Guide to Midi-Pyrenees Feature : French Financial advice from Rob Hesketh

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Welcome to France-Financial's new regular slot in the Guide2MidiPyrenees.  My name is Rob Hesketh and I will be using this regular feature to highlight matters of financial interest to the expatriate community and anyone who aspires to membership of that elite group.

Introductions

Perhaps I should start with a quick introduction of the Spectrum IFA Group.  We are in fact the largest financial advice group servicing the English speaking community in France, yet we are the ones you have never heard of.  That has a lot to do with the fact that we don't think our clients should be paying for a large advertising budget.  In fact we don't charge our clients anything at all for our services.

Our way of working

Another thing we believe in strongly is that scaring people isn't a very nice way to do business.  If I started talking about the certainty that sterling will fall below one euro to the pound and stay there, I might well stir up some business for foreign currency companies and euro investment houses, but I wouldn't be very popular in a year's time when the rate was back up to 1.3000 (please!).  Similarly, I feel that thinly veiled threats that the French tax inspector may come knocking on your door in the middle of the night asking about your Cayman Islands offshore bond are completely unacceptable. That is only one step away from saying that I will have to report you unless you 'regularise' your investment into the French tax system by investing through me.  That is not just a lie, it is blackmail, but it has happened.  Any of this ringing bells anywhere?

What we offer

What you will get with Spectrum and France-Financial is solid, no nonsense advice on a range of topics that you need help with.  That may be investments or mortgages, but it may just as easily be worries about how your UK pension is being stretched, or whether or not you will be liable to Capital Gains tax on your home here or in the UK.  There may be some situations where we feel that more help is needed and where this is the case we can introduce you to specialists such as English speaking avocats or tax accountants.

The thorny question of Inheritance

Much of this first article has been taken up by me introducing us to you.  I think it's about time we looked at a specific example of where we may be able to help you.  Inheritance is an issue that causes great concern for many of us.  We are used to the idea that when the husband dies (men first is the accepted etiquette here), his wife shall inherit his stately pile and all that goes with it and when she dies the kids can have their bit, along with the Cat Protection League or BDH.

The French, due largely to the somewhat burgeoning influence of a certain monsieur N. Bonaparte, think that the kids come first (and second and third) and the wife can have a bit left over at the end if the husband remembers to mention it.  Now some people actually like and approve of this, but my view is that some people like going round with great big cowbell rings hanging from their noses - each to their own, but that's not for me thank you.  And guess what happens if you've had such an interesting lifestyle that you arrive in France with two or three previous marriages between you?

Chaos is the answer, unless you choose to stick your head in the sand and ignore it.  The result is still chaos, but you're no longer there to care about it.  With a bit of financial planning, however, a lot of pain, angst and tax can be avoided.  A mixture of a change of marriage regime; maybe a special house purchase clause and suitable tax efficient investment of capital and suddenly the financial horizon looks clear and you can die in peace.

Not too soon please.  Give yourself a few decades to enjoy what you came here for.

Financial advice from Rob Hesketh and the Spectrum Group.

Rob Hesketh

Rob moved to France in 2003 after working for 30 years in International Banking in the City of London and Brussels.  He joined the Spectrum IFA Group in 2005 and became registered and authorised by the French fiscal authorities in mid 2006.  He is now a partner in Spectrum and looks after client relationships in the South West of France. 

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