AWOL 2014 Issue 281 9th May | Page 9

Advertise here from only 40 baht per week cashING in The Financial Benefits of Being an Expat...benjamin franklin style Welcome to a new regular section in AWOL, concerned with the serious matter of money! Every week Helen Couldrey, a financial consultant with the deVere Group, and also a qualified English lawyer, will give you tips and ideas of how to take advantage financially of being an expat. Helen has clients in Bangkok, Hua Hin and ChaAm who she helps to maximise the financial benefits of living overseas. MONEY MONEY MONEY They say money makes the world go round, but what if you move to a different part of the world? Wherever you go, it is important to leverage the financial benefits available to you. Living in Thailand provides some excellent financial advantages, some more obvious than others, and no... we don’t mean investing in pineapple funds! COST OF LIVING With London being the most expensive city in the world, followed closely by Oslo and Geneva, Bangkok offers much more affordable living ranking at number 143. And this is just based in the capital city! Living outside of Bangkok means that you get more Phad Thai for your Baht. LOWER INCOME TAX Benjamin Franklin certainly knew what he was talking about when he coined the phrase “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes”. Whilst paying taxes on income is inevitable, the tax brackets in Thailand are significantly lower when compared with countries in the western world, meaning that more of your hard earned cash stays in your pocket, as opposed to being churned through the system. CHA-AM AND HUA HIN Retirement Planning - Education Fee Planning Regular Savings - Tax Saving Lump Sum Investments Helen Couldrey, BA (Hons), L.L.B, CISI Contact Helen for a finance review 086 088 2127 [email protected] TAX SAVINGS ON UK PENSIONS We’ve handled tax, but going back to Benjamin Franklin’s gloomy statement…, what about when the grim reaper inevitably visits? If you hold a UK based pension then it’s most likely that your spouse or beneficiary would only receive 45% of your pension if something were to happen to you. By transferring your UK pension offshore, your better half could be left everything that is in your pension pot! Offshore tax free savings Thinking of saving for retirement, children’s university fees, or just for a rainy day? Living as an expat means you are eligible for tax efficient savings plans. In most cases the tax on growth sits at an attractive 0%. And with a potential 0% tax being paid on yours savings, it is good to know that Benjamin’s Franklin’s unhappy yet valid saying can be proven wrong in some circumstances! It’s just a case of knowing that these opportunities exist, so that you can make sure your money is working harder than you are. 9 COMING SOON! Follow AWOL on Contact us NOW to get your business advertised on it Call 081 649 8361 E-mail [email protected] AWOLexpat The AWOL 2014 FIFA World Cup Wallchart Join the AWOL forum awolhuahin