stevegate

Dear All,

Recently I inherited an estate which comprises of the following:
1. A portfolio of UK equities: £250K
2. Cash: £185K

I'm 34 years old, a UK citizen and a US permanent resident. My wife and I have considered retiring to Spain (in 20 years, if we're lucky). Therefore with the dollar weakening I was thinking about leaving 50%+ of the estate in the UK to invest, and bring 50% over to the USA.

To be honest, my head is spinning from all the people I've spoken to, so I was wondering whether anyone could recommend an advisor for the following questions:
1. Should I just liquidate all the equities, wire the cash to the US, and buy mutual funds?
2. Should the possibility that I'd like to retire to Spain have any bearing on my long term investments decisions?
3. Do you know anyone who can advise on the best tax strategy? People whom I have spoken to in the USA recommend I speak to someone in the UK, and visa versa.
4. The catch-all question: Is there something I should be considering which I don't know about?

Thank you in advance.

Regards,

Steve

ImHere

Get seriously pissed?

Actually I would have thought property - or at least land - in somewhere as currently bouyant as Florida would be a good bet, at least short term (1 to 2 years).

Im pretty sure you'd have to declare the origin of the funds and have them audited by the bank if you brought it over here.

By the way - you are going to pay/have payed CGT on it?

stevegate

Thank you for the quick response.

I am aware that the IRS is "interested" in all your funds regardless of where in the world they might be located. Plus, I'm an honest individual so I'm not going to try and hide the funds. I believe I merely need to file a 3520 form with my next tax return.

All (a very general statement) income generated from these funds will be taxed going forward - however the US CGT is reasonable. The UK inhertiance tax has already been paid by the estate, so I will not be paying CGT on the initial amount to the IRS.

Steve

ImHere

As long as your tax liability is covered and you can show a full audit trail back to the source of the funds to Uncle Sam (ie you aint money laundering) then you should be covered (still got to be worth a few dollars to an accountant or lawyer to be sure)

As for investment.....bricks n mortar is always good. Not sure where you are located but in mid-florida you can get real estate fairly cheap at the moment, and its anticipated to be going up in the region of 15-20% per annum...not a bad ROI.

Franklin

Is this for real? Is this planet Earth? Am I really me? Honest people of USA forum? Do you know?

Well, someone has to try and fill Patrick's shoes when the dude ain't around.

franc111s

With the $ to pound at nearly 2 to 1 it's a good time ot move money to the USA from the UK and if it goes back, say a 30% move like it has in the last 2 years then your quids in but you are just playing a money exchange game (read - a trip to vegas). Mind you, I think we will be at 2 to 1 for the next 2-3 years but I don't do well at Vegas either !

If the end goal is to keep the money in Europe then since it's a well known fact, the right property investments move MUCH faster and higher in Europe than the USA you should keep all monies there. If you think the pound dollar will change back to 1.4 soon then bring it here NOW.

My 2 cents and I''ll tell you HONESTLY as I SEE IT - i.e. IMHO.

KarnalEcho

Interested in giving to the needy? You can take it off of income taxes as a charitable expense hehe j/k

snorkmaiden

Are you looking for a second wife - we could move to Utah, I hear it's legal there. My four children can be as quiet as mice and my husband would be happy to take a gardening role.

MightBe

Perhaps you better learn about the witholding tax non residents have to pay
when selling property/land here, in some States including Florida, will put a serious dent in your profits

ImHere

about 10% I believe.

He didnt say if he was a resident or not though.

snowbunny

Clarification: doesn't the state tax apply to non-FLORIDA residents and not non-US residents? IOW, the test for Florida residency is very different to that of US residency.

In Texas I know of no such tax, and the test for residency is nil, which is how George HW Bush can claim a hotel room as a permanent Texas residence and vote here even though his head's on a pillow in Maine most of the time.

I'd be concerned with escalating insurance rates as well as property values in Florida, due to hurricanes.

Steve, are you looking to take advantage of the current exchange rate from sterling to dollars? Right now real estate is appreciating in part simply because Americans can still afford to buy it due to low mortgage rates. If rates climb significantly, the appreciation may slow or stop.

TRPardoe

If it were me, a FL resident, I would buy any remaing plot of land in SWFL with easy access to the Gulf of Mexico. There is a lot of spare land in Florida but the amount on the water is diminishing rapidly and the price is rising accordingly.

Manc

Go and see an Edward Jones investment advisor.
The have branches in the UK and the USA.

I'd throw the money in a bunch of mutual funds / bonds / CD's forget about them for 10 years and then see how much you have.

Manc

ooooh,

and you have no exxcuse in slipping Paul a few bob and subscribe to the site

stevegate

Thank you for the feedback.

However, whilst trying to locate the subscription page I found a link thru to:
http://www.talkaboutinvestments.com
which is possibly a more appropriate forum to reach an advisor.

Before I leave I would like to sign-off with one piece of advice concerning a topic which a number of you mentioned, namely "Property". I, like many others, have made a lot of a money flipping condos on the waterfront in Jersey City, NJ. Nevertheless, housing is an asset class that is just as prone to excess as are stocks, bonds, currencies, or commodities. If it feels like a bubble, acts like a bubble, and looks like a bubble, it probably is one.

Goodbye and good luck.