Offshore Banking

Offshore Banking Image If you’re thinking of upping sticks and heading abroad, or if you already own an overseas home or you perhaps regularly work abroad for your company, you may benefit substantially from an offshore bank account.

Expatriates, those who own a property abroad or people termed as having an ‘international lifestyle,’ can all potentially profit from an offshore bank account. By its very nature such an account is flexible – and when you’re living abroad or sending money back and forth between more than one country or transacting in more than one currency, then the very thing you need is flexibility from an offshore account. Common misconceptions of offshore banking include theories on hiding money, a service reserved for the rich and famous or a plan to evade or even avoid taxation!

Many of the leading high street banks offer offshore banking services to clients – so accessible is offshore banking to all. Basically offshore banking is the management of financial assets from a jurisdiction other than the one in which you live. For some people it does have very real and legitimate taxation advantages, but for the vast majority of us, it is all about simplicity of money management.

Offshore banking in its simplest form suits those who make the very most of the fact that we can travel, live and work anywhere, invest in properties overseas or different money markets and who think outside the small box that is the UK. If you want to know more about the fundamental basics and benefits of offshore banking – speak to any of the main banks such as HSBC, NatWest, Barclays or Lloyds and learn about the services they offer. This will give you a good grounding and help you see whether an offshore bank account could actually be of value to you.

An Anniversary We’d Like to Forget

Banking
Written by Charles Lewis Sizemore
Friday, 02 October 2009 10:16
By Charles Lewis Sizemore, CFA Men are notoriously bad about remembering their wedding anniversaries, but some other anniversaries are probably best forgotten. As we write this article, we have just passed the date when, one year ago, Lehman Brothers collapsed, turning a run-of-the-mill bear market and recession into a bona fide crisis—by most measures, the worst since the Great Depression. On September 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers formally filed for bankruptcy protection, setting off an unprecedented wave of volatility as the world’s financial markets ceased to function. Read more...

An expat finance guide and planning

Friday, 29 May 2009 13:46

The expat finance guide on offshore savings and planning while on the move

by James Gairdner, Managing Director, Halifax International

The idea of uprooting the family, packing your bags and possessions away and making a brand new start of it sounds like the perfect cure to beat those post winter blues. Somewhere with a more flexible lifestyle and better weather would be just the ticket. In fact, research from Halifax International shows that 4% of Britons already own a home abroad, and a further 27% have said that they are considering the option of moving or buying property overseas in the future.

Why the British Economy Needs a Fairer Currency

Tuesday, 28 July 2009 10:11

Bartercard enables account-holding businesses to exchange goods and services with each other allowing them to trade and grow without the need for cash or credit from banks

by Wayne Sharpe, Founder and Chairman of Bartercard

The UK money supply consists of cash - notes and coins - and credit, yet the ratio between the two has altered dramatically. After World War II, 53% of the UK money supply was in the form of credit – debt - issued by banks at interest. Now that figure stands at 97%. In effect, banks have a licence to print money and by making more money from credit, or debt, the financial economy has become increasingly disconnected from the real economy.

Is the American Republic Becoming a People’s Republic?

Friday, 29 May 2009 13:37

Letter from America

By Charles Sizemore, CFA
Chief Investment Officer, Sizemore Capital Management LLC

We ask the question above tongue-in-cheek, of course. Despite the occasional bout of populism, the United States remains an open economy and has, with relatively few (but notable) exceptions, held fast to the Anglo-Saxon tradition of the rule of law. While we respect the enthusiasm for low taxes and limited government exhibited by the attendees of the various “Tea Parties” that erupted across the country on April 16—the day that Americans are required to file their federal tax returns—we would like to reiterate that things are not quite as bad as they might seem. That said, the demonstrators do raise several valid points, and we believe that many of their criticisms are warranted.