W

ise words from Warren Buffet, the oft-cited king of investing and like many of his quotes they are as pertinent, if not more so, today than when they were first mused upon.

With inflation pushing decade long highs fuelled by myriad reasons that have kept the headline writers in overtime over the past few years, Sovereign are astonished by the sheer amount of large cash balances being clung onto by clients right across the spectrum.

One such client, who is now fully invested, the reason for which will be apparent by the end of this paragraph, was posed a question by one of Sovereign’s investment managers as to what they would say to an opportunity to invest at 100% in the worst performing asset class historically over the past five decades. The client first responded by asking why they were being offered this by a supposed expert and then stated that “I’d be a fool to do that” to which the retort was “well that is what you are currently invested in, cash!”

There are numerous arguments as to why we should be investing now and which investment strategies are the best, far too many to cover in this article and which should not be blanketed over with a one size fits all approach.

Age, employment situation, family and dependants, risk-appetite and many more personal circumstances will dictate which choice of investment strategy best suits your individual needs. However, a more blanketed approach can be applied for which is an often-overlooked element and that is the structure holding the investment.

The structuring options, whilst numerous, are more targeted at jurisdictions and the choice is often more apparent than the investment side although this too requires careful planning and consideration.

Sovereign wealth advisors throughout their careers have witnessed more times than they should have, the unfortunate situation of an investment having achieved its purpose and achieving the desired returns only to find that the vehicle or structure employed, or not as was often the case, eroded all those gains and more.

It can be equated to building a house, you can get the world’s best interior designers to furnish your property but if the foundations weren’t laid properly or the walls start crumbling, even the luxurious Italian silk wallpaper famously adorning 10 Downing Street would not be able to cover up the cracks.

Therefore, when looking at your finances, Sovereign need to take a more holistic approach and consider not only what we are looking to achieve from the investment itself, but where and how it is structured, to continue

our analogy above; where, how and with which materials the foundations are laid before we start looking at the decoration or in this case the investments.

So, what can the Sovereign Group offer regarding these issues?

As a globally established group of companies we are well placed to offer solutions to all the above through both our Companies and Trust departments in various locations and jurisdictions across the globe as well as our in-house financial advisory firm and their network of investment managers and professional providers.

Through the various offices and departments within the Group we have seen and assisted many clients in successfully relocating to Portugal since the introduction of the Non-Habitual Residency regime (NHR). As well as having a concierge NHR application service and working closely with local professionals in the legal and real estate sectors, our in-house advisory firm have also provided many clients with solutions for their financial affairs through a various array of structures and products optimising the opportunities available in Portugal and more importantly compliant with the local legislation.

Once certain investments and products such as pensions have been withdrawn under the NHR regime it is important to have them structured in a way that protects the investments once the 10-year period has expired. This is something that we have great experience with based on the global client bank and our forward thinking and in-depth planning skills used not only with NHR Regime but other tax regimes around the globe.

With regards to the investments, we have a vast array of solutions tailored to the individual needs of our clients from turnkey, risk-weighted investment solutions to discretionary and bespoke portfolios featuring more exotic investment strategies.

If you would like to discuss your own projects and how we at the Sovereign Group can assist you in achieving your goals, please contact us at: serviceinfo@sovereigngroup.com