Are your advisers making the news?

At deVere Group (the company I work for), we are accustomed to be featured in the international, national, regional and local media worldwide countless of times.

Contrary to do it yourself brokers and small firms ( consider that our second closest competitor is 10 times smaller than us) we are an internationally recognized (and award winning) organization. 

Here is just a flavour of the deVere Group’s coverage last month (April 2015):

Pre-general UK election commentaries on financial matters from deVere founder and CEO, Nigel Green, were covered by The Sun, BBC Radio 4 FT Adviser, International Adviser, YourMoney, Global Banking & Finance Review, Business Money, Khaleej Times, Money Observer, Money Wise, Le Temps, SUR, Money Management, Investors Chronicle (page 24) and Biz Community, amongst others. Mr Green was also invited to write a column on Labour’s non-dom plans for Private Banker Internationalmagazine.

The Daily Express , The Times, The Finance Times, Singapore News, and Pensions Age magazine (page 42) to highlight just a few media outlets, ran features on deVere Group’s warning regarding the rising threat of pension liberation scams.

Simon Chrystal from deVere’s Workplace Solutions authored a column on the recent overhaul of the pensions landscape for The C Suite, and The Telegraph published the video interview he filmed at The Telegraph Studios.

When deVere Mortgages reported that three out of four enquiries were from overseas buyers in the first quarter of the year, The Telegraph, Property Wire, International Adviser, What Mortgage, Choices Today, The Move Channel,  Relocate Magazine,  Financial Reporter and others produced articles on the findings.

In April deVere’s International Investment Strategist, Tom Elliott, commented on the IMF’s warning about the Fed’s inevitable rate rise.  His advice was picked up by World Finance, The Herald, The Wall St Cheat Sheet and Mindful Money, amongst others.

Mr Elliott was also quoted in a report by the FT’s fDi (page 64), IFA Magazine, The National and appeared on CNBC.

Reports in Bloomberg, Global Banking & Finance Review, Euro Investor, and The Business Information Portal covered news of deVere’s recent awards and accolades; the Daily Express quoted deVere United Kingdom’s Head of Financial Planning, Kevin White on tips regarding overseas retirement, The Telegraph wrote about the deVere Switzerland sponsored Geneva Charity Ball, and FT Adviser quoted deVere’s Mike Coady on the latest developments in the QROPS market.

And the Winner is...

Congratulations to our CEO for being recognized as Ops Business Person of the Year by the prestigious Financial Technology Forum, a news also reported on Bloomberg as you can see below:

LINK

Is your financial advisory company award winning?

Safe, Creative or Trashy?

First of all let me disgress for a second as the 2015 awards results are now also on-line!

Other winners here include the likes of Google and Apple so we are in good company ;)

You can check the whole results in the electronic version of the magazine here (our CEO on the cover):  http://www.corporatelivewire.com/innovation-and-excellence-awards.html

Now on with the main article...

When we meet new clients that have been doing investments for a while, we found that they generally fall into 3 categories, mainly those that prefer the "the risky way", those that prefer the "creative" way and those that prefer (or "believe" they are practicing) The Safe WAYtm.

The risky way sees people either taking bets on stocks they sympathize with, or following the leads of "savvy" friends and "street wise" Joe Brokers belonging to no particular organization or information network (yeah those that advised you not to let go of those Oil funds).

In 15 years on the markets I have never seen a single individual keeping the profits done this way.
Some lasted a year, some 2 years, some 10 years, they all lost a big chunk or eventually, all of their money.
"Keeping" being the key word here, for it doesn`t matter how much you earn or have, it only matters how much you keep in the end.

The Creative Way, is for those who have little sympathy for the standard financial markets and go investing into Student Housing projects or time unproven small business financing schemes.
Now if there is one thing you should learn from the difference between Warren Buffet and Jordan Belfort (the wolf of wall street) is that in the long run, proven solid business pays, creative Joe Nobody`s companies/ventures don`t.

