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The GCC Wealth Boom: Has Financial Advice Changed for International Clients? | Ravi Gill

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Most people move abroad for opportunity; higher income, lower tax, better lifestyle.

But if you spend 10 years overseas without investing, without planning and without a strategy, you often return home worse off.

In the latest episode of Hoxton Life, Jacob Hall sits down with Ravi Gill to speak on his journey from trainee to now managing over £40M in assets under management - and the fundamental shift in how he serves international clients.

We deep dive into:

* Why delaying financial planning is the most expensive decision expats make

* How GCC professionals can build wealth without a corporate pension framework

* The 2024–27 legislative changes (domicile scrapped, residency-based tax, pensions pulled into IHT)

* Why visibility, cash-flow modelling and tech adoption are the “unlock” for international advice

* The shift from transactional sales to lifelong planning, structure and accountability

* Why couples planning, estate reviews and insurance protection matter more than products

* How US assets, Series 65 qualifications and new custodians create truly global advice

Watch the full episode on YouTube, or listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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SPEAKER_03:

Today we have Ravi back on the podcast. She's past 40 million of assets under management. Over a hundred clients that you now manage across the globe.

SPEAKER_00:

I sit down with a lot of individuals and clients. When I explained to her and showed her that she would have visibility of her assets within the palm of her hand 24-7, she was astonished. I always ask people the the question what was their motivation of moving outside of the UK, but there has to be a purpose behind it. A lot of people kick the can down the road for everything. Financial.

SPEAKER_03:

If you're here for 10 years and you don't put money away, you're gonna go back in a hell of a lot worse position.

SPEAKER_00:

In April this year, they scrapped the domicile rule and brought in a residency-based test now.

SPEAKER_03:

Financial planning is not selling a product. Yeah. Financial planning is Welcome back to another episode of Hoxton Life. I'm Jacob Hall. I'm the Global Director of Advice. I work closely with a lot of the international advice teams and training wealth manager teams. Today we have Ravi back on the on the podcast for I think his third uh third appearance. Um Ravi's someone that I've worked very, very closely with over the last 12 to 18 months as he's progressed through from a trainee wealth manager into a what we consider to be a pathway advisor, and then this year he's gone on to build out his own team. I think he's recently had uh a significant milestone where he's passed 40 million of assets under management. Um I think circa just over a hundred clients that you now manage across the across the globe. So huge, huge um achievement in such a short space of time. So uh and that comes down to a number of factors. I mean, Ravi's probably one of the most disciplined people I know, which uh we talk about a lot on the podcast. Um but today we're gonna talk a little bit more about one, how his year's gone and and how things are progressing, and two, our thoughts on the GCC market. Um the GCC is obviously Dubai, Saudi, places where we where most of us live. And historically, we may have not focused on advice as much in Dubai where where we're living, because the opportunities maybe were not there for us, and and now we see a lot more opportunities coming to light, and today we're going to talk a little bit about that. Um so, Ravi, obviously great to have you back on again. Um, and obviously great to see your progression. I mean, uh, and today quite excited to get into it and talk about things.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, appreciate it. Thanks for having me back.

SPEAKER_03:

Perfect. So this year so far, obviously a few milestones have been passed. I know them all because I sit down with Yonna. Well, we're meant to sit down monthly, I think we sit down nearly bi-weekly now. Um, but what what's been going on in your world, in your team, with your clients, you know, what what's happened so far this year?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so it's been uh a very progress progressive year to say the least. I think if we scale back to January, um I did just over two years on the Pathway programme, and we made a decision at the back end of last year to come off the pathway program um into essentially a business within a business, so using the the Hoxton brand, um, and then utilising the different licensing around the world and building out my team. Uh so that was first big step in in January. Um at that point, at the same time, I also took on a power planner. Um, just for the listeners, in terms of uh a power planner, so it's a bit like a paralegal in in law uh as an example and helps a lot with the onboarding, client servicing, um which I think is integral. You know, I got to nearly 100 clients within two years. Um, so the growth was was was pretty strong. Um, and since then, I think this year we've taken on nearly 50 clients in the first nine months of the year. I think without having that additional support, it would be difficult to maintain the same level of service and the quality of advice that we're looking to achieve uh internationally. So that was the the first step in January. Um in addition to that, in January I've probably put in just over 100 hours of study time and past my Series 65 in February, um, which again that's a massive milestone, which allows me to then take on assets for individuals that have previously worked in the US and currently work in the US, which if we look at it from a financial advice perspective, it's the biggest market internationally. I know Hoxton's been banging on the drum around the US, um and we we take a lot of practices from companies over there that are slightly ahead of us in terms of the advice in the UK. I think we are definitely uh catching up to a certain extent. So that was in January, March. I'm not going to go through it month by month, but March was quite important to the business. So I did quite a bit of travelling uh within the region. So we went over to Saudi and also Qatar to see some existing clients and also um present at a few seminars. I think that's something which we've continued to do and will continue to do, you know, get our presence out in this region, which we'll talk about the opportunity. Um I think it's just being present, right? That's important. Um, and then in addition to that, I've taken on a full-time admin support. So again, further uh increasing the support system. I think I work it out, you know, investing like£400 a day in my admin team in order to service my clients. Uh, you know, it's not an easy step, but the the long-term value of that and the client retention I think is equally as important. So it is a business within the business, it is a career, uh, but you need to be prepared to to invest in your team to get the the most out of it and to retail and take on new clients. Yeah, I think a couple of takeaways there.

