Craig McAvinue and Mark Williams from Tenzing Pacific Services explained the investment vehicles thar are available to Expats at the Wednesday, August 31, meeting of the Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC).
Craig McAvinue is a Chartered Accountant by trade with over 20 years working in finance mostly based in Jersey, Channel Islands. He has recently relocated to South East Asia where he believes the potential for growth is unlimited. From his time in Jersey, he specialized in offshore, tax efficient structuring and wealth protection using vehicles such as Jersey Trusts & Companies.
Mark has been employed in the financial services area for all his working life. For 25 years he was at Lloyds Bank in the UK working mostly with small business throughout the East Midlands. Mark is a Chartered Associate of the Institute of Financial Services and a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute and Personal Finance Society.
Craig began by saying that Tenzing is an Independent Brokerage with offices in Bangkok, Pattaya and Ho Chi Minh City. They have under management about US$50 million in the assets of two thousand clients. They were founded in 2012 and have 14 full time staff and 12 independent agents. Their services include managing investments and offering life & health insurance.
Craig and Mark focused on three types of investment vehicles, regular savings plans, lump sum savings plans, and pensions. They then explained how these types of vehicles work and the advantages of each.
Regular Savings Plans offer benefits from dollar cost averaging, retirement planning, and financial independence. You can diversify your savings through USD / EUR / GBP / AUD and they can be portable for expats who may relocate as the savings are held offshore in well-regulated, tax-friendly jurisdictions. In choosing this type of vehicle, you can decide on the amount and frequency of payment based your goals and timeframe. This is done by looking at provider options to find the correct fit and suitability. When making an application, proof of identity is required. Payment methods include using credit & debit cards as well as bank transfers.
Lump Sum Savings Plans are different as they are a one time funding. They offer better earnings then cash in the bank, can beat inflation, and grow assets and wealth in a tax efficient way. There is a wide selection of asset classes available and access to institutional share classes means lower costs. They also offer the same advantages as Regular Savings Plans through diversification, ability to take with you if you relocate, and held offshore in well regulated tax friendly jurisdictions.
Their pension service provides information and assistance on retirees with pensions. In some cases, a person may have worked for several different companies and are not sure how to locate any pension they may be entitled to. In other cases, especially the UK, there may be significant tax benefits to moving the pension to another tax jurisdiction.
Overall, Craig and Mark emphasized that no one size fits all. Thus, to determine what investment method is best will depend on each individual’s situation such as funds available, income or growth wanted, and above all the risk that they wish to take. Normally, the higher the return, the more risk that is involved.
After the presentation, MC George Wilson brought everyone up to date on upcoming events which was followed by Brian Maxey conducting the PCEC’s Open Forum where questions are asked and answered about Expat living in Thailand. For more information about the PCEC, visit their website at https://pcec.club. To view the presentation, visit the PCEC’s YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bunQ9lDO6lA.
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