Secure Wealth Management - Anybody use ?

[YorkshireTyke]

I was given some info on a company called SWM, Secure Wealth Management.

 

https://securewm.com/

 

Anybody use them or got any information on them ?

 

As an Expat with no UK address it looks as though I can invest with them. I can't use the likes of Hargreaves Landsdown as I don't have a UK address.

 

Any info appreciated.

[wordchild]

from a quick flick through the website I would suggest you exercise caution.

They are not , it seems , a full service broker-dealer with Global access but rather a provider of a limited range of  ETF portfolios. These seem to be targeted at intermediaries/financial advisers with whom they will share commission (earned from your portfolio)

 No doubt these ETF,s  are constructed  using their well researched and proprietary data bases! 

These may or may not be worthwhile investments , however ,I  personally wouldn't touch them with an extendable barge pole.

As has been discussed on this forum before , there are still some UK brokers who will take on non UK based customers, (eg i think Charles Stanley still do). There is also Internaxx , or Swissquote , as i believe they are now called,  who are Luxembourg based and offer a full (Global)  trading service. There are  also a number of HK and Singapore banks/brokers which might be worth a look at. There are even an increasing number of Thai brokers who offer International investment access.

This no UK address thing is not the problem some people make it out to be; as long as you do have an actual, provable address somewhere.

 

  

Edited November 18, 2020 by wordchild

[Oxx]

Based upon their "Private Investor Page":

 

One red flag for me is their statement "90 years of combined experience".  It's a common trick for inexperienced organisations.  It could be 90 people each with one years' experience, or 45 people each with one years' experience in two different areas, so double counting.  In other words, it's meaningless marketspiel.

 

They state "0.23% average cost of ETFs used", but fail to mention how much they charge annually on top for their advice.

 

There is absolutely nothing their about regulation or investor protection.  (Elsewhere they mention being a member of the Swiss Association of Asset Managers, but that's a club, not a regulator.)

 

As for "Green investment portfolios using ETFs" that's very much a niche area and is unlikely to be the best option for most individuals.

 

"5 available ETF portfolios" means that the portfolios must be very generic and are in no way tailored to an investor's individual circumstances.  (Some of the portfolios also speculate in Bitcoin, which is, to put it mildly, unorthodox for an offering of this type.)

 

Anyway, the first question for the OP is whether he/she needs advice or not. 

 

If not, then the OP could open an offshore brokerage account.  Pretty much any brokerage (Interactive Brokers, Saxo, Internaxx &c.) offer access to major equity markets around the globe allowing one to buy individual equities, ETFs, investment trusts.  AFAIK, only Internaxx (Luxembourg) offers access to a meaningful range of mutual funds for non-US citizens.

 

If yes, the OP could still open such an account and then create a portfolio based upon one of the model ETF portfolios published by a UK (or other) broker (for example, Interactive Investor's Low Cost Growth portfolio https://www.ii.co.uk/model-portfolios#low-cost-growth .) It wouldn't be personalised, but would probably do the job as well as SWM's offerings and at lower cost.

 

 

[YorkshireTyke]

Here's the thing, I know nothing about shares and investing, I don't know what an ETF portfolio is !

 

I do have cash due to working overseas and redundancy pay and savings. 

 

For the last 15 years or so up to a couple of years ago I just invested in fixed rate bonds with offshore banks, paying 3-5%, for a term of 2-5 years. I was happy with that. average 3%+ and safe and secure. No more than 50k in each so covered by the compensation scheme.

 

Problem now of course they only pay around 1%. That's why I've looked elsewhere in the last few years looking for low risk, low returns.

 

A couple of months ago I put some cash into Fundsmith which I can invest direct in with no need of an FA or UK address, that is doing well but I don't want to put all of my cash into one place.

 

This is why the SWM looked attractive to me, they have a fixed bond investment and the others are ranked by risk. I don't know the charges, I could ask as I have the contact details of one of their BKK based advisors.

 

Their minimum investment though is a bit on the high side at 100,000 USD.

