I was wondering where you folk who have already made the move over (or are almost there) got your financial advice?

I have seen a couple of post on BE where people have said they leave money in UK or put it in offshore accounts, others seem to take it all with them. What I don't know if it was just their own idea or if they took expert advice.

Are there specifically qualifies or experienced financial advisers our there who understand the rules for investment/tax etc on both sides of the atlantic?

I would be interested to know how you came to your decisions. We would be looking for long term investments which would provide us with a monthly or years income. We would want rock solid investments for most of our cash, but could be creative with some of it.

No one can give you reliable financial advice unless they know all of your circumstances. This site may not be the best place to lay your financial affairs out naked for the world to ogle at.

Someone might know of a good financial advisor but IMO they are few and far between.

For tax purposes there is no great advantage to keeping funds in the UK or offshore as you are taxed on your worldwide income once you are resident in Canada. However, if you have future liabilities in sterling it might be worth keeping some pounds in the UK so you don’t have to pay foreign exchange loadings twice. Voluntary NI contributions are one reason you may wish to keep some pounds in the UK.

I liquidated everything apart from pension funds and a couple of friendly society savings plans that were near to maturity (I paid them up before I left). The reason? I intended my move to be permanent so there seemed little point in retaining funds in the UK. Also, I like to look after my own affairs and think that I am quite as capable of losing all my savings as an overpaid fund manager.

Yes, what I really want to know is, should I look at my local high street financial advisor who I would go to normally, or should I be looking for someone who has specific qualifications/expertise in dealing with families who are emigrating (should such people exist). And if they do exist, how do I find them?

Hi

I left some money in the UK (Stocks) because Barclays gave me some investment advice.....Came to Canada and found that all the banks have good investment people in every branch that can advise you on investment mix, which comes at a lower tax bracket etc....

Long story short....got great advise here in Canada and glad I followed the invesment plan they came up with.

If you have a LARGE sum, ask to speak to a Financial Planner or IRP and they will be more than happy to help. Never got that service from Barclays, always felt like I had to phone someone, never face to face.

I now work for RBC and if you PM me when your settled, I can find somone for you to meet.

Hope this helps

Phil

Hello, I have an on-line trading account with the Bank of Montreal which I swear by. The money in the account that is not invested in shares also earns interest. Their site also provides solid investment advice.

Remember, in Canada, you are only taxed on 50% of your gains on the stock market. The other 50% of the gains goes into your pocket, this is a big perk. I believe in the UK, after about 14,000 pounds, all gains added to your income.

I only stick with the Blue Chip stocks such as the banks, other financial institutions, top exploration companies and all of these pay dividends so if your stock goes down, just sit back and collect the dividends and wait for it to come back.

I have found it wise to stay away from the penny stocks. For every one that doubles, a few more go down the tubes.

Just my opinion, as with all investments, do your own research.

Newspapers such as the The Globe and Mail have a wealth of information and also a great website that tells you just about everything you need to know about companies (www.globeinvestor.com). I think people here are more comfortable with stock market investing than the UK (I may be wrong) but the chances are you will always find someone in the workplace, etc. who is into "the markets".

Happy hunting

Hi this is John again, have a look at these sites, they may help, I am sure other people also have many other suggestions:

www.bmoinvestorline.com

www.stockhouse.ca

www.stockchase.com

www.yahoo.ca (go to finance)

I have been more than happy with the Bank of Montreal but I am sure other banks offer a similare service.

John

I don't know if they exist, but you have made a good start to finding them (if they do) by starting this thread.

As always in these matters, you need to start by defining your own goals and then, if you feel you need to take advice on how to reach them, find an adviser with that expertise.

For example, do you intend to settle permanently in Canada? Your investment strategy will be very different if you intend to return to the UK one day.

Do you want income or capital growth? How risk tolerant are you? Do you want to keep investments in the UK to counterbalance the risks inherent in the Canadian economy? Are you happy to take on an exchange risk as well as an investment risk? I would say no to both of these as a) you can adequately diversify an investment portfolio in Canada and b) the returns do not justify the added risk. However, this doesn't mean these are the right answers for you.

So, define what you want out of your investments and ask yourself if your high street adviser can deliver this for you. Probably not. You might find an experienced international adviser through this site (but make sure you check out where and how they are regulated). Otherwise you have to do the research and make the decisions for yourself.

I was hoping to find an independant financial advisor, who works off commission and understands the implications of moving from UK to Canada, and both tax systems etc.

I was asking for the moon on a stick.

I did find one guy Bryson Milley from The Rogers Group http://www.rogersgroup.com, who was recommended to me, but he charges $500 (+GST), no hourly fees, which scared us slightly, and said that most of his clients were in their 40s-50s and had a household income of at least $200,000.

Hmmm we're mid-20s and have a household income of half that, so I declined!

Too true !

What will influence your decision to leave funds in the UK or bring them to Canada is largely governed by whether you will need them or not. My reason for having the Uk offshore savings account was mainly that we couldn't find a better interest rate in Canada.

I am sure that I read somewhere that in a off shore account there was no tax payable in either Canada or the UK. Is this correct please?

I have always been under the impression that mast financial advisors were free to the individual, taking commission from the product they sell. The ones I have dealt with in the past have been anyway. Just shows how wrong ill informed I am doesn't it?

[QUOTE=JonboyE;5242397] Are you happy to take on an exchange risk as well as an investment risk? QUOTE]

If I could have changed most of our cash at $2.4 to the £ I probably would have moved the lot, but with things as they are at the moment everyone seems to be holding back waiting for an improvement.

Generally that is how they work in the UK, but as with so many things out here,they are just sllghtly different but enough that you need to stay on your toes.

Apparently many of the travel agents charge you the fee, rather than relying on 100% commision as they do in the UK.

I'm still not decided as to whether this is a better system or not.

My OH is an IFA, although sadly she has no knowledge of the Canadian market. You're correct that most advisers in the UK earn commission rather than operate on a fee basis, although I do know of a few who charge a fee. Sometimes they charge an initial consultation fee which is refunded if the client then chooses to use the advice. This is particularly useful when dealing with the kind of lowlife who only want to talk to an adviser so that they can then approach the recommended company directly :curse:, of course what the idiots fail to realise is that a) they don't get a better deal than they would if they used the adviser in the first place, b) a good adviser will take care of any problems that arise, particularly important when it comes to mortgage valuations and c) when taking a mortgage an adviser will almost always recommend a different company for buildings insurance as bank and building society products are generally overpriced.