Catshanghai

Saving money on a teacher’s salary was never easy in the UK, but at least there was a decent pension scheme to offer me a little hope that I was not facing a poverty stricken retirement. At the ripe old age of 31, I got a teaching job at an international school in Shanghai. This meant I could only pay into the teacher’s scheme at double the current contribution and over a maximum of six years until it was deemed I was no longer a UK teacher.

It was a fair trade to swap my job in South Gloucestershire for a new life in Shanghai. The resources are great and the class sizes are smaller. My students are much nicer and more hardworking than the lazy Bristolians I used to teach a few years ago. The cost of living is much lower than the UK, which means you can still save half your salary even if you like to go on holiday or dine out all the time. Moving to Shanghai was the best decision I ever made. I met my wife here.

Nothing is pefect, however. The downside is that international teachers are employed on one or two year contracts and you have to sort out your own long term financial arrangements. There is no medium or long term security. I made no plans during my first year except that I saved a good deal of my salary into my local ANZ bank account. My school set this up for me when I arrived. I also had a house in the UK that was quietly appreciating in value as tenants paid me rent to cover the mortgage.

After a year, I figured I was settled enough to think about setting up a proper saving scheme. I approached a couple of financial advisors, including DeVere’s who were all pushy like a cross between a marketing leaflet and a second hand car salesman. I just wanted honest, down to earth advice about a solid investment that would allow me to save enough to have a comfortable retirement thirty years down the road. It’s not very rock and roll, but it was a pretty reasonable concern to have when you’re in your early thirties and engaged to be married.

Anyway, I found out about an advisor called Adrian Page of Financial Page International. After meeting him, I decided to setup a saving scheme using him as an agent. A colleague recommended him and his approach was a breath of fresh air compared with all the hype I got from the shiny shoe brigade of Devere’s et al. Basically, he did not promise to make me rich and that I was under no pressure to sign up with him or anyone else. I also appreciated the fact that he had been living in Shanghai for nine years so I felt that he was going to be around for a while. His wife is a Shanghainese woman, so he has some insight and empathy. In short, I trusted him more than the others so I signed up for a tax-free off-shore pension savings account.

I setup a Generali pension saving plan at the end of 2005. At that time, every financial advisor would have got me to buy the same product from Generali, because they offered a better rate of return compared with other products. The saving’s plan is a Guernsey based trust based portfolio that is comprised of shares, bonds, property and commodities. The only difference is that some speculative advisors would have pushed for a slightly riskier investment based on the promise that this would yield a greater return in the long run. I just wanted to establish a savings regime that would make sure I could take care of my family so I followed Adrian Page’s advice to setup a low to medium risk portfolio.

I was only tied into a making contributions for the first two years, which were paid using direct debit from my Lloyds-TSB account in the UK. There were transaction fees sending money back to the UK, but the service was convenient and there was no easy way of doing this using my Chinese banks. For the next 10 months everything was fine and I could focus on getting married and being a teacher in Shanghai.

The reason I am writing this post today is that I have just come out of the most annoying and frustrating experience with Lloyds-TSB who almost caused my investment scheme to collapse with no value. Adrian Page was brilliant in making sure that my pension fund was still OK while I made more than a dozen phonecalls to my bank in an effort to sort out the problem over three months.

In August 2006, Lloyds-TSB stopped my direct debit to Generali for no apparent reason without telling me. Two months later, Generali sent me a final warning to pay the outstanding dues but then Lloyds-TSB failed to process my signed mandate to transfer funds. In the middle of December, I telephoned Lloyds-TSB to try make the transfer once more. An entry appeared on my bank statement, but the funds failed to get through to my savings plan so that by the middle of January 2007 it appeared that Lloyds-TSB had lost £1200 of my money. After several phone calls, Lloyds-TSB acknowledged they had made an error in transferring the funds. The money was transferred by Lloyds-TSB without a reference so it got lost in Generali’s system. I got Lloyds-TSB to pay me £100 compensation, but this was less than half of the income I had lost on my savings plan.

At this stage, Lloyds-TSB started being rude and arrogant. They told me that they would not reimburse my full loss and that they were satisfied the transfer had gone through meaning the matter was closed for them. It took three more phone calls and a very stern letter from Adrian Page to finally get proof that my funds had been transferred to Generali. I am still pursuing Lloyds-TSB for full compensation and I need to apply for a copy of my computer records as evidence of their incompetence. It is an ongoing matter. I only remain a Lloyds-TSB customer, because I know the other banks are just as bad and it would be very difficult to change while I am a non UK resident.

My decision to choose Adrian Page as my financial advisor has been well and truly vindicated. My investment must be a pretty small fund for Adrian, but he went beyond the call of duty by writing the letter on my behalf to Lloyds-TSB. He always kept me up to date with developments through telephone and E-mail. I have no vested interest in writing a testimonial for Adrian Page. Occasionally, we are told about promotions where we can get commission for introducing an acquaintance who signs upto a product, but I have no interest in financial services. Having been in Shanghai for two and a half years, I think it’s helpful to share my experiences with newcomers who are trying to figure out what to do with their money now they have left their home countries. This is also a word of caution about British banks who seem happy to treat their customers with contempt as long as they continue to make billions in profits.

I would not spend an hour of my life writing a blog post about a financial advisor unless one had been particularly helpful or useless. I am happy to say that Adrian Page is a particularly helpful financial advisor.

Here are his contact details:

Adrian Page, Managing DirectorFinancial Page International

Links:
fpi.cn