 

Quote from their FA on the fixed term ETF:

 

Our Fixed Income portfolio has returned 4.94% year-to-date. It's been running over 5 years now with an annualised return of 2.85% net of fees. The annualised volatility since inception is 4.04%

 

 

[Oxx]

19 minutes ago, YorkshireTyke said:

Here's the thing, I know nothing about shares and investing

 

That's a dangerous situation to be in.  You could easily become a victim of the many rogue financial advisers out there.  Before you invest in anything it's imperative that you understand what it is.

 

Looking at the fact sheet for SWM's bond ETF, there are a few things that scream out to me:

 

(1) There is no reference to what currency performance is being measured in.  (It makes an enormous difference.)

 

(2) The management fee may be up to 1.5% (currently 0.7%).  This is outrageously high for simply picking a handful of bond ETFs.

 

(3) The current yield is 1.7%/year.  That's paltry, and given that the fund lost 2.4% back in March is not adequate compensation for the risk being taken.

 

(4) The chart comparing fund performance against a benchmark ... well, it's not using a proper, independent benchmark, but something of their own construction (they call it "SWM Bond Benchmark").  It would be oh-so-easy to construct a benchmark that performs poorly to make the fund look good.

 

(5) There's no reference to the fund size.  One wonders how many people, if any, have invested in it, and how much.

 

(6) The document itself looks very amateurish.

[topt]

On 11/18/2020 at 10:40 AM, YorkshireTyke said:

I can't use the likes of Hargreaves Landsdown as I don't have a UK address.

Not sure if you can apply to Interactive Investor, who are a close competitor to HL, for a standard Trading Account.

The reason I say that is I recently noticed this in their charges - https://www.ii.co.uk/our-charges

Quote

Non UK Resident

£3.99 + VAT - We make an additional charge to cover operational costs for customers not resident in the UK.

buried in other charges.

 

Their online application form has drop downs which enables you to put Thailand in (and get tick marks to show ok) apart however from the address where you have to put a valid UK postcode in with no option to put a manual address in.

 

This seems to defeat the flexibility of the rest of the form so may be worth giving them a call.

 

I could not find anything in their Ts and Cs which say you have to be UK resident but possible it is hidden away somewhere.

[Oxx]

23 minutes ago, topt said:

Not sure if you can apply to Interactive Investor,

 

You can't (at least, not without lying).  You must be resident to open an account.  The additional charges are for those who subsequently become non-resident.

[topt]

1 minute ago, Oxx said:

You must be resident to open an account. 

That is what I had always previously assumed. However can you show me where it states that on their site as I could not see it?

 

Also, as mentioned, why have dropdowns in the application form allowing you to choose your tax status as non resident in UK as well as different countries for phone numbers etc.?

[Oxx]

5 minutes ago, topt said:

That is what I had always previously assumed. However can you show me where it states that on their site as I could not see it?

 

I can not.  My reply is based upon personal communications with II a couple of years ago.

 

At the time I contacted more than 20 UK brokers, and none of them would open a new account for a non-resident.

[wordchild]

I have personally been non resident U.K. for 25 plus years, USA, HK , Singapore and currently Thailand. Throughout this time I have maintained a couple of U.K. broker accounts, incl Charles Stanley, without any questions raised or any other issues. I have always kept address details up to date as I have moved location. And I currently receive all mail relating to my accounts at my Thai address. However , these days , I mainly use Sing//HK brokers, though I have kept my U.K. accounts open.

As I understand it , there is absolutely no serious EXTERNAL regulatory block that prevents  the opening of a U.K. brokerage  account for a non  resident. However there are a number of regulatory hoops that any broker needs to jump through before obtaining INTERNAL  compliance approval for the opening of any  new account. The most difficult hoop to jump through is the need to demonstrate sufficient knowledge concerning the end customer: if that customer is not a U.K. resident this can prove to be more difficult. If the customer is long-standing then ,I would imagine, that is fairly easy to get around. However for a new application , I guess , more difficult. “ Computer says no” maybe the lower risk answer for them to give.

