Assurance Vie - where to buy?

[Pamela]

I've done quite a bit of research (mainly by searching this and other forums!) in terms of where we should put our capital when we move to France and for a number of reasons (inheritance, income planning, tax etc.) an Assurance Vie looks like the best option.  However we really need to purchase this BEFORE we become resident in France and therefore I am looking for some recommendations of where we could buy one?

I'd like to be able to compare some products, get a feel for the set-up costs etc., and also a feel for the sorts of investments that we could have within the AV e.g. could we choose to have 80% of the capital in low-risk / guaranteed returns and 20% in a higher risk investment?  If this was an ISA I was looking for I could just go to something like moneysupermarket.com and search a whole range of websites.  Is their anything similar for AVs and does anyone know of any bilingual sites?  (My French is basic - not yet up to investment terminology!) 

We really can't afford to go to one of the financial houses such as Blevins and pay for the advice (I;ve seen fees of £1000+ quoted!) - and if the information was in English I'd feel quite confident about making our own decisions.

Can anyone help?  Anyone bought one from a really helpful friendly bilingual broker that is happy working via email??

thanks again

Pamela

 

[LesLauriers]

You can go direct and have any mix of safe / risk you wish. No entry fee and .6% or .85% annual charge respectively with a set 15€ charge for changing funds. Take a look at www.boursorama.com.

[P]

Interested to see the other responses to this thread.

Although we are a little way off of making investments, we have read Blevins book (and yes Pamela the fees of the big boys seem very high). In it it states that it is beneficial to start the Assurance Vie bfore you become resident.

Attended the property show at Edgbaston the other week. Spoke to both Barclays and CA and both stated that you cannot have an Assurance Vie until you ar resident!

Paul

[Lollie]

I recently has a quote from the above mentioned brokers for a ridiculous amount of money and in there terms and conditions it states that 

Validity of Advice

 

Whilst our advice will be up-to-date in relation to the overseas published tax laws at 1^st January 2005, we may not necessarily be up-to-date with any legal cases or practice in the foreign country as this can take a while to filter down to us, whereas in relation to UK tax we are fully up-to date on these matters.

 

I wouldnt expect them to wait until it filters down for that amount!!!!

 

I spoke to a young man at CA Britline who explained Assurance Vie to me in full and you need to be resident here and tax payer I believe??   Well he said he wouldnot have had the conversation regarding these tax savings accounts if we were not but he did explain several..   They are hoping to offer these to customers once the english paperwork has been signed off by there solicitors, so maybe worth a call if only for clarification in English!!  >Of course they are already available through CA and other banks etc.

 

Lollie 

 

[aj_dr]

We took ours out before we moved here, with Siddals, yes, they did

charge but have you ever found an IFA who doesn't????? Whether you do

it through a Bank with a Financial Advisor or through a Company

somebody has to pay the commission. I was in Finance for 30 years (not

as a Financial Advisor) and if you don't pay commission then your unit

price is more.

aj

[LesLauriers]

[quote user="aj_dr"]I was in Finance for 30 years (not

as a Financial Advisor) and if you don't pay commission then your unit

price is more.

aj

[/quote]

No, this is not correct.

[chirpy]

I was given refund of fees if i took out policies after being told the company would assist in advice on financial planning taxation etc. the taxation was my main query as i did ot know much about it here.I did not have any complications /-i only had a pension and a little savings.

 

But as soon as i had passed over the cheque for the investment tghe  salesman could'nt get away quick enough . 

 

At the end of their written report  they stated they were not qualified legal practitioners and could give no guarantee in their interpretations of tax reliefs and treatment.

again without naming companies it was one of those practising in france. 

[Pamela]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Leslauriers thank you for the web site ref, I am slowly working my way through it with the help of my rudimentary French and an on-line translator!  But it has a very good explanation of the 'splits' of the funds, thanks.

There seems to be some confusion regarding whether residency is necessary to be able to buy an AV or not.  Certainly all the articles on tax planning etc. I have read (that are published in English magazines etc.) imply that you can buy one before you are resident, but I guess the proof is in the pudding - although aj_dr has obviously been successful.  Lollie thanks for the info about CA Britline - yes they might be worth calling to see if any clarification is available.

My parents have friends who run a gite in France and I am going to write to them to see if they use an english speaking French accountant or tax advisor who would be prepared to answer some of our questions on an hourly fee basis.  My quibble with the likes of Siddals / Blevins etc. is not that they charge commission on a product - as aj_dr says this is normal for a financial sale - but what I want is some financial advice about which TYPES of product (AVs or anything else) may be best suited for our situation without the requirement that I actually buy one from them.  It appears that to get this sort of advice from these sorts of companies is very expensive (£1000+) (maybe they are used to dealing with people whose capital is measured with a few more 'noughts' on the end??)  Perhaps an English speaking, French accountant would be a less expensive option.

It is also interesting that the catch all "get out" clause of "we're not qualified in this so it might not actually be true!" appears to be widespread in these firms particularly when relating to tax matters.  It may be that an IFA  in this country would give a similar sort of disclaimer regarding UK tax laws - after all they are always changing!

I will report back on any progress or interesting information I manage to glean.

thanks again

Pamela

[Payrac-man]

Hi,

I too have been looking at these products and have just recieved an info pack from www.altaprofits.com based in Paris. As I dont have any way of checking this company out, I dont expect I will invest with them however the pack contains a lot of usefull info for Non residents concerning the tax position. As my French is not upto translating these documents without some help I will have to get back to you.

Hovever the pack is easily ordered online so anyone with better French who is interested  may like to send for one and help out with the translation.

 

[Catalpa]

Just a passing comment on this - and any paid-for financial advice: I don't have an issue with paying for good advice. Our issue here (France) is always how to judge accurately whose advice is worth the fee. [8-)]