Chris and Diane’s story

I currently work at BP in Dubai and a few years ago had the option to cash in my pension. The valuations were pretty good, and after a lot of thought we decided to move it into an investment portfolio. But I realised I had no clue how to manage it properly and would need professional help.

However, financial advisers out here tend to be put in the same box as real estate agents, ie, they’re seen as being pushy and untrustworthy. I actually spoke to about 12 IFAs before I met Andy. 

We just got on well and seemed to be on the same wavelength. There was no nonsense – you could tell he was open, honest and transparent and very clear about what could be done.

We have worked with Andy for around 5 years now and my wife and I feel we’re in very good hands. 

Life of an expat

I have lived in Dubai for 7 years but have been an expat for about 20 living in Vietnam, Egypt, Iraq and Kuwait.

There are a lot of expats in the Middle East my age who are coming to the end of their career and they have lumps to invest. But it’s hard to know the best way to maximise your savings or to make yourself tax efficient, or to understand how you can use your resident status to help manage your money better.

You need someone you can trust, but also someone you are comfortable with.

The alternative would have been for me to leave the money where it was. But the attraction of moving it out was taking ownership of the fund and taking advantage of our tax status, since we plan on staying here for the next 10 years. 

Expertise and specialist knowledge

We knew that the main thing is to make sure the portfolio of cash isn’t just sitting in a savings account, and that you are not just picking shares at random or investing funds randomly. We also understood that you also need a portfolio that can benefit from markets when they are strong, and also be ok when they take a dip. 

Andy has been really good in helping us to do that. He has created a portfolio that is relatively simple, but matches our attitude to risk and also takes into account our plan for the next 5-10 years.

I am still working full time at the moment but will retire in another 2 or 3 years, so we will have to think about what we do, and what the best way would be to draw on our funds to support our lifestyle. 

We will also need someone to help us plan to move back to the UK. We know that because this is a long-term relationship that Andy will help us with that too.

Calm and sensible advice

One of the many things Hebden are really good at is keeping it real and not trying to raise our expectations too much. A lot of the IFAs I was speaking to were all promising inflated gains, whereas Andy was much more realistic. He matched our portfolio with our objectives as to what we would like to achieve over time. 

My wife is extremely risk averse and panics if our portfolio goes down by £10, but Andy is really good at settling the nerves and making sure we don’t do anything rash.

Hebden are also very good at keeping in touch and making sure you are fully up to speed on what’s happening. They’re also good at looking out for products in the market that would be advantageous to move into.

I would sum up Hebden by saying they are trustworthy, reliable and give a very personal service. I have already recommended them to a number of colleagues and will continue to do so.