The last time I asked ( maybe a couple of years ago) , prompted by a question on this forum, the person I spoke too at Charles Stanley informed me that they had no issues with non U.K. customers, in fact they have many such customers. However,  because of the extra compliance hassle, they would need to feel that the account was of a reasonable size in order to go through the additional hassle of opening an account for a completely new customer.

Edited November 19, 2020 by wordchild

[YorkshireTyke]

5 minutes ago, RoyceHanna said:

Hey, just stumbled upon this old thread and thought I'd chime in. I've never used SWM, but I have heard good things about them from some of my guys. As an Expat without a UK address, I can understand the struggle of finding a wealth advisor who can help you invest your hard-earned cash. Have you checked out stephenswmg.com? They might be worth looking into if you're still on the hunt for a reliable financial advisor.

I think there is enough redflags pointed out by the avove posters to avoid them.

 

And as I mentioned above I dont need high risk high benefits, one of my fixed term accounts has just matured and rolled over into a fixed term bond paying 4.5%, that will do nicely for me, secure and guaranteed.

[GameMaster]

On 11/18/2020 at 4:40 AM, YorkshireTyke said:

I was given some info on a company called SWM, Secure Wealth Management.

 

https://securewm.com/

 

Anybody use them or got any information on them ?

 

As an Expat with no UK address it looks as though I can invest with them. I can't use the likes of Hargreaves Landsdown as I don't have a UK address.

 

Any info appreciated.

Wealth management is bs.

Sign up with Interactive Brokers (or Robinhood or whatever) and get yourself some solid BlackRock ETFs with low ongoing fees.

Don't fall for that securewm garbage.

The best person to manage your money is you.

[save the frogs]

On 5/5/2023 at 1:53 AM, RoyceHanna said:

some of my guys

what guys?

[wordchild]

1 hour ago, RoyceHanna said:

SRY HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF but...  Have you checked out stephenswmg.com? They might be worth looking into if you're still on the hunt for a reliable financial advisor. They cater to a wide range of clients, and I've heard their customer service is top-notch. I'm pretty new to this forum, so apologies for replying to a super old post. I thought I'd throw my two cents in just in case it helps anyone out there.

The link you posted is for a US based Financial Adviser, does not seem to be related, in any way, to the firm mentioned in the OP.

 

 

 

[dinga]

On 5/5/2023 at 1:01 PM, YorkshireTyke said:

I think there is enough redflags pointed out by the avove posters to avoid them.

 

And as I mentioned above I dont need high risk high benefits, one of my fixed term accounts has just matured and rolled over into a fixed term bond paying 4.5%, that will do nicely for me, secure and guaranteed.

Appreciate details of which Fixed Term Bonds are paying 4.5%

 

Tks

[YorkshireTyke]

On 5/8/2023 at 7:58 AM, dinga said:

Appreciate details of which Fixed Term Bonds are paying 4.5%

 

Tks

Skipton International Bank. Offshore so no tax on interest.

 

I limit my investment to 50k per bank as that is the maximum for offshore protection.

 

Edit : Conister bank usually have high rates also.

Edited May 9, 2023 by YorkshireTyke
amend

[dinga]

On 5/9/2023 at 12:40 PM, YorkshireTyke said:

Skipton International Bank. Offshore so no tax on interest.

 

I limit my investment to 50k per bank as that is the maximum for offshore protection.

 

Edit : Conister bank usually have high rates also.

Thanks - I had a look at the Skipton Website and couldn't see the requirements to open an account  -  but I assume an Oz national living in Thailand may be precluded from doing so.

 

BRs 

[YorkshireTyke]

15 hours ago, dinga said:

Thanks - I had a look at the Skipton Website and couldn't see the requirements to open an account  -  but I assume an Oz national living in Thailand may be precluded from doing so.

 

BRs 

Shouldn't be a problem.

 

Offshore savings accounts - Residency limitations | Skipton International Ltd

 

Proof of address is required so a bank statement etc

 

They have a basic online enquiry form, start with that, only takes a few minutes.

 

Offshore savings account application | Skipton International