Anyone had any experience with AP Advisers?

[BlueberryHill]

That could be reasonable, if the provider and fund fees are low, or extortionate, if they are high and also pay a commission to AP.

True. Educated guess is that the funds are managed rather than passive, so there is already a fee charged by whoever manages them. Then the AP charge is on top for their advice/consulting. Just my guess, of course...

Educated guess is only partly correct. They offer a range of Vanguard mutual funds off the UK Vanguard website, as well as c50 ETFs, mainly from BlackRock and State Street. More than enough for anyone's needs. They also offer hundreds of "me-too" active funds from the likes of Fidelity and JP Morgan and Janus Henderson, blah blah, but they are easily pushed to one side.

[Kanto]

What FEES DO AP ADVISERS LTD CHARGE?

We usually charge between 0.25%-1.00% per annum, depending on the size of a client's portfolio. We align this fee to the account value meaning we are motivated to see your money grow. This aims to create a mutually beneficial client-adviser relationship. You will also pay fees to the provider of your investment account and underlying assets, which vary between them.

My first question would be, what is this charge for...what do I get for it?

Three things, I suppose - access to some unusually well managed active funds (yes, there may be a handful out there), a potentially advantageous tax position (the details of which I won't go into here), and somewhere to put funds in the UK (well a dependency of the UK) without bringing them into Japan.

What is their history when it comes to beating the index net fees?

1% is indeed a lot. Especially if they cannot beat the index. Then you are paying for underperformance.

[beanhead]

Educated guess is only partly correct. They offer a range of Vanguard mutual funds off the UK Vanguard website, as well as c50 ETFs, mainly from BlackRock and State Street. More than enough for anyone's needs. They also offer hundreds of "me-too" active funds from the likes of Fidelity and JP Morgan and Janus Henderson, blah blah, but they are easily pushed to one side.

Fair enough. If you want to invest via the UK then this option may be sensible. You also mentioned that you work in financial services, so you have restrictions that most others on this forum do not have. For most people here, planning to retire in Japan, using a Japanese broker, maximizing tax-advantaged accounts etc etc will be easier and incur less fees than working with an investment adviser. (usual caveats about Americans also apply).

One other point. If you plan to go back to the UK, Ben's advice about the UK National Insurance is worth considering. Japan and the UK both allow people to receive more than one pension, so voluntarily paying into the UK pension at those low overseas rates probably makes sense for you.Then collect your kosei nenkin and your UK pension.

[BlueberryHill]

They are a small firm of (UK oriented) financial advisors in central Tokyo, website here: https://www.ap-advisers.com/

Any comments or advice welcomed with open arms.

I was with them for about 10 years up until 2019. At that time everything was going through Generalli - an Italian fund manager. I think they were honest, I cashed in the fund once I got my 10 year bonus, even though I had signed a contract for 15 years. I got all my money back, the funds hadn't done very well. I had been paying for the funds in Yen and I cashed them in and got it sent back to the UK from Hong Kong at a good exchange rate 130 yen to the pound- which was my only bonus. It enabled me to put a deposit down on a flat in the UK. I stopped paying for them once I found out more about investing through Retire Japan.

They used to do a lot of sales at ETJ and JALT events. There was a guy called Nick, who persuaded me to start, it seems he has headed back to the UK and is working with the Nationwide Building Society now, it was then taken over by a guy called Clive, who seems to have disappeared and the present guy on the webpage is quite active/ admin on British Expats Facebook page. Sometimes I can see him soliciting from Facebook British expats about investments and life insurance.

On a side note, but kind of related; do not bring any of these funds that are held offshore into Japan, especially if it is a large amount you'll get the Japanese tax office asking questions and sniffing around.

Belated thanks for this. The sales at ETJ and JALT events rings true, but I have never heard of them offering Generali funds nor of "Nick" or "Clive", which surprises me as I have been to their office on a couple of occasions. Was there an admin manager called Marc?

On a separate but related note, why didn't the Generali funds do very well over the course of a decade of solidly rising markets? What was in them, I am intrigued. A lot of the European asset managers don't have very good reputations. And how were the fees?

[BlueberryHill]

I went in for a meeting about a year ago with them. I was still at the "throwing round ideas" stage of how to manage my finances for the future. We talked for nearly 2 hours about the mortgage application process in Japan and investments. I came away with lots of good information. Our meeting was a few months into the pandemic so he advised me to wait for my income to settle down a bit (I'm self-employed) before even thinking of investing with him, so I didn't receive any pressure at all.

If you go in with a list of questions like I did, it could be a useful information session. As for whether it's advisable to invest with them or not, I can't answer that as I started iDeCo instead.

Thank you very much for the feedback, Gareth, interesting to hear.

[BlueberryHill]

On a side note, but kind of related; do not bring any of these funds that are held offshore into Japan, especially if it is a large amount you'll get the Japanese tax office asking questions and sniffing around.

If you have been here for more than 5 years, if you sell one of these funds and make a profit, even if that money never comes to Japan, aren't you liable for tax on the gains? (or is that only if you have overseas assets of 50M JPY or more?)

Yes, I think you do. I was in a virtually identical situation as Wales4rugbyWC (everything but the advisor was the same - Generali, cashed in after 10 years bonus on a 15 year policy, funds sent to UK, bought a flat!) but had to (I think) declare my gains here in Japan. That's why, as far as I can see, a lot of these off-shore funds that claim to be tax-advantaged, really aren't.

It was made pretty clear in both the literature I received prior to making an initial investment and also orally that the tax advantage was only to be had if you were no longer considered a resident of Japan for tax purposes. Thank you though for the feedback, everyone's stories are interesting to hear.

[BlueberryHill]

Just a suggestion. How about asking AP Advisers if they would like to respond to the comments made here?
At least it would give them a chance to defend their position.

Thank you for the tip, Stuart, I will give it some thought.

[BlueberryHill]

Now why would on earth I want to pay into the UK state pension? I have a fine kokumin + kosei nenkin heading my way.

Through what seems like an unforeseen loophole, paying in voluntarily from abroad is incredibly cheap, and you get a UK state pension at the end of it

Thank you for that, Ben. Any websites you could recommend to learn more about this magic loophole?

[RetireJapan]

Thank you for that, Ben. Any websites you could recommend to learn more about this magic loophole?

Well, you can start here: https://www.retirejapan.com/blog/uk-state-pensions-6/

The earlier posts have more of the basic information.

[TJKansai]

Belated thanks for this. The sales at ETJ and JALT events rings true, but I have never heard of them offering Generali funds nor of "Nick" or "Clive", which surprises me as I have been to their office on a couple of occasions. Was there an admin manager called Marc?

On a separate but related note, why didn't the Generali funds do very well over the course of a decade of solidly rising markets? What was in them, I am intrigued. A lot of the European asset managers don't have very good reputations. And how were the fees?

I joined up with them a long time ago, putting it in my wife's name. They have gone through a few iterations, from Towry Law to IFG to AP. They use to have events at posh hotels which was nice, but those stopped after Towry.

The advisor Tony has been there the whole time.

I got into it to have some hedge/non-standard exposure, but there have been a few bad calls: A Russian fund before it was suspended, a Madoff-linked fund that got burned, a UK fund investing in student accommodation that got suspended. All those didn't add up to big losses though. I almost bought some property in NZ but backed out. Turned out one project never did get going, and the other now has units selling for less than the original prices.

Overall up 50%, but that is over 20 years, so nothing exceptional.

I was under the impression that if my wife is out of Japan for a year or so she can sell it during that period and avoid capital gains in Japan, but perhaps I am wrong on that?