RetireJapan

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

I ask with some trepidation, as they currently are my advisors on a largish sum in equities in an offshore account, which in turn is managed by an outfit called Momentum, a subsidiary of a large listed South African insurer, MMI Holdings. I would invest more with them as I have idle cash in the UK, but to be honest I don't trust the set-up 100%.

On a related note, has anyone ever succeeded in opening from Japan an account with a UK fund trading platform such as AJ Bell or Charles Stanley Direct? If so, who with and how did you deal with the residency issue?

Basically, I don't want to import the UK cash to Japan as I don't plan to retire in Japan but have been having real issues down the years finding a destination for it that I was comfortable with.

Any comments or advice welcomed with open arms.

The usual questions for 'advisors':

What qualifications do you have?
How do you invest your own money?
How are you paid?
What is the total cost of this investment (all fees)?
What benchmarks do you use?
Can I invest in low-cost, passive, diversified funds?
What are my tax liabilities with this investment? Will you help me file my taxes?

Do you alreay know the answers to any of those? If you ask and they don't answer those in full, in a way that you find easy to understand, that is not a great sign.

It's very difficult to invest in the UK as a non resident.

You would be able to invest in Interactive Brokers and keep the account if you moved back to the UK.

Hopefully you are also paying into the UK state pension using the voluntary contributions from abroad scheme.

The website looks exactly like all the other predatory offshore 'advisor' firms, but the devil is going to be in the details (fees/penalty fees for early withdrawal).

Offshore via some other company generally means lots of people getting paid your money in commissions, etc.

Could you tell us why you don't trust them? Have you had a specific issue?

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?

beanhead wrote: ↑Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:13 am 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.

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.

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:23 am
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...

An example of the 'internal' costs of a managed fund below:

beanhead wrote: ↑Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:36 am

RetireJapan wrote: ↑Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:23 am
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...

An example of the 'internal' costs of a managed fund below:

global world health science.png

Brutal. Look at those benchmarks too....

You could buy URTH and VHT and basically match those benchmarks for .2% in fees.

beanhead wrote: ↑Sun Jul 18, 2021 4:36 am
An example of the 'internal' costs of a managed fund below:

Just for clarity, this was not a fund offered by APA and their funds may be completely different. Just an example of how some offshore managed funds charge.

BlueberryHill wrote: ↑Sat Jul 17, 2021 9:26 am They are a small firm of (UK oriented) financial advisors in central Tokyo, website here: https://www.ap-advisers.com/

I ask with some trepidation, as they currently are my advisors on a largish sum in equities in an offshore account, which in turn is managed by an outfit called Momentum, a subsidiary of a large listed South African insurer, MMI Holdings. I would invest more with them as I have idle cash in the UK, but to be honest I don't trust the set-up 100%.

On a related note, has anyone ever succeeded in opening from Japan an account with a UK fund trading platform such as AJ Bell or Charles Stanley Direct? If so, who with and how did you deal with the residency issue?

Basically, I don't want to import the UK cash to Japan as I don't plan to retire in Japan but have been having real issues down the years finding a destination for it that I was comfortable with.

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.