Writing
Straight talk on offshore money.
The questions people actually ask, answered in plain language. No jargon, no fear-selling.
UK Pensions & ISAs
What Happens to Your UK Pension When You Move to South Africa
Why your UK pension can’t transfer here, and what’s actually within your control instead.
Read article →What Happens to Your UK ISA When You Move Abroad
You can usually keep it, but can you pay in, and is it still tax-free where you live now? The wrapper question, answered plainly.
Read article →The UK State Pension When You Live Abroad
Can you still receive it abroad? The frozen-pension issue in countries like South Africa, and how it fits your wider plan.
Read article →Can You Still Pay Into a UK Pension After Moving Abroad?
Tax relief on new contributions is limited and time-bound: what it actually depends on is your residency.
Read article →Consolidating UK Pensions From Abroad
Why British expats end up with several UK pensions, the potential benefits of bringing them together, and the real cautions to weigh first.
Read article →Defined Benefit Pensions and Emigration: What to Know
What a final-salary pension actually guarantees, and what emigrating from the UK does (and doesn’t) change about one.
Read article →Tax-Free Savings Accounts
Tax-Free Savings Accounts in South Africa
The tax perk, the contribution limits, the withdrawal trap that catches people out, and the mistakes to avoid.
Read article →Tax-Free Savings Account Contribution Limits Explained
The annual and lifetime caps, the penalty on going over, and why withdrawals don’t reset your room.
Read article →TFSA vs Unit Trust: What’s the Difference?
One’s a tax wrapper, the other’s an investment product, and you can hold one inside the other.
Read article →What Can You Invest In Inside a TFSA?
A TFSA is a wrapper, not a savings account: what it can hold, what it generally can’t, and why the choice inside decides the benefit.
Read article →Retirement Annuities
Retirement Annuities in South Africa: A Beginner’s Guide
What an RA is, how the tax treatment works, and who it tends to suit.
Read article →How Financial Advisers Get Paid, and Why It Changes the Advice You Get
Commission, fees, claw-backs and the costs that never show on a statement, plus the questions that get you a straight answer.
Read article →Retirement Annuity vs. Tax-Free Savings Account
They’re not competing for the same job: what each is for, and how to think about which comes first.
Read article →Retirement Annuity vs Pension Fund: What’s the Difference?
Who controls it, what happens when you change jobs, and how the two can work together.
Read article →Retirement Annuities for the Self-Employed
Why an RA is often the core retirement vehicle for the self-employed: discipline without payroll, and the tax deduction.
Read article →How Much to Contribute to a Retirement Annuity
Thinking about the tax-deduction cap, balancing saving against liquidity and debt, and adjusting over a career.
Read article →Can You Have More Than One Retirement Annuity?
Yes. Why people end up with several, the pros and cons, and when consolidating makes sense.
Read article →What Happens to Your Retirement Annuity If You Emigrate?
Can you access an RA if you leave South Africa? How access, tax residency and preservation generally work.
Read article →Offshore Basics
What “Offshore” Actually Means (and Doesn’t)
Is it legal? Is it hiding money? The word stripped of its mystique, and why ordinary cross-border people use it.
Read article →Are Offshore Investments Safe?
“Safe” means two different things: jurisdictional regulation and investment risk. Both explained plainly.
Read article →How Much Do You Need to Invest Offshore?
Why there’s no single legal minimum, the practical starting points that do exist, and why fit matters more than the number.
Read article →What Is an Offshore Investment Bond?
A life-assurance wrapper holding investments, issued offshore: the features, the watch-outs, and the questions to ask.
Read article →Offshore vs Onshore Investing: What’s the Difference?
What each term means, how they differ on currency, access and tax, and why many mobile people blend both.
Read article →Lump Sum vs Regular Savings: Which Offshore Approach Fits
Should you invest a lump sum or start a monthly plan? How each works, and why the honest answer depends on your situation.
Read article →How Currency Risk Affects British Expats Investing Offshore
GBP, USD or ZAR? How currency risk actually works when you earn in one currency and spend in another.
Read article →Offshore Jurisdictions Explained: Mauritius, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey
Where should an offshore investment actually be held? What the jurisdiction decides, and what matters more.
Read article →What to Ask Before Choosing an Offshore Investment Platform
The questions that separate one platform from another: costs, exit terms, custody and accountability.