SPEAKER_03:

So we you were a business development manager before we started off. The you know, we've done podcasts around our training wealth manager program. Um we've obviously changed the structure now, and it's a very, very structured programme. But you work closely with Tom Goldie, who's one of our most successful um planners, which you learn a lot from along the way. Um you then came into the Pathway Advisor, which is a salaried advisor role, which is very structured, um, there's a lot of accountability. And the purpose of that role really is at the beginning, it's not to say you don't know what you're doing, but it's to make sure you've got that structure, accountability, and and somebody to go to. But you kind of often have shared resources. Um, and I think one of the reasons why you stepped into the next phase of your career, one, you'd built up a significant client bank very, very quickly because you you've done a good job for your clients. Um, I've spoken about you on other podcasts and said, you know, you took the stance that you're going to work very, very hard early on in your career, get your examinations, build up your client bank. So when things down the line, when you have family, things along those lines, you're ahead of it, which is great. Yeah, you had to step into that next phase and build the team out because you'd just never be able to continue. And you know, you you were started. I remember sitting down last year looking at your diary, and you were doing a lot of tasks that you know not were beneath you, but that wasn't the best use of your time. Correct. So bringing in Elijah, I think one thing you've done really well is you developed the team well. So you brought because getting a team, there's two things going out and employing people and building a team are two different things. And I've seen loads of people over the years just think, I'll get someone, I'll not speak to them, I'll just give them a load of tasks and it won't work. Whereas I think you've done a good job of building out a solid unit between yourself, Raj and Elijah and their development, which is really, really important. And that is what the most important part of that is that's what's allowed you to continue bringing on new clients. The other thing that fits really heavily into that is is the technology. And we'll talk a little bit more about the technology down the line. But the technology is one of the things that's making it easier for you to service, and which which obviously we have a lot of proprietary tech, but I mean, what do you think is the most important part of our technology offering now?

SPEAKER_00:

I think visibility is as simple as it might sound. Um I sit down with a lot of individuals and clients, even last night, for example, I was on a call with a lady who's in the UK, go assets in the US, been with a company for 20 years over there, and they still post her statements from the US to the UK on a quarterly basis. And when I explained to her and showed her that she would have visibility of her assets, which was her main retirement asset, within the palm of her hand, 24-7. You know, she was she was astonished. And I think yes, the tools and the wealth flow and you know the technicalities of that are fantastic, but if you go back to basics and just being able to give people visibility of what assets they've currently got, I think that's where it starts, and then the the the the deeper discussions can can dive from that in terms of where does this asset play in terms of the bigger picture, how important is this from an income perspective, or when do you look to access that asset in in retirement? Um so yeah, I I would say just being able to give people visibility and an understanding of of where their money is. And in that same example, you know, I explained to her, you know, if you've got half a million pounds sitting in your bank account, you know, I'm I'm sure you'd want to know where it is and and how you could potentially get it working a bit harder for you. Where again, I've touched on this before, but a lot of the time pensions with them being out of sight, uh they're they're out of mind uh for most people.

SPEAKER_03:

It's crazy with pensions, isn't it, right? Like people probably look at their bank account nearly every day, or in in the Middle East, you get a text message every time you use your card to tell you how much you spent, how much is left. Yet people have five, six, seven hundred, or two hundred and fifty thousand pound pensions and they'll only get a statement once a year. They don't know what's happened across the whole year. And I mean, we are moving towards a tech enabled in in in in all professions, but people are definitely more invested in it now. Correct. I personally have seen by using the the app for people to connect their assets, then use the wealth flow. And they call it in the the the the tech team call it like an aha moment. So when I'm going through a wealth flow and building out a progression plan for someone, and they kind of it like a click goes ahead, and then suddenly they just give me like they give you everything. So, like, whereas they'd be quite reserved to tell you the information because they think, well, why do you need that?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I think bringing the the wealth flow tool with the visibility in the app all together, people can see what we're trying to achieve, which which probably leads me nice to the next piece, actually. I know that you use wealth flow, which is our cash flow planning tool heavily with clients.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

