Beirut, Lebanon
Expat Advice: Financial Issues in Beirut, Lebanon
What is the name of the city or town that you are reporting on?
Beirut
What sort of challenges or frustrations have you encountered as an investor living overseas? Please describe.
There are few restrictions on investing in Lebanon. Some limitations on real estate and bank share ownership by foreigners, otherwise there doesn't seem to be other legal barriers. The difficulty with investing, as with everything else in Lebanon, is bureaucracy, red tape and inefficiency. Real estate transactions are notorious for requiring bribes to government bureaucrats to process purchases or sales, but once property is acquired, there is little difficulty. One other issue related to real estate is that real estate taxes are higher for foreigners than for Lebanese.
Investment in shares is not restricted except for some classes of bank shares. However, the Lebanese stock exchange and regulatory environment is far from being disciplined. Disclosure requirements are poor and transparency is not what it should be to provide basic protection for investors. FX, and capital and profit repatriation are unrestricted. Investing in the US markets is a nightmare for expat retail investors. It is close to impossible to invest back home through a US based broker, if one lives overseas and does not have a US address. In such cases one is treated like any non-US citizen and has very limited access to investment products. The exception of course is for high net worth individuals that have access to anything through Private Banking. There are few US banks that provide retail services for expats. (I only know of one, and one UK bank), but the fees are exorbitant. US banks and brokerages are geared for US residents, as they should be, however, there aught to be some services and products that serve the needs of the ordinary expat retail investor.What advice was particularly helpful to you in managing your finances? What advice would you give? Any other thoughts?
The best advice I could give any expat with respect to finance and investments is to set everything up before you leave your home country, i.e. set up bank accounts (savings and checking; you will need a US bank checking account for bills, purchases, IRS tax payments), credit cards, brokerage accounts, and if possible arrange to have a US address, preferably through a relative or friend who will receive your mail and forward it on to you. However, if that is not possible, this can be done through a US Post Office authorized commercial mail receiving agency (CMR). CMRs charge monthly fees to provide you with a US address, they receive your mail and forward it on to you wherever you are in the world.
