Maximising your Pension 1€ could cost you your home
The News/views Magazine ABOUT and FOR Jávea - you can hold in your hand Nº 7 November 2013 Suggested
Newspapers and the internet are flooded with offers to “access your UK company pension” with the promise of “specialist advisers” but one Adsubia property owner who believed what she read, finds herself in expensive litigation and the risk of losing her Jávea property.
Jávea Jeard knows the name of the ‘victim’ and the house they bought in Adsubia Capsades, but there has been no reply to our request for ‘chapter and verse’. What we did receive though, as friends - not knowing we might have an editorial interest - was an introduction to Angela Brooks who is visiting Jávea at the beginning of November, to talk with, and instruct, a local specialist lawyer who is used by many British residents. ‘Angie’ refers to the misery and destruction caused by silver-tongued financial advisers who continue to peddle unauthorised, high risk investments. She told us: "When contemplating making a change to your pension or investments, there are three things you must do: homework; homework; homework. Unfortunately, not all financial advisers are the same: some are honest, honourable and professionally ethical - genuinely putting your financial interests before their own. However, some are not. “If a financial adviser offers you something that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So don't just take his word - do your own
homework. If you are offered a "tax-free", regulated, compliant cash lump sum below the age of 55, run like hell. If you are offered extraordinarily high returns, remember the other side of the coin: high risk. Ask lots of questions: Is the adviser regulated? Is the scheme regulated? Is a transfer fully HMRC compliant? But, perhaps most important of all: does the adviser have robust professional indemnity insurance? “There are financial advisers in the Jávea area who have been peddling dodgy investment and pension schemes - as well as pension liberation scams - for at least four years. There are others who won't touch them with a barge pole. Unfortunately, there have been numerous victims of the former category who have not only lost their pensions or investments to schemes which have been deemed to be fraud by the High Court in the UK, and are facing huge tax liabilities, but also have discovered that the trust they placed in their financial advisers has resulted in their money being frozen in illiquid schemes deemed to be unrecoverable and toxic. “Just remember, enticing short-term gains can generate
expensive and devastating long-term disasters. Pick your financial adviser as carefully as you would pick your spouse: it is a very intimate long-term relationship. If you get hitched to one who isn't right for you, there will be a great deal of heartache and misery for years to come.
Continued on page 2
Donation
If any explanation is still needed
We could have called this local magazine HAVVYER HEARD, but we thought Jávea Jeard would confirm our light-hearted attitude to the serious political and economic problems in Spain, and their effect on Jávea.
Offers valid in Jávea and Benissa stores, until 11th November, 2013
Avda. del Pla/Calle Pescara, 5 - JAVEA 03730 Tel: 96 646 1848 www.overseas.es
Store opening hours: Monday - Saturday, 8:30am - 9:00pm