Shanghai Financial Advisers

[Bullrider]

Does anyone have any recommendations for expat financial advisers in Shanghai? I know who the usual ones are that I always keep bumping into at networking, but just wondering if anyone here knows a good IFA who is willing to take the time out to work with me and not just try to sell me on some bog standard savings plan. 

[CharlesWayne]

If you make a list of topics for a financial advisor to discuss with clients in order of priority, life assurance should always be at the top. Quite simply, within the financial services arena this is the absolute beginning.

Simply put, anyone that has children or debts or shared responsibilities or virtually any type of financial commitment should have life assurance. How much they should have is another matter, but for now, let us settle on the requirement to have something in place.

Whether you or I like it, any type of financial responsibility means that someone is dependent upon us and our abilities to earn and pay. This may mean that if you die you will leave debts to your relatives, or perhaps they use your income to survive (children and a spouse or an aged parent?) or you travel extensively and it will be costly to have your body transported home.

The reason is, to a certain extent irrelevant. What matters is that if you are in such a situation and need to have life assurance cover but do not, you are now aware.

From here, it is important to understand the approximate level of cover that you need. Before I launch into this, I ought to point out that virtually everyone on earth thinks that they either need no cover or they ‘have enough’. However, the real situation is that most people need several times more life assurance than they have!

[JBHall]

The bigger your earning, the more important it is to identify your ‘free cash flow’ or excess income that you can set aside for investment. This is much harder to do in Shanghai and other major Asian capital cities because costs and charges are so different, expats’ spending habits change and many big items are covered by employers.

Financial planners calculate your ‘excess’ income which is free to be invested as:

Net salary – expenses – discretionary spending (travel, restaurants, clothing, etc)
If a plan doesn’t take into account the last part of the equation – the discretionary income that defines your lifestyle – then it is not going to be effective or long-lasting. A good planner will focus on doing everything possible to maintain your standard of living and range of activities. Be on the lookout for aggressive financial planners or advisors who intentionally pad your excess income in the hopes of boosting their commissions from the bigger investment.

The true danger here is that many people have a distorted view of their own spending. They tend to under-count their expenses –and ignore their discretionary spending all together. Early iterations of your financial plan may indicate that your excess cash-flow at the end of the month is 70% of your salary. While this may turn out to be accurate, it is more likely that you are grossly underestimating your true expenses. If you are spending over $500 every month on restaurants then you can’t calculate your food budget based on the maids supermarket budget. You have to be realistic about your habits, customs and lifestyle. If travel, restaurants, shopping, bars or anything else is a significant part of your life, then you have to count it.

One advantage to doing this kind of rigorous analysis of your own finances is that you will have better information about the amount money you can comfortably invest. A second benefit is that if you find that you are falling short of your goals and need to save more, then this is precisely the information you need to adjust your free-spending ways.

[RichardP]

Does anyone know any good fee based financial advisors in shanghai? (Not those [!@#$%^&*] guys that call and drive me crazy!) I’d never trust them with my money — they can’t even tell me where they got my phone number.

[alostlaowai]

Just now, RichardP said:

Does anyone know any good fee based financial advisors in shanghai? (Not those [!@#$%^&*] guys that call and drive me crazy!) I’d never trust them with my money — they can’t even tell me where they got my phone number.

I’ve never heard of a fee-based financial advisor in Shanghai. Certainly would be scope for one, but financial advisors have gained such a bad name from the commission-based salesmen that cold-call everyone.

[Zakx]

I have been using one for last 7 years for some part of my portfolio (offshore funds on developing markets, hedgefunds, gold etc.).

If you would be interested in ok advisor, you could pm me. I could ask him to contact you directly.
Fee based he is not.

[IFAJames]

I honestly don’t believe in this cold calling also, I think it is so unethical. If you would like to see one of the consultants here email me, and I will get you to see one that actually has passed all his exams and so knows what he is talking about. There are some here that haven’t done that.

[MichaelJ]

Just now, IFAJames said:

I honestly don’t believe in this cold calling also, I think it is so unethical. If you would like to see one of the consultants here email me, and I will get you to see one that actually has passed all his exams and so knows what he is talking about. There are some here that haven’t done that.

There is no such thing as ‘'a good financial advisor’. There are financial advisors who are more ethical and client-oriented than others. Cold calling has got nothing to do with that. That’s only a way to get new clients and says nothing about the quality of the advice or the products they are selling. Banks also only (in general) sell there own products.

