The Global Expatriate's Guide to Investing: From Millionaire Teacher to Millionaire Expat Hardcover – October 27, 2014

"The Global Expatriate's Guide to Investing" provides an excellent road map anyone can follow in order to build his/her own portfolio leading to financial freedom. Although the book is directed to the expat, it provides a path for anyone who wants to learn more about efficient, effective and basic investing. Andrew's writing is very light, easy to understand and is filled with direction and encouragement, as to how to build wealth over the long term for anyone, expat or other. He writes in a clear and consice manner, and his content is backed up with plenty of facts and figures, that are easily verifiable, and adaptable to one's own situation. For example, most of the scenario's Andrew uses, is for a sample portfolio held for 25 years. Using a compound interest calculator found online, one can easily adapt his numbers to any time frame to suit your own situation.Andrew does an excellent job of contrasting the facts and figures with humour, fun and anecdotes, so as not to bore and weigh the reader down with data and tables. He makes very clear that there is no "get rich quick" solution, and strongly discourages following the latest financial fads, but instead, suggests choosing one of a variety of portfolios based on low cost index investing.As anyone who follows Andrew's blog will know, Andrew speaks out vehemently against the high priced and inflexible investment schemes that are regularly pushed on expats, earning the advisors, and the insurance companies, exorbitant commissions. Andrew continues with this theme in this book, showing with actual data how such high fees can virtually demolish retirement planning. Most likely, Andrew's outspokenness on this matter has cost the insurance companies a significant amount of busines; in fact, it wouldn't be surprising if those promoting these high cost products, write negative reviews, criticising Andrew's data in an attempt to undermine his credibility. Should that be the case, I would recommend that one buys his book, reads the data, and comes to one's own conclusions.For expats, this book fills a much needed void as expats face a multitude of issues that are unknown to those who do not live abroad. One of the many valuable pieces of information is how Andrew compares the online brokerages side by side, their pros, cons and their fees, thus making it easy to see what might work for you. Additionally, I appreciated Andrew's understanding that even though he provides all the tools to build a low cost, efficient and effective portfolio, many may still not feel comfortable doing this themselves. Andrew provides names and details of financial advisors whom he recommends, and why, as well as the characteristics of a financial advisor that will work in the interests of the client, and not his own. The final section of the book is particularly useful, as it is tailored to discuss how nationals of particular countries can invest specific to their home country.This is a well written book, and is a natural follow up to Andrew's first book, "Millionaire Teacher." It also takes much of what Andrew writes on his blog to the next level, and ties it all together in a very enjoyable and educational product. I look forwards to the next book!

This is a great book for someone with no investing experience or who has been misled by salesmen posing as financial advisors. It walks you through the investing process - calculating how much you need to save, how to open your account and places you can do so, choosing your investments and purchasing said investments. It highlights with real life stories of investors and their personal experience. It is written in plain language for ease of understanding. I would highly recommend this to the expat investor. The book could have included a chapter specifically dedicated to the global investor from smaller countries with no home markets. Besides this, it was a good read.

Working abroad as an expatriate opens up new horizons and opportunities but can also bring challenges too. High on the list of these can be how to manage ones finance,s and to invest wisely for the future. Many expatriates fall victim to predatory so-called "financial advisors" whose primary goal is to sell them complex, high-commission, financial products and, if possible, garner outrageous ongoing "advisory fees". Many such schemes also lock investors into products from which they cannot later withdraw without heavy financial penalty. All this is extremely sad because, as Andrew Hallam illustrates in his excellent book, there are simple, cost-effective alternatives - such as portfolios constructed of low-cost index ETFs.Whilst there are quite a few books available on indexing and ETF investing, what set's Hallam's book apart is the clear rationale, precise explanations and very readable writing style. A teacher by profession, the author has a knack of illustrating his approach in a simple manner. Sometimes it almost sounds too simple - but it becomes clear as one reads further that this is the beauty of the entire thing. Investing does not have to be complex and costly in order to be successful. Hallam's own personal story and "global nomad" investment philosophy show that you don't have to be a financial professional to achieve considerable success.The book contains sections for expatriates of different nationalities, living in various parts of the world, as well as providing advice on setting up brokerage accounts. He also shows how to find "fee only" financial advisors who will give unbiased advice at a reasonable cost if investors really don't feel able to do everything themselves. Finally, the author has a lively (free!) personal website where he genuinely enjoys interacting with and helping his readers. His book is a welcome addition to every expatriate's investment bookshelf!