Hello,
Has anyone heard of a financial advisory called devere and partners.There is quite alot of info on the net about them but alot of it has been posted by them. Has anyone come across them or dealt with them directly.

Thanks

hello danawt1,
I am a UK expat currently living in Switzerland
I was cold called at work by a devere and partner rep.
I went along to the free consultation.
I asked the guy if he if he was a registered financial advisor, in the UK or anywhere else. He was not, though he had been on a Devere training course.
The product offered (pushed) was a Guernsey based whole term life assurance. This means regular payment plan.
The selling point was you can switch funds in the 'wrapper' as often as you like. The wrapper is 'tax efficient' as it has life assurance status.
On looking at the details in the brochure, it was apparent that it was front loaded, ie the first payments went to the company for their costs.
On a 10 year plan, this was the first 13.2 months of payments, or 11% of your capital goes directly to them. Add on a monthly policy charge, the yearly investment mangement charges and then fund mamangement charges charges, and it looks like you are paying 6 to 7% p/a in charges, although the wording is such it is difficult to tell. in any case, it is a minimum of 5%.
I tried to work out the costs return on my calculator based on £300 a month for 10 years at 9% return. When I still wasn't in credit after the first 5 years I gave up.
As you can buy funds direct yourself and pay much less, these charges kind of out weigh the perceived tax benefits.
Also there were other issues, like no reduction in the fees expected for the life of the whole policy even if you cancel, surender, reduce payments etc. Funds available were often in foreign currency, so they use a commercial exchange rate to change your money into target currency before purchasing, etc, etc.
It reminded my very much of an endowment, and the subsequent furore.
The final decision factor, as if enough bells weren't yet ringing, was that they wanted me to take ID, bank details, credit cards etc to only the second meeting to sign up to the one product offered in their rented office space (ie, a shared office facility rented by the hour, no names, no pack drill).
It looks to me that their salesmen are selling foreign financial products to expats.
There is no legal redress nor financial regulation anywhere, though granted the products are all legal and above board.
These products may be suitable for some people, but for average Joe working away from home for a few years and not trying to cheat the tax system, they may not be.

My Rules of thumb:
If you need life assurance, buy life assurance
If you need investments, buy investments
Don't mix financial products designed for one thing and sold for something else. ( ie endowment to pay off mortgage, life assurance for investment )
The biggest influence on your investing is not necessarily getting things 100% right, but avoiding costly mistakes.
Avoid front loaded products.

Oh yes, if anyone mentions QPROPS, run!

Caveat Emptor !

hello danawt1,
I am a UK expat currently living in Switzerland
I was cold called at work by a devere and partner rep.
I went along to the free consultation.
I asked the guy if he if he was a registered financial advisor, in the UK or anywhere else. He was not, though he had been on a Devere training course.
The product offered (pushed) was a Guernsey based whole term life assurance. This means regular payment plan.
The selling point was you can switch funds in the 'wrapper' as often as you like. The wrapper is 'tax efficient' as it has life assurance status.
On looking at the details in the brochure, it was apparent that it was front loaded, ie the first payments went to the company for their costs.
On a 10 year plan, this was the first 13.2 months of payments, or 11% of your capital goes directly to them. Add on a monthly policy charge, the yearly investment mangement charges and then fund mamangement charges charges, and it looks like you are paying 6 to 7% p/a in charges, although the wording is such it is difficult to tell. in any case, it is a minimum of 5%.
I tried to work out the costs return on my calculator based on £300 a month for 10 years at 9% return. When I still wasn't in credit after the first 5 years I gave up.
As you can buy funds direct yourself and pay much less, these charges kind of out weigh the perceived tax benefits.
Also there were other issues, like no reduction in the fees expected for the life of the whole policy even if you cancel, surender, reduce payments etc. Funds available were often in foreign currency, so they use a commercial exchange rate to change your money into target currency before purchasing, etc, etc.
It reminded my very much of an endowment, and the subsequent furore.
The final decision factor, as if enough bells weren't yet ringing, was that they wanted me to take ID, bank details, credit cards etc to only the second meeting to sign up to the one product offered in their rented office space (ie, a shared office facility rented by the hour, no names, no pack drill).
It looks to me that their salesmen are selling foreign financial products to expats.
There is no legal redress nor financial regulation anywhere, though granted the products are all legal and above board.
These products may be suitable for some people, but for average Joe working away from home for a few years and not trying to cheat the tax system, they may not be.

My Rules of thumb:
If you need life assurance, buy life assurance
If you need investments, buy investments
Don't mix financial products designed for one thing and sold for something else. ( ie endowment to pay off mortgage, life assurance for investment )
The biggest influence on your investing is not necessarily getting things 100% right, but avoiding costly mistakes.
Avoid front loaded products.

Oh yes, if anyone mentions QPROPS, run!

Caveat Emptor !