Financial Advisor

CassM is posting the same message on the Doha forum by resurrecting an old thread. Be very careful. Perhaps this person is legitimate, but it looks funny on the surface.

Holborn cold calls me the same frustrating way, they send me emails with untrue allegations of what the horrid UAE government will do with my children if my husband dies, unless I immediately pay them to write my will, etc. I've had those too, also via email so rude and condescending - make me so upset :( Then the guy from HA who has started stalking me on linked in, by starting a so called expat networking group to basically try and sell you products! err SPAM delete!

Cassm12.... Every company in dubai are licensed by ministry of economy... Even the non-finance ones.... Otherwise, on this forum posters are often positive about Holborn. I guess some of you work there! I have no better experience with them than with pic, deverre and the rest of the financial salesman army. Holborn cold calls me the same frustrating way, they send me emails with untrue allegations of what the horrid UAE government will do with my children if my husband dies, unless I immediately pay them to write my will, etc. As driftwood says... Ask yourself why you need a policy, why you need a pension. Think of other investments, like property, business, gold, art. Check directly with your banks, what portfolios they offer. <em>edited by dentro on 27/04/2015</em>

Gee CassM1206 could you be anymore obvious!

Continental International Services are licensed by the Central Bank of UAE and the UAE Ministry of Economy, and offer a personal and tailor-made solution to protect expats finances and wellbeing. -School & University Fee planning -Retirement Planning -Pension Transfers -Insurance -Investments -Portfolio Management -Documented Will or Estate Planning under Sharia Law -General free and impartial financial support from experienced and qualified advisors I can personally recommend Hiren Naker as a committed and professional individual who puts his heart and soul into all he does. He is honest, hard working and knowledgeable. It was a breath of fresh air to meet somone so passionate and personal, and I was extremely impressed with his market knowledge, financial 'creativity', and super-professional logical advice. He made some key changes in my financial direction - which have turned out to be extremely benefitting for me and my family. I would definitely recommend Hiren to anyone who needs good and sound financial advice - with an extremely pleasant and personable demeanor. He can be contacted on 0557126997 or 0557441088

Already been cold called twice. Alarm bells ringing.

Can't access your link Charlie 25

Glad to hear that, our guy seems good too and is quite senior & high up, not a young sales person. Don't suppose you use the Zurich Vista plan with them? We signed up, keep hoping it will pay off & we haven't been taken advantage of. I do understand they have to get their commission but hopefully there is not a lot of other hidden charges we don't know about and only find out at the very end.....ours is a 25 year plan... Does anyone have any experience with DeVerres? I can only say good things about our guy, but everyone else on here will just put them down. I think it depends on who you're working with.

Does anyone have any experience with DeVerres? I can only say good things about our guy, but everyone else on here will just put them down. I think it depends on who you're working with.

Does anyone have any experience with DeVerres?

Can't agree more with posts below, they are the only ones who make money, once signed up you never hear from them again, majority are salesmen! Not financial advisors. Don't give them any more of your hard earned cash. We had a policy that had to make over 10 per cent before we would see anything......why ...... All there hidden charges and fingers in the pie, then they say let's switch your funds, yer course they earn out if it again, the client never wins!

Also, check if they are regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority? Very, very few are. These people are always immaculately dressed, polite, make a good presentation and know the product hey are pushing inside out. It's the only way they can compensate for their lack of qualifications. And, you will seldom hear from them again once you have signed up......THEY WILL NOT ADVISE YOU TO DROP A PARTICULAR FUND OR PICK UP ANOTHER DFSA only regulate firms companies in DIFC. Companies outside of DIFC are regulated by UAE insurance authority for all insurance based products and SCA for investment based products, check that any firm you use has these 2 licences.

Keren at Holborn Asset is well respected and also columnist in the National. Mike Small at VSM has a wealth of experience but he is unregistered and does not have access to funds if that is what you are looking for, but has contacts who do. He gives good advice and good at putting your finances in order. Meet them to discuss. No hard sell from either.

I met a person who had been recruited by ****** ... he had no education to speak of, no experience in finance at all and his last job had been as a trainer at fitness first. Needless to say, would never invest with ******.

Also, check if they are regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority? Very, very few are. These people are always immaculately dressed, polite, make a good presentation and know the product hey are pushing inside out. It's the only way they can compensate for their lack of qualifications. And, you will seldom hear from them again once you have signed up......THEY WILL NOT ADVISE YOU TO DROP A PARTICULAR FUND OR PICK UP ANOTHER

The term "Financial Adviser" is wrong.......in reality they are "Financial Salesmen". Here is my advice: CHECK THE FEES.....I was offered a product from Zurich with a 4% "expense recoupment charge". It was not explained that this is 4% of your total contributions over the entire term of the policy which is paid to the adviser up front by Zurich for selling the policy.....they would have scooped $20,000 from me for a 20 year policy. Take your monthly contribution, multiply by 12 months, multiply again by the number of years then divide by 100% and finally multiply by there fee. This gives the cost to you. This same policy had an annual management fee ranging from 0.75% to 1.5% which went to the fund manager depending on the fund that I chose and a further 0.75% annual annual management charge. It does not sound like much but, when added up, means that your fund has to grow by 5.5 to 6% per annum simply to break even. Any further growth will be yours. I recon you will be lucky to get 6% over the long term which means that there will be nothing left for you. SO CUT OUT THE MIDDLE MAN AND CHECK THE FEES Ask yourself why you need any policy. They are expensive. Why not simply by a form of index linked tracker fund? Ask yourself why you need a pension as opposed to savings. The reason I had a pension in the uk was because the government does not tax pension contributions......I paid for it myself and because I had already paid 40% of my salary in income tax! the tax man paid / refunded 40 pence into my pension for every pound that I put in. So it made sense as opposed to buying shares which would not be tax fee. They will not give you a list of products so just ask yourself what else will suit your needs. Check what financial qualifications they have......I bet they have absolutely nil......one of my friends became an advisor.....he was a school drop out with the gift of the gab.....legally he had to appoint directors so he used a friend who was also a drop out and house husband. They were nice guys but didn't have any school qualifications or financial qualifications whatsoever. SO HOW CAN THEY ADVISE? Hope that helps!

We use:- Neil Grant MLIA (dip) FPC Executive Director Prosperity Offshore Investment Consultants Tel: +971 (0) 4 454 2531 Mobile: +971 50 735 1966 Website: www.prosperity-uae.com

another support for Paul Jenkinson at Global eye pjenkinson at globaleye dot com

Speak to Paul hes British and featured on this site under 'Finance' http://www.expatwoman.com/dubai/monthly_Finance_GlobalEye_Financial_Advice_Paul_Jenkinson_10618.aspx

Holburn Assets has British financial advisers. Have not used them regularly but have heard good things.

I can, but if I mention the company on here it will just start a string of complaints. If you would like to let me have your email address I'll happily put you in touch with him.