And I think when we were doing a lot of pension work, it was quite direct to market because you were speaking about an asset. Whereas Transactional. Transactional, which then we followed up with the holistic planning. Whereas I know that you have been focused a lot more on the GCC this year, and when you do these meetings, they're quite open. Correct. How are you using the wealth flow in in those meetings? And and what does that do for you and the client to give them the best outcomes?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I think just in terms of just this market in general, you know, as a financial advisor, it's it's a great place to be because there is a lot of opportunity and there's so many different angles that you can help someone with, whether it's general savings, whether it's reviewing assets that they've got in the UK, you know, the wills in estate planning that we've got in internally, um, plus education plan, etc. etc., which we'll go through later. But I think if we refer back to the wealth flow and having that tool there, um it really shows them the power of potentially putting away, you know, a thousand, two thousand dollars a month or putting a lump sum that they've managed to accrue, um, and then regularly topping that up on a on a quarterly or semi-annual basis, where a lot of people I feel as though they're quite reliant on, okay, I've got a gratuity, um, and you know, that's going to be my pension, but they're missing out a lot of opportunity along the way. And I always ask people the the question of about what was their motivation of of moving outside of the UK because it it it is a big step, you know, you if you if you're rebasing your whole family, you're putting your children at different skills, changing their landscape, maybe taking them away from grandparents, etc. etc. Th there has to be a purpose behind it, um, because it is it is a big step, in my opinion, in terms of a life change. So it's understanding what their motivations are, what's important to them, what are they looking to achieve, you know, what's the time frame of them being here. You know, if they come here for three years to pay off a mortgage and and then will return back to the UK. Is this their new life now? Will they be here five, ten years? So it's understanding them those personal questions to see what's important to them and then mapping out a plan, utilising the existing assets. So I typically always start with the existing assets um and then talk around their their current saving and and spending habits and seeing is there any way to put away some disposable and you don't have to always start off big, right? The the key is starting for for most people, and then once they see that it works, I typically try to bring in both both husband and wife these days if the client is married, and that's something that I've built into my business a lot more this year. So I've taken on a significant significant amount of couples in addition to previous years, and I think it just realigns the strategy and the rationale around doing certain decisions. Um, because at the end of the day, the you know, if they make financial decisions together on a joint basis, at some point you need to get them both involved. And I think the earlier that you can bring them both into the process, the stronger that relationship will will build. Um and outside of obviously the meetings, they they'll have their own discussions, right? Um, which in in turn in practice should give them the freedom and flexibility to potentially retire, you know, a few years earlier than you know, if they if they spent a little bit more, um still still allow them to enjoy the lifestyle now, but it would just be it have someone a bit more accountable.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I think the the the tools definitely do that. I think you touched on a couple of points there that that are probably worth mentioning. And gratuity in the GCC typic screw screws is okay, but it's only based on the salary part, and obviously your additional bits like your housing and stuff don't cover it. It's not technically not typically invested, so it's not growing or compounding or thing. And you're right, people move. I mean, more people are moving to Dubai now just because they want to move to Dubai, right? That that is a that is happening. But in the UK, you pay your national insurance, you generally have a company pension, you know, it's pretty much it pretty pretty much is um enforced on you. And some people build up pots of two, three, four hundred thousand pounds just because they just did it, right? You move here, you got no pension, you've got a small gratuity, lifestyle creep does happen, and I've seen this happen, you know, to people that I know and also clients over time. And you'll sit with somebody who's spending ten, fifteen thousand dollars a month on living, and then when you map out the final pictures, they'll say to me, Oh, I only need three thousand pounds a month when I retire. And you say, 'Well, you've got they go, 'yeah, but I'll be back in uh Chester or North Wales, I won't be spending the same level. I was like, 'But you're currently going out to five-star restaurants, you're going to you're flying business class, you know, that isn't going to stop. You're not going to stop going to nice places.' So that lifestyle creep actually is is the biggest danger because their lifestyle goes from here to here, yeah, but they don't invest. And that that one thing that you mentioned is starting something. Yeah. You know, as soon as people get here, that is the day they should start because there is nothing otherwise. So what I always say to clients is pay yourself, pay your tax, but pay it yourself. Stick it into an investment platform. Because if they get that compounding effect that we can show them using wealth flow, that that's the biggest thing. Because if you're here for ten years and you don't put money away, and and that you know, you're going to go back in a hell of a lot worse position because you're going to have a nicer quality of life and you're going to be further down the line without out the out the pension.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And the the other the other point on that, obviously, if there is gaps in those provisions, essentially they've only got two options either they take more aggressive risk, which nine times out of ten people aren't really comfortable to do that, or they lump in more at the at the back end, but then they're going to have to reduce their lifestyle at some point.