Read article →Structuring a Lump Sum From a UK Property Sale
You’ve sold up in the UK. The reporting deadline, the currency decision and the sequencing that comes first.
Read article →Moving Abroad / Destination Checklists
The British Expat’s Money Checklist for Moving to South Africa
The complete reference: before you leave the UK, when you arrive, your first year and beyond. Pensions, ISAs, tax residency, currency, local savings and cross-border estate planning, in one place.
Read article →Common Financial Mistakes British Expats Make When They Relocate
The ordinary, undramatic errors that show up years after the move: abandoned pensions, assumed tax residency, accidental currency positions and contradictory paperwork.
Read article →Moving to Cape Town from the UK: A Financial Checklist
HMRC, banking, pensions, ISAs, healthcare and wills: what to sort before you leave, on arrival, and once you’re settled.
Read article →Moving to Australia from the UK: A Financial Checklist
HMRC, banking, ISAs, pensions, superannuation and Medicare: what to sort before you go.
Read article →Moving to Dubai from the UK: A Financial Checklist
HMRC, banking, pensions, ISAs and UAE-specific planning: what to sort before you go.
Read article →Moving to Portugal from the UK: A Financial Checklist
HMRC, banking, pensions, ISAs, NHR and healthcare: what to sort before you go.
Read article →Moving to Spain from the UK: A Financial Checklist
HMRC, banking, ISAs, pensions, tax residency and Modelo 720: what to sort before you go.
Read article →Do British Expats Still Pay UK Tax While Living in South Africa?
Often yes, on some income. Why leaving the UK changes your tax position rather than ending it, and what the double tax agreement does and does not do.
Read article →What Happens to Your Lifetime ISA When You Move Abroad
It is not an ordinary ISA. The bonus, the withdrawal charge and the UK-only first-home rule change what your options are once you have left.
Read article →Retiring to South Africa From the UK: The Financial Side
Sterling income, rand costs, for the rest of your life. The financial side of a UK retirement in South Africa, in the order it is worth thinking about it.
Read article →Offshore Pension Plans for Expats: What They Are, and What They Usually Aren’t
Most products sold as offshore pensions are not pensions at all. What they actually are, what they give you, and the one question to ask before signing.
Read article →How to Invest Offshore From South Africa: The Three Routes
Three routes with very different admin: rand-denominated exposure, direct investing under the allowances, and offshore exposure inside a retirement fund.
Read article →How Much of Your Wealth Should Be Offshore?
Anyone quoting a universal percentage is selling something. The honest answer is a method: where you will spend the money, in which currency, and when.
Read article →Offshore Bank Accounts for South Africans: What They Are For (and What They Are Not)
Legal, ordinary and mostly plumbing. What an offshore account is for, what it is not, and when a foreign-currency account at home does the job instead.
Read article →Can You Transfer a South African Pension to the UK?
Generally not. Why the two systems do not connect, the withdrawal rules that apply instead, and the alternative of drawing the fund from abroad.
Read article →How a Retirement Annuity Pays Out at Retirement
An RA does not pay out as a lump sum. The cash portion, the life annuity versus living annuity choice, and how the claim process actually runs.
Read article →Unit Trust vs Retirement Annuity: What Is Actually Different?
They are not competitors. One is an investment, the other is a wrapper that usually holds it. The real differences are tax, access and restrictions.
Read article →Living & Investing in South Africa
Understanding South Africa’s Exchange Control Rules for Investors
What the rules on moving money in and out of South Africa actually involve: allowances, paperwork and misconceptions.
Read article →Wills and Trusts in South Africa: Why Expats Often Get This Wrong
Do you need a new will if you move to South Africa? Two-country wills, executors abroad, and why trusts are usually oversold.
Read article →Planning for School and University Fees in South Africa
There is no special education account in South Africa. Why the timeline, not the product, does most of the work.
Read article →South African Tax Residency: What Changes After 183 Days
There is no single 183-day switch. The two tests South Africa actually uses, what changes once you are resident, and why the first year is the messy one.
Read article →Income Protection for the Self-Employed in South Africa: Where to Start
The overwhelm comes from comparing products before defining the need. The order that makes the decision tractable, and the clause that decides a claim.
Read article →Guides by nationality