in which direct ownership of underlying shares is just one solution, and no longer the best in many situations.

International Property Investment - Are REITs Right For You?

If you are in the right place at the right time, investing in real estate can be one of the most profitable and enjoyable forms of medium to long term investment there is. Depending on your circumstances, international real estate investment may prove preferable, for a number of reasons, despite the additional challenges it can sometimes pose. Diversifying your investment portfolio by buying property in several different countries, for example, can help to cushion you against downturns in any one particular market. Even if you cannot afford to do this, you may find that you will be able to snap up an incomparable bargain in an up-and-coming country which would never have been available in your country of residence. (Unless you happen to have the good fortune to be resident in a newly popular emerging market country, of course!)

BEING AN EXPAT IN 2008 To believe the surveys, half the world is either already an expat, or planning to become one. Tens of millions of people work abroad, or have retired there, or have property in a foreign country.

International Offshore Banking

If the words 'offshore banking' conjure up for you a shadowy figure wearing a Panama hat and crumpled white suit, smoking a cigar, and probably sipping cocktails from a hollowed out coconut, then you've clearly been reading too much John Grisham. Stop it. It isn't good for you. In an increasingly globalised world, in which more and more of the population are becoming internationally mobile, and need financial services which reflect their circumstances, offshore and international banking has moved on. The growing need for international banking on both a personal and corporate level has led to an increase in the number and quality of financial centres, both offshore and on, and the diversity of financial services offered.