SPEAKER_03:

We don't get the compounding effect, do you, put in it away? I mean, I uh I had a quite big network in Abu Dhabi, and I remember when I first started there speaking to people and they're like, Oh, I don't want to speak to you, wealth manager, and then like six, seven years in, they'd come to me and be like, Oh, well, I've not really done a lot, can you help me? And you know, and then I've seen the people that have got been in Abu Dhabi 15 years, saved a little bit, but then they've sent their family back to the UK and they've gone to Saudi for five years because that's the only way they can see to make that point. But if you can using the tools, if we can illustrate to them, right, if you put this money away today and it grows over time, that compounding effect, I think it's a rule of seven, isn't it? Seven years, seven percent, and it doubles. So, you know, I I definitely use that a lot, which you know is important, and the solutions comes off the back of the the planning. So you look, you know, you currently look at the wealth flow, you go away, you analyse it, and you go, right, well, if you do this, this is what you're gonna get. But I know that you work similar to me because we spend a lot of time together, but yeah, and people forget to look at their wills, they forget to look at their insurance. I mean, that that to me is probably the most important part if you've got a family and and whatnot over here. And I tend to find when I sit with somebody and I show them their gap on insurance and I show them the gap on estate, yeah, that comes first, and then the investment side generally comes after. Is it the same for you?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I'd I would say so. Um a lot of people, you know, they don't really like talking about death and insurance, but obviously death and taxes are two things which are always current unless you're always gonna live in the Middle East, so you might not end up with the taxes, but death obviously is important, and a lot of people kick the can down the road for everything, financial advice related and or services related, because it's the easiest thing to do, you know. The the busy professionals, you know, senior execs, etc. They've got their own life to to you know work with from a professional standpoint and then outside of life. But I have found the individuals that have just been open to a conversation and understand that we can pretty much help with everything from end-to-end service from a holistic perspective. And we're not going to tackle everything on day one. Um, of course, not you know, I've had some clients where two, three years down the line working together, you know, we we've started on one thing which is important to them, then built something else, then helped with the wills, lasting powers of attorney, you know, family investment corporations back in the UK. Um, and you tick these things off because we have regular reviews, regular checkups, we you know, we read our notes prior to meeting with the client again, and we're a shoulder to lean on to a certain extent. I think the clients that have been open to having a discussion and getting advice have really thanked us from the back of it because it's a sounding board and you know it's someone to the things that are high up on the to-do list that can easily get knocked down and we bring it back up to the surface every time that we speak, and eventually, uh whether it takes one year, two year, three year, four year, we will eventually get that ticked off. And it gives them the peace of mind, especially with the rules and with the LPAs. Once it's done, it's done, right? You don't have to keep revisiting it the way that you depending on how you structure it. Um but I think peace of mind is is important.

SPEAKER_03:

That leaves me in, you know, when we um I mean let's let's let's talk about the stigma of financial planning in the GCC, right? So obviously the GCC has come on a long way over the last 15 years, you know, with the IFC, with licenses, regulations, same as the UK was back before RDR came in. And historically, the the quality of advice was wasn't the highest. Um, and a lot of the the products that would have been used a long like 10 years ago maybe were more commission paying rather than fee-based. Obviously, uh when you're speaking to clients, obviously we have to talk about that. We have a very, very good brand. We've recently got the DIFC licence, which we'll talk about in the moment. But you know, if you're speaking to people, you run through, talk to them about how we're fee based, everything is obviously itemized, they can see what they're paying for and what they get for that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Um, do you find now that you've been doing it for a few years? People are a lot more receptable now because I think the brand of financial planning in in Dubai itself is definitely getting better. Yeah. And and what's your you're doing a lot more meetings here now. So what's your feedback on that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I I do a significant amount of meetings in this region. I would say around 60-70% of my time is spent with individuals within within the GCC. And a lot of them are new individuals, but I speak with a significant amount of people that have been here five, ten, fifteen years plus, and they might have legacy products from other firms that set these up many years ago. And that's where we look underneath the bonnet and see how are these assets structured and potentially rehouse them into something which is going to be more cost-effective and in their benefit as opposed to the provider or the previous company that set this up. And then when you can open their eyes up to alternative solutions which are going to save them money, which will in turn help um grow their capital that's there, they're then open to having wider discussions. And I think because our brand is very strong and we've gone above and beyond to go and get the international licenses that we that we now have and operate, people trust us because we've we're fair people as well. Um and I think that's really where we've kind of re-engineered financial advice, I would say, in in in this region in particular, to a more fair, fee-based, transparent model. And when you do what you say you're gonna do, um it comes a long way because most of our clients, you know, they are busy professionals and you you can see through someone these days.

SPEAKER_03:

And most of our income is built on as advisors, is built on the longevity of the thing. We we most of our um earnings are in the relationship for the long term. So, you know, the good thing about that is you're not paying a huge upfront fee, and then it doesn't really matter what happens after. Yeah, yeah. If if we don't do what we say we're gonna do, well you can take that fee away. And that I think that's so important. I think I like to get that out to clients quite regularly.

