If you’ve worked overseas as an IFA long enough, you’ve probably seen both sides.

Small, boutique firms can feel personal, flexible, and human. Big firms often feel well… BIG! BIG however can at times mean more infrastructure, more resources and money to do the bigger things smaller firms can NOT, so there's that.
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Larger firms might also be allocated more generous work permit quotas and at times are prepared to spend more money jumping through hoops for the right people. They inevitably also come with more noise online -- both good AND bad.

Most advisers pick a camp early on and then usually stop questioning it, at least for a while.
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What’s changed over the last five to ten years, though, is that regulation, licensing, and scrutiny have tightened almost everywhere. It leveled the playing field for everybody and you'd be wise to NOT be guided by mere online consumer and/or disgruntled ex-employee venting. That’s not an opinion — it’s just the reality of the industry now, the rules have changed a lot the last couple of years and facts matter now more than ever before.

Some boutique IFA firms have struggled under that weight, where-as some larger firms adapted, investing heavily in compliance infrastructure, capital and scaling their operations.

Yet, if you Google some of the bigger international firms today, you’ll often see more complaints — plenty of clickbait headlines, angry reviews, and yes, some justified venting perhaps, which is just how the cookie crumbles in this game and various other industries for that matter. You'll also see many one-sided stories. It can get quite confusing at times…I mean, who and what do you believe?

What you rarely see are the hundreds, even thousands, of clients who weren’t disgruntled; the advisers who quietly build serious, sustainable books; or the fact that some criticism comes from people who perhaps didn’t read the fine print and had unrealistic expectations around the “past performance is no indication or guarantee of future returns” principle they should have been aware of — or from recruits who were never the right fit to begin with and later became the loudest critics. Let’s face it, even when there are legitimate gripes, it’s almost always "the company’s fault," isn’t it?

Sure, bigger is not always better, but, but, BUT...it also means that one's decision deserves more than the usual quick fallback Google search internet noise.

Did you know, I actually the other day Google'd my own business and found some idiot AI telling me that my business after 10 years is likely a scam! LOL, freakin hilarious, but yet, perhaps someone impressionable out there might actually believe it. I mean, "its kinda online"...right?. See this obvious nonsense below just as an example:

Obviously anyone with two or more working braincells, and those who know me will know that the above screenshot is all a bunch of made-up hogwash and totally inaccurate nonsense.

So, this is where who-, and these days even WHAT you listen to really matters.

I always say, if you want insurance, you go to an insurance company — not the first "but wait, there's MORE!" late-night TV advert you see on cable TV. If you want a proper bicycle, you go to a specialist pro sports shop — not Wall Mart...and so, why not apply the same standard with how you get your career advice?? ​
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If you want credible career advice in international financial services, it probably should NOT come from a generalist mass recruiter, or a biased internal company HR temp, a forum thread, or some disgruntled ex-employee online or even an acquaintance or friend who perhaps couldn't hack the job.

As most of your know, I’ve done the job myself in a few countries for roughly a decade. I’ve worked for boutique style firms, even set up offices for one or two start-ups, and also larger firms — mostly established players, and yes...a few real cowboys thrown in the mix too!

Bottom line, I’ve sat on ALL sides of the table: an adviser, a candidate, a tied head-hunter, and now also an independent 3rd party recruiter running my own business since 2017. That gives me a rare vantage point — a genuine bird’s-eye view of who’s doing what and where, where all the typical potholes are and which opportunities are actually worth considering and also WHY.

Look, make no mistake! NOT all offshore IFA firms are equal. And not all "advice" you might find out there is necessarily well informed.

Whether you’re an IFA still in the UK, already offshore but quietly questioning your current setup or predicament, or perhaps you're loyal to a small firm that’s reached its ceiling, the real question isn’t limited to only "big vs small".

It’s this: Are you getting guidance from credible people who’ve actually walked the talk — OR merely from opinionated commentary on the sidelines?

If that question made you pause, that’s probably already worth exploring.

I know I'm pretty darn good at what I do. It's not a mere made up opinion and I certainly don't throw it out there as if I've "arrived" or anything, BUT I get told as much enough to perhaps mention it on rare occasion.

I do take much pride in my work and enjoy being a destiny intervention specialist and making a real difference in people's lives.

So, have a look at what's on offer, and let me hear from you. To top it all, it all comes with the low, low price of only $0.00 to you...so, coming to think of it, there's really not that much to think about...is there?

Some international opportunities

Well this is all we have going into this brand new week, but there's much more on our website! If you have any questions or need to have a chat, just click on the WhatsApp logo below for a quick response.
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Have a great rest of the Sunday and hear from you again soon.

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Best regards,
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