Expat Wealth Management [How to Start]
As an expat, many of the standard wealth management services in your home country may not be available to you or optimized for your needs.
Luckily, whether you’re looking to plan for retirement or simply invest, there are a number of international alternatives available to you.
The best expat wealth management option for you depends on what specifically you’re looking for and the assets you have to invest.
Luckily, there’s something for everyone. So read on in this article for the best jurisdictions for expat wealth management and everything you need to know to access them.
Expat Wealth Management
Expat wealth management can offer unique benefits for those living abroad. To unlock these benefits, you need to determine where you meet the asset requirements. Read on for the top jurisdictions for expat wealth management by investment amount.
In fact, here’s everything we’ll cover in this article…
Table of Contents:
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Who is Expat Wealth Management For?
Before we jump into who expat wealth management is for, let’s specify who is considered as an expat.
What Is an Expat?
By expats we are referring to individuals that reside outside of their country of citizenship. This applies whether you have relocated for work, have retired abroad, or travel regularly.
Regardless of why you are an expat, the one thing all expats have in common is that they move (or have moved). This is what makes wealth management and banking such a challenge for expats because you have to rethink where and how to manage your accounts and investments.
In an attempt to resolve these challenges for prospective clients, some international (and traditional) wealth management providers offer expat wealth management solutions. These are tailored solutions that allow expats to open (and keep open) bank accounts and wealth management relationships in a third country, outside of their country of citizenship, and outside of the country where they temporarily live.
Doing this, you no longer need to restart your banking and wealth management relationships every time you move. Instead, you can maintain consistent banking relationships and significantly reduce the headaches related to managing your finances.
This is an ideal solution if you can afford it. Below we’ll go into more detail on how you can access these solutions.
Who Shouldn’t Be Using Wealth Management?
Note, however, that wealth management isn’t for everyone. In order to be a candidate for wealth management services, you must have significant savings to invest. And, be able to meet a minimum deposit level of at least $100,000.
Of course, each bank, branch, and even banker that offer wealth management solutions has different qualifications when it comes to accepting expat clients.
If you can’t meet the $100,000 deposit threshold, you may still be able to access some expat wealth management solutions. Just keep in mind that you probably won’t be able to unlock all services. But it may still be worth your while in some cases.
With this in mind, let’s look at which expats can benefit from wealth management.
Which Expats can Benefit From Wealth Management?
How do you know if expat wealth management is for you?
Here’s a look at the specific kinds of expats that stand to benefit from wealth management.
- Expats requiring private banking services
- Expats interested in investing in products offered by the bank
- Non-resident Expats in need of financial planning
- Individuals planning to permanently relocate for retirement purposes
- Expats wanting help to build a savings strategy while living abroad
- Expats that can meet larger deposit levels
Note that even if you fall into one of these expat groups, that alone is not a guarantee that you will be able to access all expat wealth management services.
Let’s look at where you can access expat wealth management according to your client profile.
Where to Access Expat Wealth Management
Depending on your client profile, banking needs, and where you’re residing, the expat wealth management options available to you can (and will) vary.
To get started, we’ve broken down the top expat wealth management options into three categories. These categories are based on the minimum deposit levels.
Countries with Low-Cost Expat Wealth Management
Many people believe that expat wealth management caters to only high-level professionals and wealthy individuals with higher deposit levels.
And, while that is mostly true, some countries offer expat wealth management with a lower deposit requirement.
You can find these options through international banks with offices in the Crown Dependencies, including:
Each of these three banking jurisdictions have a lot of experience working with expats. This means, that banks here understand common expat challenges, such as international relocation, and they have experience working with clients interested in opening accounts outside of their country of origin.
In addition, these countries are excellent options for expats looking to open a third-country account with access to multi-currency accounts.
Best of all, you can open accounts with a much lower deposit than you’ll find in other jurisdictions.
In fact, you can access expat wealth management in the Crown Dependencies with an initial deposit between US $5,000 to $100,000.
Of course, the deposit level the bank asks for depends significantly on which particular bank and banker you approach.
Now, before you jump into picking the bank you want to open an account with, let’s look at the next category…
New Expat Wealth Management Options
Naturally, when looking for expat wealth management options, you want to find ones that have the lowest fees, best service, fewest headaches, and most attractive expat wealth management offerings.
If you can afford a slightly higher deposit, then your best options will likely be in one of the following two popular banking hubs:
With 90% of Dubai residents being expats, it’s no surprise that Dubai is a popular expat banking hub.
What Singapore and Dubai have in common is they are both extremely well-managed banking jurisdictions. And they have excellent international reputations for accepting not only expat clients, but also non-resident individuals, and foreign businesses.
To access expat wealth management options in either of these banking hubs, you will be required to make a deposit in the range of US $100,000 to $250,000.
By doing so, you will be able to unlock a number of unique private banking services and low-cost products and solutions.
Now, if you’re able to support an even higher deposit, you may want to consider accessing expat wealth management services in one of the most elite jurisdictions.
Traditional Expat Wealth Management
If you’re looking for more traditional private banking experiences and can support a deposit between US $1mm to $5mm, your best move would be to consider one of the following three banking jurisdictions:
Yes, it may be expensive to access expat wealth management in these countries. But, if you can get in, it’s more than worth it. Here you’ll find exceptional banking services that you can’t access anywhere else in the world.
From financial planning, tax services, estate planning, retirement planning, and managing investments, to so much more.
If you’re looking for high quality experienced wealth management advisors and you can support the initial deposit amount, then one of these banking jurisdictions may be the right option for you.
Of course, whatever option you do choose, you first need to ensure you can open a bank account as an expat. So, if you’re ready to get started on opening an expat bank account abroad, here’s how…
Ready to Start Opening Accounts?
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