SPEAKER_00:

I I explain it within the within the first five minutes of an introductory meeting. First time I meet somebody, I explain where where we're based, we're fee-based advisory, and and and that just gives them that comfort. Okay, I think ev everything's gonna be implicit in black and white. I think we probably over put in uh all the fees and transparencies compared to most companies, but that that's just the way that we've we've taken a stance in it, and I think you know, no nobody could ever become a client of ours and say it wasn't clear.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and I think the important thing there is when the company was set up, it was very much set around the UK, Cunningham International. So we did the UK practices and we use the same practices in the US, obviously like new ones with regard to compliance, but the general consensus is is UK standard or Australia standard, US standard. I mean, we're regulating all of the highest jurisdictions. So recently we took the DIFC licence, which I know is a potentially on the plan for you to move into. What do you see? Um DIFC license, obviously highly accredited license here, great up great opportunities, a lot of uh uh of of wealth in in the DIFC that's looking for um planning opportunities and advice. What do you see with that? Uh, what opportunities is that going to open for you as a financial planner as that goes on?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so there's there's there's a couple of opportunities and there's a few strength points to consider. Like from a client perspective, you know, it puts us on on the map and you know that that additional element of enhanced protection and transparency. I think for anybody dealing with us, especially you know, moving into the more higher net worth uh market, that's only going to be positive from that perspective. Um, from an advice perspective, you know, I think we'll have access to some additional solutions and products that might be available in this region or internationally, which will only enhance our client offering, um, which will in turn provide better outcomes for clients, not just in their current situation, but more so for the future situation, especially when we're doing a lot of estate planning, interest planning, and those types of you know in-depth structures for individuals that got that have substantial assets um in the UK and internationally. I think it's in turn it's just going to increase the the level of solutions that we can provide, uh, which will provide an out better outcome for both the client um and ourselves and the longevity of that relationship.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, agreed, agreed. Well, obviously, really important points there, and I wanted to say when we're speaking, because I know that that there is changes, and obviously we're not giving advice today, we're just going to talk about the opportunities and things that have changed. I want to talk really about the opportunities for people living in the GCC. So there's things that are changing, and some probably some of the biggest changes we've seen since I've been a financial planner when it comes to inheritance tax and it comes to changes around pensions. Yeah, as you were speaking to Alan the other day in in in the office, and he was saying it's funny, they've not they've not brought the inheritance tax allowance down, but they've moved pensions into it as of 2027. Pensions are going to fall into a state of inheritance tax, which has significantly moved it down because technically it's people's biggest assets, right? So, you know, we're going to talk a little bit today about about inheritance tax changes, what's happening, and and why you may want to discuss with an advisor about on a planner around what you can do.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I think I think there's two main key points that have came off the back of this if we just if we're just talking about an an individual as opposed to a corporation. So in April this year, they scrapped the domicile rule. Um it's just quite funny. I'm you know, I'm I'm still having conversations with people explaining these changes which they aren't aware of. Um but long and short, they've scrapped the domicile rule and they've brought in a residency-based test now. So it's a bit of a mouthful, but you're either classed as a long-term resident or a non-long-term resident of the UK. Um, so if we you know, for yourself and I, if we give us as examples, I've been here for eight years. I think you've been here 12, 12. So you would be classed as a non-long-term resident of the UK because you've done more than 10 of the last 20 years out of the UK. I've been here for eight, so I'd be classed as a long-term resident still. Um, and all that means is because we're going to go on the conversation of inheritance tax, for yourself, it would just be your UK assets, which would be subject to inheritance tax. For myself, it would be worldwide assets. Um, so that's quite important for a lot of people, especially if they've got property here or they've got property uh, you know, within Europe, which many people do. How are those assets structured? Are they in you know, an individual's name, or they're in a corporation, or they're in a joint name, for example. Uh, so we really look at that. So that's one of the biggest changes, and then it's how do you house the assets in the UK? Just on that, then before we move forward.

SPEAKER_03:

