A move is a reason to reread the agreement, not a reason to assume loyalty equals permission. The firm may advise, arrange, or simply hold. It may do those things only for residents of certain countries. Performance is a later conversation. The first one is whether the relationship can legally and practically continue.
What the mandate actually says
Discretionary management means they can deal within a brief you agreed. Advisory means they recommend and you decide. Execution-only means they do what you instruct and do not advise that it suits you. People use ‘my adviser’ for all three. The contract uses one. Know which, and whether that permission still covers a client who lives somewhere else.
The cross-border limit
A firm authorised in one country is not automatically allowed to advise a resident of another. Some withdraw. Some continue for existing clients on narrow terms. Some introduce a sister firm. Ask which of those applies to your destination, and ask who will be the custodian of the assets if the adviser changes. A warm introduction is not a transfer.
Cost, currency and reporting
Ask for every layer: advice, custody, funds, dealing, and foreign exchange when they convert. A portfolio measured in one currency and spent in another needs both numbers. Ask what tax information they will produce, and what they will not. Reporting packs are not tax advice, but their absence makes advice slower.
Review the firm against the life you are about to have
A wealth manager who has looked after you in one country may not be permitted to advise you once you live in another, or may only be able to advise on part of what you own. Ask, before you move, whether the firm can continue, which of your accounts it can still discuss, and whether a colleague in another office will take over. A warm introduction is not the same as an agreement to advise. Ask for the new scope in writing.
Use the review to ask plain questions. How are you paid? Which products do you tend to use, and which will you not use for someone in my new country? What will you not advise on, such as tax in the destination or a pension transfer? A good answer names the limits. Pressure to move a pension, to encash a portfolio, or to sign a new discretionary mandate before you have arrived is a reason to slow down, not a reason to feel rude.
Take the file with you, including the parts you may leave behind
Ask for a current valuation, a note of costs, and the basis on which you are invested: advisory, discretionary, or execution-only. Those words change who decides a trade. If you are leaving the firm, ask how long they will keep information and how you can obtain it later. If you are staying, ask how they want to be told about a new address and a new tax residence, and who else they will need to inform.
Bring a qualified tax adviser into the same conversation if the portfolio may be sold, re-wrapped or moved across a border. The manager’s investment view and the tax view are not substitutes. Keep the emails. A later dispute about what you were told is easier with the letter than with a memory of a meeting in the month you were also packing.
Before you act
Ask for an example of the report you will receive after the move, and for the name of the person who will sign advice. A relationship that becomes a call centre, or a desk that cannot speak to residents of your new country, is a change of service even if the logo stays. Compare that with the fee you will still pay. If you take the portfolio elsewhere, ask the old firm for the history of costs and holdings in a format the new firm will accept, and ask for it before you resign. The weeks between firms are when statements are hardest to get and when a bank may ask you to prove a transfer that neither side currently displays.
A practical checklist
- Read the mandate: discretionary, advisory, or execution-only.
- Ask whether your new country is served.
- Identify the custodian separately from the adviser.
- List all charges, including FX.
- Check beneficiary and joint-holder details.
- Do not sign a new mandate on the week you fly.
Questions to ask
- Can you still advise me if I live there?
- Who holds the assets?
- What may you trade without calling me?
- What are the total costs in a year like the last one?
- What tax information will you send?
- What happens if I want to leave?
Common mistakes
- Judging the firm only by a recent return.
- Assuming a brand’s foreign office is the same relationship.
- Ignoring FX inside ‘total cost’.
- A discretionary mandate you have never read.
- Transferring because a new manager contacted you at the airport.
WiT Access provides general information and comparison resources. Nothing on this website constitutes financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Always consider obtaining advice from an appropriately qualified professional.
