Expat Advice: Financial Issues in Paisley, UK

What is the name of the city or town that you are reporting on?

Paisley

Which banks do you use? If you have a local account, which bank do you use? How do you like it? Do you also have an account in your home country? Which bank? Do they charge for ATM withdrawals? Do they charge a lot for international wire transfers? How has it been working with them from abroad? Do you use a special international wire transfer service? Do you use an online bank? If so, tell us about them.

No.

William Russell
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William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.

William Russell

William Russell's private medical insurance will cover you and your family wherever you may be. Whether you need primary care or complex surgery, you'll have access to the best hospitals & doctors available. Unlike some insurers, we also include medical evacuation and mental health cover in our plans (except SilverLite). Get a quote from our partner, William Russell.
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What advice would you offer others about banking as an expat in your country? What do you wish you had known about banking when you first arrived?

I bank via a brokerage account with Prudential Securities. When we moved to Scotland, I opened a bank account here because virtually ALL bills are paid via direct debit...a very well-integrated banking system here.

But...

When we bought our house in Scotland, I was VERY surprised at how much I had to do to make a wire transfer work between my Prudential Command Account and my bank here in Scotland. It was a HUGE hassle. I had hoped that wire transfers would be my occasional activity to move funds from the US to the UK to pay bills (all of our money comes to our US account in dollars and we pay for most things with our VISA debit card attached to that account).

I've since created a PAYPAY account and have used that quite successfully to transfer money between the US and the UK. The cost for a transfer is negligble ($1.50 + the exchange rate). Unfortunately it's a multi-step process with several days lead time for each step. The very fastest I've seen it work is about a week and a half. I usually count on 2 weeks. So, you have to have some cash flow cushion to use that option.

What sort of challenges or frustrations have you encountered as an investor living overseas? Please describe.

The ignorance in our Prudential Securities home office of how things work here and the lack of connectedness between Pru in the US and the UK.

I really like the Pru folks I work with and they've been good to me but it IS a hassle for overseas stuff. If you're not tied to a particular bank, I'd certainly investigate a multi-national institution that specializes in handling multi-national accounts.

Do you do your own taxes, use a local firm, an expat-oriented firm or does your employer handle this for you (i.e. via an corporate tax firm)?

I do my own. I went from a completely domestic situation working for a corporate employer to living full-time in the UK as a missionary with an organization who stays completely hands-off with our finances. So, I had to learn about ex-pat issues AND Schedule C, self-employment issues AND clergy-oriented issues all at once. It has REALLY made my head spin. I also know of NOONE who covers this set of circumstances out there on the internet. Several experts emailed me with very little advice that was helpful.

I use TurboTax and have continued because of the multi-year continuity of staying with the same package and with using Quicken as well. BUT, TurboTax HAS struggled with my circumstances a bit. I've gone round and round with some things.

My father does some tax work and has helped me understand parts of the tax code that I was clueless on and I'm starting to catch on now.

What advice could you offer others about doing your taxes as an expat?

Get some help if you can!