So it's explaining, I mean you'd explain it very well, actually. But take me, for example, I've got a property in the UK, me and my wife are co-owners of some other assets, some investment accounts or pensions or whatever else. So essentially, everything that I buy internationally would not be subject to UX UKST if anything happened to me. Obviously, I'm 39, so I don't plan anything happening at the moment, but it wouldn't be. That kind of disincentivizes me from buying another property in the UK. Yeah. Because I'm gonna buy an asset in the UK that I'm gonna pay income tax on the rental income and potentially gonna fall into my state from heritage tax unless I have to do more planning to keep it out, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Correct, yeah. Um it depends on how you structure the asset. If you know if you were gonna eventually move back to the UK at some point, then you'd end up being caught within that trap. For example, if you move back to the UK tomorrow, you know, within a few years, um you'd end up being uh long-term resident of the UK again. So it comes down to what the individual's current and future goals are, and that's why it's so important to actually have a conversation um and then potentially go to full advice depending on what your needs and circumstances are. Um and it you know, if we go back to that, if if if you were never gonna go back to the UK, you know, is there any reason to have a substantial share portfolio in the UK, for example? You know, you could quite easily rebase and rehouse those shares elsewhere that will serve the same purpose, you know, you could continue to either uh allow them to to accumulate, depending on who they're with, um just move it from uh a UK site as it somewhere else, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's it's interesting, isn't it? And obviously then the the there's the pensions as well. I mean the there are some huge planning opportunities with pensions here, and when people are over a certain age, you've been out in the country for so for so many years that there's a and it doesn't necessarily it's always means the right advice to to take your pension out and and things on those lines, but it's definitely something you should discuss.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Because you you know the pension asset is an asset that you've had tax relief on and built it up over time. You know, if you have the opportunity to potentially take that without paying tax and then use that as an income, obviously the advice is very, very important around that whether it's the right thing to do. But one of the biggest benefits of leaving it in a pension before was the fact that it was not so hard to inherit as tax. Yeah. Well now it's subject, it's kind of makes you go, well, you really should be considering that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And I think we've had a lot of inquiries recently, and I've revisited a a lot of individuals that I've spoken to, you know, two, three, four, five years ago, and I've taken quite a few of them on uh in in recent months as clients because of the the changes, and they feel as though you know that they're they're a little bit in the dark and not within the know-how, and they prefer to work with you know someone like myself or my colleagues who you know are researching this information day in and day out, you know, we deal within this market, we'll explain to them what the changes are, what the ramifications are about you know certain decisions. Um but if we t if we focus on the pension piece, you know, for for most people, their their UK pension, especially if they've been working in the UK for 20 plus years, which most have, um is their second largest asset outside of their family home. You know, for most people that we sit down with, you know, they might have pension values upwards of you know three, four, five hundred, seven figures plus. Um but let let's just give an example. Say someone's got a half a million pound pension, they've got a property worth you know a million pounds as a joint joint family home, and then they've got some other assets, you know, that's two million of assets. If they were to pass away, that pension would be obviously if there's an interspousal relationship, I think it's quite important for me to point out. So if they are married, then essentially the spouse, vice versa, would inherit the the nil rate band, which is currently£325,000 per person. It hasn't increased, as you mentioned earlier, which is which is crazy. Um to that joint household would add£650 if they're own their own family property family home, then they also got a residential nil rate band, which would increase it to a million. Anything above a million is then subject to IHC. So if the family home is a million, any assets outside of that, if we fast forward to April 27, are going to be in scope. So say both individuals pass and they've got a million of of estate value. Previously it would have just been the shares at 40%, which is 200,000 uh shares at 40%, which is 200,000. Um for sorry, five, yeah, two hundred thousand. Yeah, right. Uh and then if the the pension went into that, then that would that would go up by another another 40%. So and then if they've got tier relief as well, right? If they've got two and a half million on assets, then they'd lose they'd lose the residential number of band of.

SPEAKER_03:

That's that's a great thing as well, right? So between one million and two million, you get the additional resident rate band. Soon as you go above two million, you lose the resident pound for a pound for every two. So it's like the more you have, yeah, the the the less support you get, right? With with regards to inheritance tax. I mean, I I've probably spoken on this before, but unfortunately I lost my my my my dad quite young, and um I was a financial planner. I tried to speak to him about his planning and got the no, you've got no need to know anything about it. And then when, unfortunately, when he passed, we had a we had a tax bill to pay, which you know, and my brother and sister were 16 and 18 at the time, and it it hurts paying tax. I mean uh the two certainties of life generally I tend to find are is you're gonna pay some tax somewhere. I mean, I do live in the Middle East and it's great and there's no tax, but you are gonna pay tax. But generally, with proper planning, you can definitely minimise that. And a proper plan to me isn't just protecting it from tax, it's working out how much do you want to leave to your family and then helping you spend the rest. Because actually, the most enjoyable part of my job, which I'm just starting to get to now with a lot of clients, is telling them they can go and start spending that money. And you use the wealth flow and you model it out and say, right, you can go now. And if you want to buy that car, you can buy that car. If you want to buy that house, you can buy it. If you want to fly business class, it it's in the plan, you can do it. Because we typically we don't spend as much as we think we're going to in retirement, and we don't live as long as we say we're going to. So I get a lot of enjoyment out of that part of it. But the the tax protecting against tax that's just a conversation, you know. And what I'd always say to people is we we do conversations every day of the week, and they're no obligation. I mean, anybody listening to this that that is worried about the changes and wants to know about it, you know, contact Ravi. I'm sure you'll put a link somewhere from the back of this podcast where you can speak to him about it. And it's just about listening to what's what's available, it's uh no commitment from there.

