Most of you by now know about the savings account called Assurance Vie which is an investment with tax advantages (revenue and inheritance tax) and many of you have asked me in the past if you could do an Assurance vie in British Pounds so you did not have to suffer from the Liz Trust effect!! Well, I have finally found one for you but it is not for everyone!
- Who can invest in it: Anybody who is a French resident or non-French resident and above 18 years old. Preferably below 80 but we can make exceptions!
- Who is it invested with: Wealins wealth insurer is a company based in Luxembourg. It is part of Foyer group founded in 1922 and has a solvability ratio of 309,6%. For comparison, Allianz has a solvability ratio of 212%. Plus, this assurance vie is based in Luxembourg which guarantees the total value of your investment (in France, the government only guarantees up to 100K per person per establishment).
- How much can you invest in it: The minimum is 250 000€ or the equivalent in British Sterling (other currencies are also available). No maximum. That is why I stated that it is not for all of us unfortunately!
- How is it invested: This is an investment in stocks and shares. This assurance vie has more than 500 funds/shares available so loads of choices on investments. The minimum invested per funds is 10 000€. You can choose low, medium or high-risk funds or a mixture of each.
- Fees: Well, yes, I don’t work for free all the time! Entry fee is normally 2.50% but unfortunately, I always negotiate and never take that. Contact me to negotiate! Obviously the bigger the amount, the lower the entry fee. If very big, I even take 0!
Management fee per year is 1%.
- Switching funds: You can switch funds for free once per year.
If you do more than one switch, there is a 0.5% fee of the value of the shares/fund (maximum fee is 500€).
- Adding money to it: You can add money to it at any time but a minimum of 25 000€. Entry fee every time you add of course.
- Availability: The present amount on your assurance vie is always available. So, the money is never blocked. There are some penalties for taking your money out in the first 5 years but only if you take more than 15% of the amount. So, for the first 5 years, you can withdraw 15% of the amount invested per year at no cost. If you withdraw more than 15% the first year, there is a fee of 0,5% on the amount above the 15% on year one, then 0,4% on year 2, 0,3% on year 3, 0,2% on year 4 and 0,1% on year 5. No fees after that. Note that the 15% that you can take out is per year and not cumulative so if you do not withdraw 15% of the amount on year 2, it still be 15% on year 3, not 30%.
- Cooling period: When you open a new assurance vie, there is always a 30 day cooling period before your money is invested.
- Money laundering: because of the amount invested, I need proof of where the money comes from so if you are a terrorist or got this money illegally, do not contact me to invest it!
Conclusion: The advantages of the Assurance vie savings account are well known and it is no secret that it is the preferred investment for French people not only because of its advantages regarding income and inheritance tax but also for its flexibility. But you might not want to transfer your money into Euros and suffer the burden of losing on exchange rate so here is the solution for you.