(HOW GUILLERMO OPERATES – TAX)

So, what does Guillermo do?

Well, he looks to give good investment advice, but with a keen eye on the net return to you. The difference between Guillermo and a stockbroker is that a stockbroker would say: “buy BP, Buy Apple, Buy HSBC”, depending on which market he works in. Then, if that stock goes up, he has done a good job for you. If he then comes back to you sometime later and says “now sell” he has done an excellent job, and you can have no complaints whatsoever. He’s given you good advice, he’s seen you in, seen you out, and hopefully you have made money. It is, however, at no pint his concern whether you then pay 25% tax, 40% tax or tax at all on your profit.

That’s beyond this realm of responsibility. If you want a calculation of your tax position, he will probably refer you to an accountant.

Guillermo turns this way of thinking on its head. He looks at the implications of your tax situation first and then attempts to align the investment advice to suit. So that for example, instead of putting you into a situation where perhaps you’ll make a 25% profit and pay 50% tax on it, he’d rather try to put you into a situation where you’ll make 14% profit and pay no tax at all.

The idea being that you are ahead at the end of the day, but more importantly, having taken less risk to get there. If you are making more money than the other guy. It is for one of two very simple reasons: Either you know more than he does, or you are taking more risk.

Now as good as Guillermo is, all he can hope ever to do is bring you up to the same level of knowledge as everyone else. So the other only way you could beat your odds would be for you take more risk. This is usually not acceptable to him not to his clients. So what he does is specialize very strongly on the tax advantages of investments, to make the most of any tax concessions that are available to you. Because anything he saves you in tax is “free money”. It’s extra money he has made for you without you having to take any extra risk for it.

In giving tax advice to expats, he not only looks to your present situation, but look to the future as well to provide maximum protection from the taxman, whenever possible. To that end, he has an in-house tax department to enable him to give pertinent and up to date advice.