SPEAKER_00:

So sorry, just f just following on from that that example in terms of the that individual who's got who has a half million pound um pension asset. If they were in this region, uh there is a few caveats, I think it might be Oman, but um if someone's, for example, here or or in Saudi and there's a double taxation agreement with the UK, there's a couple of ways that you can do it. Um obviously you'd have to go through the ins and outs, depending on how long someone's been here, the size of the port, etc. etc., what their future goals and objectives are. But essentially, over a course of time you could potentially look at helping them get that capital out of the UK in a tax-free structure or or getting it out and rehousing it somewhere else. Um, which if someone is a a a non-long-term resident, then you know, then they're saving themselves a couple of hundred thousand pounds there and then just off the back, and they're having more access and control to to their assets that might not be restricted as they might uh with a lot of the UK pension structures you can be. Um the other important consideration on that as well, whilst we're talking about the UK, is I've had a lot of individuals that have come to me recently where their UK advisor might not be able to support them and assist them anymore.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And you know, from my perspective, you know, if you're not planning to return back to UK or remain in or retain assets in the UK, it's quite important to have a second opinion of someone who understands the international landscape because there might be solutions which the UK counterpart might not have access to, might not be aware of, that could actually have a detrimental impact to somebody long term.

SPEAKER_03:

And I've I've met loads of people over the years that the UK advice is solid, like it's really good, but they're kind of dealing with that UK advisor from the Middle East and it's because because they trust it. But actually, they shouldn't be if they haven't got a licensed entity here. You know, they shouldn't be dealing with them, but they they seem to feel more comfortable with that. But what you find with that is that they don't talk to them about those opportunities. So the tax planning, if there is inherent tax opportunities to look at or structuring that where you can change things because one, they may not know about it, or two, they might not be in the regulated jurisdiction to do so. And that's where we we talked about the brand earlier in the regulation. I mean, we now got licenses and regulations in the UK, US, Europe. We've got two licenses, South Africa. Um, we've recently had the acquisition and the acquisition of another business in Asia, so Infinity, and we've we've took on there's three new licenses there. Australia, India, we've got a licence going through at the moment as well, and now recently the IFC. I mean it's crazy and how we've grown, and but that's because of we want to give that cross-border and a continuation of advice, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. The the the thing is and I've touched on this before, but the world, obviously, although it's a big place, it's starting to get a lot smaller, it's so easy to you know, and that you can travel freely. Um and most people work in organisations where they might move from place to place quite regularly, and there's a lot of legislation, regulation changes that do come into place of being able to give them the ability and the educational piece that you know if you move here, this is what's going to happen. If you move here, this is something to consider. A lot of people feel comfortable with that. And you know, if you look at someone's career nowadays, you know, you're looking at 40, 45 years gone at the time where someone's working for one company, you know, for 20, 30, 40 years, it just it rarely happens. Um, although, you know, I've only worked at one uh other firm prior to Hox that I don't know if I would ever move anywhere else, but might be a bit of an anomaly. But uh, you know, for most clients that you speak to, um they do typically you know swap jobs from time to time. People move countries, right?

SPEAKER_03:

I think we've got a client on the books, I don't remember whose it was, who's got a US 401k, an Australian super, a Swiss three pillar pension, and a UK pension. Yeah. So they've worked in four different jurisdictions. Yeah, they've collected four different pension assets, and as as a company we can help them with all of those together, which is quite cool actually.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the client client I just spoke to this one to be fair, he's got all three, but he hasn't got Swiss, but UK, US and Australia. Open across the board.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so I suppose that links nicely. So that's inheritance tax, there's big opportunities, things to talk about. Obviously, today we're just we're just talking about kind of the reasons why you should speak to a planet. That links me next to you. So you did your series 65 beginning of the year. Um I know when you did it, you were keen to get straight into the US assets, and I was kind of like, no, you've got too much going on with you know what you were already doing. You started to start helping people with um you know, tech I think you're dealing mainly with people that aren't in the US or people that are here that maybe have got a US asset. Why is that important? And you know, I obviously know the reason, but why is for everyone else out there, why why would they need to speak to us about that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. So I guess the opportunity in the US is you know is massive and the American dream, cliche, all that, but a lot of people do move to the US and people that moved there, um they've likely had a decent amount of experience behind them, so they're co they go into corporations and organizations where they're paid well. The pension system over there is very good, you know. The do um provide um good contributions in addition to to the to the employer contributions, it's it's matched, or sometimes they pay a lot more. The financial markets in the US typically do a lot better than most markets internationally. It's just the the way that it's been, you've got all of the main tech firms there as an example. Um the US market typically accumulates a lot faster than say the UK and Europe. So a lot of people, you know, even if they've been there for five years, they've ended up getting you know a quarter of a million dollars worth of asset that they've built up over that short period of time. They then move, for example, let's say to the UK or to to Europe, and you've got this same issue where the advisory company or even The custodian who they hold the assets within the US is then one unable to either manage the assets anymore or two unable to house the assets. So not going to name any custodians, but there's been a few where they've realized that the clients updated their address, say they moved back to the UK and they give them 60 days to roll over the asset into an another retirement solution, for example, an IRA, and if they don't, then they get there's going to be tax consequences and implications. So I think having a sounding board and a company that can help them not just where they've got assets but in their current country of uh residence and perhaps they then move to Europe, we can still provide them with solutions. The assets still re remain in the US depending on their age. Um, you know, if they're under if they're under preservation age at 59 and a half, it ha it'll have to remain there, otherwise there'll be early penalties. So we want to reduce tax implications, we want to reduce penalties, and we want to provide them with reputable, suitable providers and solutions that they typically as a retail client might not have access to.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that tends to be providers that are better at dealing with international people than currently.