Then there is the so called Safe Way: some clients of mine were under the rather bizarre impression that keeping their investments in Italy, although they expatriated, was a good Idea, their wife`s, friends, dads and bros all said so after all.
Fipaperam, Fipeco, UniDebit (gotta love the fictional names ;) ) you get the idea.
Problem is, Italy is a member of PIGS and in the 2014 ECB bank stress test, Italian banks had some of the highest levels of failures.
Should a crisis strike, your money might be at risk there make no mistake about it (I won`t even start on how preemptive capital gain tax settlements the various "Fibecos" perpetrate hinder your growth, I wrote a full article about it).

The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that there is FAR better.

Elite investor always had access to far more solid institutions that offer better conditions and better guarantees. Not only because the countries in which they operate are richer and less debt burdened, but because they also give you full insurance by mega Swiss behemoths.
When you couple that with free access to top money managers who`s organizations have proven solid results in all market conditions for the past 40 years, you may get an idea as of why you will be getting something better than do it yourself,  Joe Zillo`s venture or Luigi, personal Banker from MedioMilanum.

What?? The only companies that fit the description, take only institutional clients you say? Indeed, that is why you need access to an organization that secured exclusive rights to liaise between you and them.

In or Out

It`s that time of the market cycle again, the US stocks that have been leading the world`s economic recovery have been going side-ways for sometime, and they don`t seem to be able to further run.

The blue line is an example of sideway movement. 

At this point, with the Bull market long in the tooth and the Fed`s hike around the corner, history tells us that a big swing is going to take place in the coming months, probably in concert with the aforementioned interest rate rise (nothing too surprising there), but what everybody`s questioning is: will it be a correction or a crash?

Both fundamentals and historical data points just to a correction, there are many indicators still pretty strong, just to name a few, the Bonds yield curve has not inverted (something that signals market crashes) copper price is on the rise (a good sign due to several reasons) and we have on going stock buy backs and mergers in the USA with easing of the monetary policies taking place in Europe, Japan and to a lesser extent, in India and China.

The Japanese Government is pouring more than 3 trillion yen into Japanese stocks with the nikkei on the run, and the Hong Kong index went crazy now that Chinese firms can pour money into it.

So what is going to happen?

We will experience some turmoil, it won`t be a crash, but it can set back the profits you made up until now.
So you do need to update that portfolio of yours, there`s no way around it.

Don`t believe those that tell you "just keep it as is" because they are the same people who told their clients not to sell their funds based on oil and natural resources last year, which still havent`t recovered.

Their rationale is that "it will eventually go up again", the problem is, we had several FANTASTIC opportunities in the past months, you could have gained 20% on those (up from/on top of your previous heights!), instead you lost 50% on those and still waiting for them to go back to normal.

I believe you agree with me that even if they do get back to normal, you would still have been involved in big a waste of time and money by lazy advisers with no information network at their disposal.

"but no, I recovered eventually, so I didn`t lose money" Sadly it is the opposite, as I wrote HERE, unrealized gains are worth far more than you might be lead to believe.

If you move now you can keep your profits, hedge out a few points even during the correction, and take the subsequent rise from the start, the earning potential is HUGE.

Act!

How to choose a Financial Advisory Company

In a world where everybody wants to give financial advices, choosing a good Financial Advisory Company might be a difficult task, however a good financial adviser has the potential of opening possibilities you might not ever come to know otherwise, something that might have a huge positive impact on your finances.

In this post I will tell you about Information Network, possibility to access what you wouldn`t be able to otherwise, international recognition and global presence, all using questions you should ask yourself in order to choose who should advice you from now on.


First Question: Do you know what kind of information is available to your adviser?

In other words, is your financial adviser/broker "in" on the latest developments going on behind the scenes?  If he doesn`t have privileged access to certain information channels then I wouldn`t trust him with my money.

To make an example, the company I work for (deVere Group incidentally the largest independent firm in the world) is the only financial advisory company to have dedicated "internal" sections, inside Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley websites, we are in their information network, also receiving important and often classified, timely info.
We also have special arrangements on this regard with Fidelity, Deutsche Bank, the Asian Development Bank and more.

