I want to go over some of my best investment platforms in 2023 for expats who want to invest.
These will be broken into certain sectors
- Advisor led investment platforms
- DIY investment platforms
- Saving plans
- Offshore bonds
This will aim to give investors insight into what they should be looking for and an outlook on the investment platform options in 2023 (at least from my perspective). As a financial advisor, i get to see lots of platforms from an advisor point of view and a DIY point of view and want to put my thoughts and opinions below.
I won’t elaborate too much on the technical side of the platforms as most of what is in 2022 is still relevant in 2023. Here is an article that explains my thoughts on 2023-
Also, I have written technical aspects on each of the platforms named below these can be found on my blogs and will link after each section.
Best Advisor Led platforms
I wanted to name 3 as I see two very similar (Novia and Praemium) and see the use of Ardan if you are looking for a beneficiary and CGT tax planning options and thought it would be worth mentioning from that aspect.
1) Praemium Morningstar-
- Cost- 0.1%-0.35%
- Dealing cost- 5 GBP
- Online System- Good and easy to use
- Regulation- FCA
- Fee based platform and only clean funds
- Negative- Alternative investment and certain funds not on the platform (this shouldn’t be an issue for most investors).
Link to technical blog: Praemium International Review 2022
2) Novia Global
- Cost 0.45%-0.1%
- Dealing cost ETFs- 5 GBP
- Online system- Great and easy to use.
- Regulation- FCA
- Fee-based and clean funds only
- Negatives – Back end system can be pretty slow.
Link to technical blog – Novia Global Review 2022 & Novia Review For Expats
3) Ardan
- Cost- 0.4%
- Dealing cost ETFs- 5 GBP
- Regulation Isle of Man
- Platform- Average as basic but does give a good breakdown on the valuation.
- Fee-based platform but trial funds and alternative assets can be used that pay advisors (to check that you are not paying too much for a fund go to Morningstar make sure its chargers are less than 1% and ask why is it in this fund over an ETF)
- Negatives- Fee-paying funds can be used.
Link to technical blogs – Ardan International Review
Best DIY Platform
IBKR:
- Cost- 0
- Trade cost – $0.0005 to $0.005 per share depending on the commission structure (volume discount available). No commission for some ETFs.
- Regulation – Singapore, Hong Kong, E.U, U.K., Australia, UAE, U.S.
- Negatives – Difficult to navigate more of a trader’s platform.
Note – Many expats can use this platform but it does depend on your location.
Best expat saving plans
None – Just go into one of the platforms above and just don’t go into these saving plans such as RL360, ITA, Hansard, Utmost etc as they are all too expensive and most don’t work in the way you hope. Any advisor “selling” these I would stay away from as they are likely to receive a commission from your investment.
Best offshore investments bonds
RL360– If used at the base cost on a 10-year charging structure which should be 0.067% and 400 GBP a year admin fee. The platform is okay and gives 10 free trades (then a whopping 40 GBP a trade after that).
Note: RL360 does allow for non-clean funds so look to only g into ETFs at the base cost (shown above) and only look at this as an option if you have $500,000 plus and a long term investment time frame and the advisor has explained the reasoning for going into this over a lower cost platform.
For more information read my offshore bond article and be very careful if anyone is recommending this. Offshore Bond Portfolio Review
Conclusion
Looking back at the best investment platforms for 2023. There are plenty out there for expats to use and more and more are coming to the market.
Please remember these are my opinions and thoughts, if you prefer a different platform or investment you are entitled to take it!
Praemium, Novia and Ardan are the ones that rank highly for me as an advisor-led platform. The reasons are because of applications, costs, investment range and platform usability.
For DIY investors IBKR is in my opinion the best out there currently for investors.
If you have any questions about investments please contact me at info@investmentsforexpats.com