SPEAKER_00:

Correct. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

They might offer currency flexibility, which again, you know, it's quite the US market's so big that a lot of these custodians they don't need to keep those clients when they move off to different different jurisdictions. So you know, that is obviously it's been a huge success point for us as a business, you know. We and it's it's not just helping with the US assets, it's the beauty of if someone's in the UK, we can help them with the US assets, we can help them with their wills and insurance, we can help them with um their their UK pensions and their ICEs and everything else. It's having that what and it it's not necessarily always one advisor, you know, and what I've seen a lot of the advisors do really well is partner up with other people that they work well with, which is obviously that that cross-border thing that we do.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, plus it goes back to what we previously spoke about one the holistic planning and two the wealth flow. Like rather than having, you know, at the end of the day, this is your retirement savings and your retirement plan that we're talking about, you know, do you want one company or one firm to be able to help things holistically, or do you want, you know, two, three people over here to help with this, two, three people over here, and it's a bit of a scatter?

SPEAKER_03:

And that's you know, like over the years when I took clients on, I've I've worked with clients that have got other advisors and I've always said to them, like, can I speak to your other advisor? And they're always a bit like, well why? And I'm like, because if I'm managing$500,000 and they're managing£500,000, it's all going to the same goal. And what we don't, we need to know what this is invested in, because if this is all invested. Yeah, because like, you know, you can't give it's like going to the doctors and saying half of your symptoms because you're telling the other doctor the other half. It it doesn't work. I can't give you a proper a proper diagnosis now that you move forward without doing that full that full plan. And that's where it it's really important that people understand that and I suppose like when you if people listen to this and want to know more, financial planning is not selling a product. Financial planning is looking at the whole journey you're trying to create, and some people it might just be one thing, but it's looking at that whole journey and then coming back with an advice report to say, Well, these are all the things that we can see you need to do. This is what it's gonna do for you longer term. Using the wealth flow, of course, this is what it looks like visually, and this is what it's gonna cost. That's what we do, right? But I think people sometimes just think of us as oh, these guys just want to sell me an investment. Sometimes I don't even do investments with clients, sometimes it might just be insurance and a will because they haven't got the money at the time to do the investments. But you know, you do a really, really good job of that explaining it with the clients and using those tools to do so.

SPEAKER_00:

I think just in terms of the the global assets as well, what one of the other things which is quite important is helping them to understand which asset do they potentially draw down from first and in what order. Yeah, that's so good. Uh because you speak to somebody that are actually in retirement and they're just drawing out of them equally just because they think that's the the right thing to do. Um you know, if you have got a large asset in the US and you're potentially concerned about estate tax in the US, for example, depending on the individual circumstances, okay, we might consider drawing that first. Uh, and then you leaving these assets which are growing, you know, without any capital gains or dividends tax or anything like that, and they might be outside of your estate, so that might be the last thing we touch. Yeah. So it's just understanding how to structure it, especially when we're dealing with you know our average client who does have you know two, three assets in two or three different jurisdictions.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, perfect. Well, I'm actually gonna have to stop there. I could sit and talk. Um, probably not the most interesting for everyone to listen to, me and you talking about advice, but I could sit and talk to you all day, and I know there's a number of other things that we we wanted to touch on today, but time is uh time is coming to an end. Um, but obviously great to speak and talk through the opportunities that are available. And I know that we're gonna be doing more of these on a monthly basis, so there'll be different things that we can drill down into. Um, and I suppose anybody that out there, I'm sure you would welcome people reaching out to you. I know you've you get a lot of referral business and and whatever else, but if anybody does listen to this and think, you know what, I could really do with a conversation, please reach out to myself directly or Ravi or one of his team or go through to the website and you can obviously uh have a conversation and they can talk you through how we can potentially help. But Ravi, it's been um it's been great watching you grow over the last few years, and obviously you've become one of our, you know, one of one of our top advisors and one of the you know people leading the way in the business. I'm really excited to see where you go for the rest of the year. I know there's a bit of work to do before the end of the year, and I know your team are probably going to be under it. But um great to have you on again and thank you. Cheers. Thanks for your time.