Check out the newest article added to our online Knowledge Library, entitled Avoiding Tax Traps with Short-Term Assignments, by Claudia Howe of Global Mobility Tax.

This article clearly addresses some of the common misconceptions about the tax treatment of short-term overseas assignments.  Thanks to Claudia Howe, a leading expat tax advisor, for allowing us to share this article.

   

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis many investors have begun to reassess their finances and seek out more objective and honest advice.  As a result, investors are taking their money and migrating away from the traditional Wall Street brokerage houses in favor of independent investment advisors. 

But how does one go about finding the right advisor for their unique circumstances?  Today’s Wall Stree Journal featured an article which discusses how to choose the right advisor for you.  You can read it here.

   

Expatwomen.com, a popular website for women expatriates, has added several articles from Maxim’s online Knowledge Library to the Money Matters section of their site. 

They have also featured our newest article, 5 Financial Steps to Take Before Moving Abroad, on their March homepage and Newsletter.

   

In depressed markets and when many financial advisors have let their clients down, investors tend to change and reevaluate their advisors much more. We think the advice in the following article from Business Week provides a lot of useful information.  Given the recent scandal involving the Ponzi scheme at Madoff Securities, we want to highlight in particular the advice about using only advisors who park their clients’ money at “brand-name custodians, such as Charles Schwab, Fidelity Investments, Pershing, or TD Ameritrade”.

At Maxim, we never take possession of our clients’ assets, rather we maintain client accounts at the two leading custodians, Schwab and Fidelity.

Business Week, December 18, 2008

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_52/b4114052572385.htm

   

We are excited to have redesigned and launched our new website. Our team has worked hard to simplify the site, while including a robust amount of information for American expats and global citizens.

Check out our new Knowledge Library, which has information about numerous expat finance and investment topics. Our Blog is another way that we will keep you up to date on the latest financial developments, as well as our views on them.  Additionally, we will use the What We Are Reading area of the Blog to direct you to interesting articles we find from outside sources.

We’re always looking to expand our online articles and topics, so please suggest a topic or ask a question that you may be interested in, and we’ll try to include it in our Knowledge Library.

Welcome!

Andrew Fisher, CFA, CPA

President