You want to know how to invest? Read a basic book about the subject and pick some basic products from a dull, old reliable bank. EG Savings account, a dull bond fund and a ‘world’ stock fund.

Want to beat the market? You lose in the end, except the advisor….

[IFAJames]

Just now, MichaelJ said:

There is no such thing as ‘'a good financial advisor’. There are financial advisors who are more ethical and client-oriented than others. Cold calling has got nothing to do with that. That’s only a way to get new clients and says nothing about the quality of the advice or the products they are selling. Banks also only (in general) sell there own products.

You want to know how to invest? Read a basic book about the subject and pick some basic products from a dull, old reliable bank. EG Savings account, a dull bond fund and a ‘world’ stock fund.

Want to beat the market? You lose in the end, except the advisor….

What I do know is that there are some good products we have available, but the best thing is to sit with a few advisors, and see how you get on and see what you think is best for you.

Different consulting companies because of their size have alliances with different banks so they will all have some very good deals that you can not get your self.

So shop around and see what you feel is best for you.You can contact me if you would like to meet one of my managers and to just discuss your options available to you.

[DougJ]

@IFAJames  Go buy yourself a banner on this website if your products are so good… If they were, you wouldn’t need customers to invest would you? All banks pension funds and hedge funds would have maxed them.

Obviously they didn’t.

Makes you wonder for who exactly these products are good for. The client or the ‘ advisor/seller’

[IFAJames]

Just now, DougJ said:

@IFAJames  Go buy yourself a banner on this website if your products are so good… If they were, you wouldn’t need customers to invest would you? All banks pension funds and hedge funds would have maxed them.

Obviously they didn’t.

Makes you wonder for who exactly these products are good for. The client or the ‘ advisor/seller’

You are getting it wrong. Independent financial advisors work for the individual not the company and funds at all.

And all different pension funds use different advisors. Independent advisors search the whole market for the individual, and see what is suits them best.

Thats why the customer needs to shop around and see which suits them best.

All the advisor companies have is people who have passed the exams and so know what they are looking for and understand what is there on the market.

They can get hold of better funds and notes because of their size.

[DougJ]

Just now, IFAJames said:

You are getting it wrong. Independent financial advisors work for the individual not the company and funds at all.

And all different pension funds use different advisors. Independent advisors search the whole market for the individual, and see what is suits them best.

Thats why the customer needs to shop around and see which suits them best.

All the advisor companies have is people who have passed the exams and so know what they are looking for and understand what is there on the market.

They can get hold of better funds and notes because of their size.

I am not getting it wrong at all. ‘ independent’ financial advisors get to pick and sell the products that give them the biggest kickback. And they do!

It works that way all over he world.

[IFAJames]

@DougJ  So you must have had a bad advisor then before because in places like England, Australia and Geneva, and even Singapore to a certain extent, they are all fully regulated and you have to advise the client in their best interests. So if you do advise the client badly you can now be struck off. So really you should actually look into it before you say comments such as that.

I’m a fully qualified accountant from England, and i know what exams IFA’s have to do and how regulated it is. It is getting more and more regulated which is why the exams have now been changed in England and you now have to do the Diploma if you want to be fully recognised.

[DavidLucas]

@IFAJames 

1 – very few financial advisors are fiduciaries and are required to put the client’s interest first. Laws are usually based on ‘suitability’ which is much more liberal, and shouldn’t be misrepresented as putting the client’s interest first.

2 – “i know what exams IFA’s have to do and how regulated it is” – you’re not in the UK anymore.

Speaking of the UK, the FSA banned commission for financial advisors starting in 2012. Why do you think the UK would want to do something like that?

[IrishExpat]

I’ve met with a few guys… felt like they were used car salesman.

they tried to make me sign and do everything “quickly,” and wouldn’t explain the fees.

it’s true that the penalties for taking your money out is massive – for example, if you put in 100,000$ in a 25 year plan, and you aren’t happy with it and want to take it out after the first year – you only get back 8,000$!!

Yes, that’s not a typo… that’s saying that you are penalised 92%!!!!

If you want to take your money out at 24 years, let’s again say 100,000$…. you can get back $80,000… so only penalised 20%!

On top of that, as OP mentioned, you have these MASSIVE yearly “maintenance fees,” which they don’t want to tell you about.

Based on my calculations, with the fees included, you’ll be lucky to turn a profit even in a bull market… and if it’s a bear market, kiss your money bye bye.

I feel bad for people who get caught up in these scams – they can really **** you over.

My suggestions: scottrade… be your own financial adviser.