Luciana Rendon

Helping expats improve returns while reducing taxes and receiving financial advice (BDM to Financial Advisor)

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Small thing that seems to make expat portfolios feel calmer:

holding globally diversified ETFs in the currency you actually spend in.

World markets, low cost, no monthly guessing at the GBP/EUR rate.

Not advice, just the version of simple that tends to last.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

@cryptaxpt curious if Spain's agencia tributaria ever takes a similar line

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

@hispanicnomad Ceuta actually has one of Spain's lowest tax rates though

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Coffee yesterday with someone who retired here three years ago.

He said his pension "hasn't changed" since he moved.

The number in GBP hasn't.

What it buys at the supermarket in Málaga has.

Currency alignment is the quiet one nobody talks about.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Most expats don't have a tax problem.

They have a structure problem.

Fix the structure and the tax question often answers itself.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Domestic investors diversify across assets.

Expats have to diversify across currencies, jurisdictions and tax treatments too.

Three extra layers nobody warns you about before you move.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Most expats don't have a tax problem.

They have a structure problem.

Fix the structure and the tax usually sorts itself out.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

@LexisNexis_ME MAP timelines are the part nobody warns clients about

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Diversification isn't just shares and bonds.

For expats it's currencies, jurisdictions and tax treatments too.

That's a whole layer domestic investors never have to think about, and it's usually the layer nobody looks at.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Question for anyone with a UK pension and a life in Europe:

if something happened tomorrow, do you actually know how your pension would reach your beneficiaries?

A well-structured one passes efficiently.

A poorly structured one can trigger tax and delays in two systems.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Diversification for expats isn't just stocks and bonds.

It's currencies. Jurisdictions. Tax treatments.

Three layers a domestic investor never has to think about.

Which is why domestic advice travels badly.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Genuine question for anyone retired in Spain, Portugal or France:

Do you know how your pension would pass to your beneficiaries?

Not the amount. The process.

Most people I speak to have never been told.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

@cheryl_kernot the compounding part never really lands until people see numbers

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Retirement income rarely comes from one place.

UK pension. Local pension. Investments. Maybe rental income.

The order you draw from them can change your tax bill more than the amounts themselves.

Sequence first, then withdraw.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

"Leave it in the UK and HMRC handles the paperwork."

Not once you're tax resident in Spain or Portugal.

Then you're reporting the same asset in two places, on two calendars, in two currencies.

Structure doesn't remove tax. It can remove the duplication.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Noticing more people arrive with the same question this year.

Not "what should I invest in" but "who actually joins up the UK pension, the Spanish exit and the Portuguese side?"

Fragmented advice is finally being felt, not just suspected.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

The myth: leaving investments in the UK keeps things simple because that's where they've always been.

Then you're reporting the same assets to two tax authorities, in two currencies, on two different calendars.

Simple isn't always where you started.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

@maynee_c @WHLeavitt root causes never get the same airtime though

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

Someone told me last week they'd spent years picking individual funds, then switched to a handful of global ETFs priced in euros.

Said the relief wasn't the returns.

It was finally understanding what they owned.

[Luciana Rendon @LRendonL4U]

If your UK pension only offers a handful of funds to choose from, did you design that, or just inherit it?

Genuinely curious how many people have looked recently.