Second question: can you or your financial advisory company access all the financial vehicles available out there?

For example, what if the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is doing business with a big financial institution which offers them great terms, but that company only works with Institutional Clients, can you take advantage of the same company and terms as an individual?

they have access to it, do you?

deVere Group gives retail clients access to wholesale banking solutions thanks to exclusive partnerships, 90% of our clients never even heard of 12% a year fixed interest coupons, with guaranteed capital, if you haven`t heard about them too, you are not alone but you have been missing out. (if you want to know more about these just drop me a line).

Third Question: is your adviser firm/broker award winning?
 

This year the company I work for (deVere Group), just won the award for Best Financial Advisory Firm in the prestigious Corporate LiveWire Global Awards (Wired Network) Innovation and Excellence section.

The printed literature is just out, it will be shipped to 1.5 million company executives world wide, with our CEO on the Cover (watch out this LINK for the news, 2015 results are not on line yet,)

Update: the award news appeared on the 13th of April on UK Business Information Portal -> LINK


deVere Group CEO has also being nominated as Ops Business Person of the Year by the authoritative Financial Technologies Forum (click HERE to read the news on Bloomberg).
What awards or worldwide recognition did your adviser/broker win? Any privileged access to Investment Banks products or info?

The 4th question would be "Global Presence",  is your adviser part of a global network with proper license and local law departments everywhere on the globe?

Here is a list of deVere worldwide offices: LINK (note:  we don`t have temporary premises or small facilities, all of our offices take the whole floor of a building or more).

Can you access a list of offices of your adviser?

To sum it up:

1. Information Network
2. Access to top level solutions (often not available to retail clients) and Top Tier Fund Managers (would you want one of the Top 5 money managers in the world to directly manage your money?).
3. Award Winning
4. Global Presence

My advice? For more security in your future go beyond the usual. Expand your reaches, be curious, never settle with what you have without looking at better options.
As usual, if you would like to know what we do for our clients, just drop me a line here, on my work mail or on linked in, I will be glad to fill you in on what`s going on with the markets what solutions the big guys (read: Money Managers/Insurance companies etc.) are adopting, and how you can take advantage of the same solutions too.

2015: Where is the market Going?

In my First series of posts I concentrated on common "positioning" mistakes people generally do during their lifetimes, which might end up jeopardizing how much money you will have at your disposal during retirement (a very important subject), today however not only I will be talking investments but will be very specific in talking about year 2015.


The current monetary policy cycle is unique in terms of the degree and duration of easing, which raises the question: Is this time different?
We at deVere, think this cycle has more similarities than differences with prior cycles, and so an historical analysis is a useful template.
We think Fed tightening (aka: interest rate rise) this year will drive volatility in asset prices, which otherwise benefit from the effects of an increasingly healthy economic growth cycle.
In general, based on cross referenced historical data, we expect Treasuries to weaken, US Equities to struggle immediately after the hike, Credit to spread, the US dollar to further strengthen which, in turn, will further weaken commodities.

What does this all mean in laymen terms?
It means that if you don`t adjust your portfolio accordingly you will lose much (or all) the gains of the lasts months.

So the question is: has your Bank/Broker/Financial adviser told you about it and suggested the right strategy for you to profit in the turbulent coming months?

If not, act fast, ask for help, (if you want me to help you out, drop me a line via email or on linked in) whatever you do, do it quickly as changing things 1 months into the correction will not have the same impact (it might even be too late).

How Tax deferral works... (MUST READ)

In a previous post I mentioned how the real secret of Warren Buffet riches is tax deferral, so what is exactly tax deferral and how does it differ from tax evasion?

First things first, Tax deferral is legal while tax evasion is not.

With the first you still promise you are going to pay your capital gain tax in full (let`s say 20% like in Japan) by the the time you cash everything in, but you postpone this payment till the last minute.

