Investors Trust

[TonyKaku]

Dear RJ hive minds!

My investment advisor is, um... advising me to invest a US$50,000 lump sum into an Investors Trust Access product. Other Investors Trust products, such as https://www.investors-trust.com/product ... evolution/, have been mentioned in previous threads (Re: Advice sought on funds invested outside Japan by Japanese national and Re: Offshore vs Onshore Investment), but are these Access products worth considering? https://www.investors-trust.com/product ... portfolio/ I am a Kiwi, and hope to retire in Japan. Would I be better off sending the $50K back to Japan, paying the 20% tax on $10K, and opening an iDeCo and NiSA account instead? Would very much appreciate your advice.

TK

[beanhead]

My investment advisor is, um... advising me to invest a US$50,000 lump sum into an Investors Trust Access product.

What could his/her motivation possibly be for that advice?

Also, regarding paying the tax on the gain, if you are a permanent resident here for tax reasons (been here for more than 5 years), you are liable for this, even without bringing the money into Japan...

[mighty58]

You would be better off dumping your "investment advisor" and retaining the services of a fee-only fiduciary financial planner that is knowledgable in cross-border issues, who will actually listen to your goals and then provide real advice on where to put your money.
Any joker that has a product charging 2.0% to invest in the SP500 while locking you in for 10 years is a nothing but a rip-off artist. The fact that he is recommending this to you should have you running for the hills.

[TonyKaku]

Also, regarding paying the tax on the gain, if you are a permanent resident here for tax reasons (been here for more than 5 years), you are liable for this, even without bringing the money into Japan...

Thanks, beanhead. I was not sure about this.

[TonyKaku]

You would be better off dumping your "investment advisor" and retaining the services of a fee-only fiduciary financial planner that is knowledgable in cross-border issues, who will actually listen to your goals and then provide real advice on where to put your money.
Any joker that has a product charging 2.0% to invest in the SP500 while locking you in for 10 years is a nothing but a rip-off artist. The fact that he is recommending this to you should have you running for the hills.

Thanks, Mighty. Can you recommend a good fee-only fiduciary financial planner that's knowledgeable in cross-border issues?
To be precise, he didn't recommend the S&P500 product, he recommended (and I was asking about) their Access products – Still no good?

[Beaglehound]

You would be better off dumping your "investment advisor" and retaining the services of a fee-only fiduciary financial planner that is knowledgable in cross-border issues, who will actually listen to your goals and then provide real advice on where to put your money.
Any joker that has a product charging 2.0% to invest in the SP500 while locking you in for 10 years is a nothing but a rip-off artist. The fact that he is recommending this to you should have you running for the hills.

Thanks, Mighty. Can you recommend a good fee-only fiduciary financial planner that's knowledgeable in cross-border issues?
To be precise, he didn't recommend the S&P500 product, he recommended (and I was asking about) their Access products – Still no good?

The fees are high. If you are a permanent resident for tax purposes here and planning to stick around, there doesn’t seem to be any benefit in not bringing the money over here and investing in tax-advantaged products at a fraction of the cost.

[mighty58]

Thanks, Mighty. Can you recommend a good fee-only fiduciary financial planner that's knowledgeable in cross-border issues?
To be precise, he didn't recommend the S&P500 product, he recommended (and I was asking about) their Access products – Still no good?

Apologies for the rant on the SP500 product, I got a bit riled up reading their site. Do NOT buy any of them, or be sucked in by their worthless "guarantees", which might sound good on the surface but just allow them to justify taking more of a cut from you. Investing in an index fund (on your own) for the long-term will, in and of itself, be your guarantee.

But choosing the investment is really the easy part, you'll need an advisor to advise you properly on the cross-border tax issues. As you're a Kiwi, and sound like you're there now, you'll want somebody well-versed in NZ cross-border issues. I don't know any specifically but you can start by doing a Google search for CEFEX-certified planners and then go from there.

[TonyKaku]

Thanks for your input Beaglehound and Mighty58! Very kind of you to respond. Will act on your advice.