About

Welcome to British Expat Money!

I’m James and this is a site about financial matters for British expats like me.

Though, many of the articles are aimed at Brits abroad, I hope a lot of the information will still be useful for anyone interested in finance and investing.

The site covers lots of topics, but I have to admit, it tends to focus on do-it-yourself (DIY) investing. This is because DIY investing ends up being the most straightforward way for many British expats to save for a pension.

When you move abroad, you find the pension products you want aren’t available and the ones available are best avoided.

In fact, when you become an expat, mortgages, taxes and even bank accounts can become a lot more hassle than they used to be. Many products and services that you took for granted in the UK simply aren’t available anymore.

When I started trying to get my financial matters in order, there seemed to be a lot more information out there for Americans than Brits, and even less available for expatriate Brits.

To make matters worse, a lot of the information that was available, at its best, wasn’t good, and at its worst, was bordering on criminal. As a result, I decided to share what I found, in the hope that it would be useful for others.

Just to be clear, I am an engineer, with a keen interest in finance and investing. While I hope multiple degrees in Engineering and advanced foreign language skills demonstrate I’m not a complete idiot, I’m certainly not a financial professional.

I try my best to share ideas and information that I think are useful, but please don’t take anything here as financial advice. Do your own research and consult a good trustworthy financial professional before taking any action. (I’ve talked a bit about how you might go about doing that here).