Some of you might be thinking "but if in the end I am going to pay anyway what`s the difference? and why go through the hassle?"

The difference is that at the end of day you will be left with what`s pictured below...

Do you want them too? Then read on!

Let`s see how you get this extra cash with an example. Mark and Phil two colleagues at the same company, both with $100.000 to invest.

Phil gives his money to a local bank, where they promise a gross 9% of interests (9% from a Bank??? yeah right... but... let`s just say they can for example sake...) from which, each year the 20% capital gain tax is automatically detracted (even if you do stock trading using a local platform, when you sell the stocks and cash the money in, they take 20% off the gain automatically, no questions asked no other options).

Mark on the other hand gives the money to a good IFA (International Financial Adviser) and will pay the 20% at the very end, behold the amazing thing that happens below:



At Year 01 Phil starts with $100.000 and after 12 months, at 9% growth, he reaches $109.000, but he has to pay taxes so minus (-) 20% Capital gain tax he's left with $107.200

Thus Year 02 starts with $107.200 which at 9% = $116.830 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $114.904
(note that every year the capital gain tax is calculated only on the amount of capital gain generated that year)

Year 03: $114.904 at 9% = $125.245 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $123.176

Year 04: $123.176 at 9% = $134.261 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $132.044

Year 05: $132.044 at 9% = $143.127 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $141.689

So after 5 years Phil is sitting on $141.689, let`s see how Mark would be doing in case he decides to cash in his investment (which is growing tax free at the moment) after 5 years.
Due to the magic of compound interests he gets $56.568 of growth, ($156.568 total) and after paying 20% of capital gain tax he's left with 145.254, almost $4000 more in his pockets.

Although they are both tax compliant, by just being smart, Mark is going to Yodobashi Camera and get a 60" 4K TV "for free" ;)

Now, how much would the difference be after 10 years? $8000 I hear? NOT - EVEN - CLOSE

The difference after 10 years is a staggering $29.000!!!

Again here are the calculations:


Year 06 starts at $141.689 for Phil, at 9% = $154.441 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $151.890

Year 07: $151.890 at 9% = $165.560 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $162.826

Year 09: $162.826 at 9% = $177.480 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $174.549

Year 10: $174.549 at 9% = $190.258 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = 187.116

Mark, with tax free growth reaches 245.135 if he decides to cash in, he pays his 20% and he's left with $216.108 a $29.000 difference even though they both paid 20% of taxes and are 100% compliant.

Now Mark can get a pretty decent car with the extra money...

You see where I am getting but let`s make one last projection to 20 years just for fun!

(you can skip below to see the results, I won`t tell anyone ;) )


Year 11 for Phil starts at $187.116 at 9% he gets $203,956 - 20% Capital gain tax, he's left with $200.588

Year 12: $200.588 at 9% = $218.640 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $215,030

Year 13: $205.030 at 9% = $224.382 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $220.511

Year 14: $220.511 at 9% = $240,356 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $236,387

Year 15: $236.387 at 9% = $257.661 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $253,406

Year 16: $253.406 at 9% = $276.212 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $271.650

Year 17: $271.650 at 9% = $296.098 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $291.208

Year 19: $291.208 at 9% = $317.416 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = $312,174

Year 20: $312.174 at 9% = 340.269 - 20% CapitalGain Tax = 334.650

So it`s time to retire, Phil looks at his pot and sees $334.650, he paid taxes every year, on the other end Mark reaches a gross total of $560.441 due to the exponential effect of (tax free) compound interests, he cashes in and pays 20% capital gain tax on the whole growth which sets him back a whopping $92.088, the good news is, he is left with $468.352, he paid his taxes just like Phil, and yet, he is $133.702 richer.

So, who do you want to be in your life, Mark or Phil?


P.S
I forgot to mention that at the very last year Mark changed his residence to a place where there are no capital gain taxes whatsoever (in the end you don`t know where you will be 20 years from now and you can decide for yourself...)