FAQs
You ask, we answer.
Why DTM Private Wealth?
We’ve built a reputation for always putting our clients’ interests first. That means understanding you and your goals and helping you build a plan to achieve them.
We are independent and employee owned with no external shareholders. Our values can’t be bought so you can be sure you’ll always receive the same standard of exceptional advice.
DTM refuse to sell or recommend commission-based products, funds or any other investment product or vehicle. We are transparent about what you pay & to whom.
Since our fees are transparent you will never encounter a contractual product with a surrender penalty or charge. If you ever need access to your money, you can access it at any time.
We get you better returns, not by outguessing or timing the market but by understanding the academic literature around evidence-based investing. We apply these concepts so you can get the most from your money and achieve your financial goals.
We don’t just set high standards for the clients we work with. And we’re not all talk. We’re outspoken and actively engaged in projects & awareness campaigns to put a stop to mis-selling. We’re advocates for positive change in expat financial planning and have helped over 2,000 expats save a combined total in $2m in hidden commission & fees.
Our advisers are some of the most knowledgeable and qualified working in expat financial planning. We specialise in retirement planning, tax minimisation, investment management & helping victims of financial mis-selling get their financial planning back on track.
Our expertise means that we can explain even the most complicated financial concepts simply. We want you to be empowered when working with us.
When it comes to planning towards your goals, we always put you first. We really listen and care about what you want to achieve and we love helping you get there.
Not only are we financial experts but we’re also driven by trust, confidence, and the desire to help everyone we speak to.
We work independently; meaning that we are completely unbiased and just care about helping you achieve your goals.
We offer a free, no strings attached meeting. Then, we’ll build a financial plan based on that. And our fees are completely transparent; you’ll always know what you’re paying for.
Our financial planning process is built to help you identify and realise your goals. We focus on what you want to achieve and build a plan to get you there.
The investment management process follows an evidenced based methodology considering all the academic literature available to make the most informed decisions on how to invest.
Through our ongoing advice, support & coaching we’ll empower you to make decisions that align with your goals and help you stay on track.
Professional advice comes with both tangible & intangible benefits. Your detailed financial plan & one-page financial plan will cover all aspects of your planning and what’s required.
This often includes tangible benefits such as reduced taxation, reduced fees, cost of time saved and the potential for higher investment returns.
Working with us also comes with many intangible benefits – your detailed financial plan will cover everything from cash to investments. Even the most complex of financial solutions will be explained simply. Everything you will be required to do will be clear and actionable. Your plan will bring you clarity, peace of mind and confidence in your future.
Do I need advice?
There is never a bad time to seek advice and usually the sooner the better.
Typically, people first reach out to us when they have financial concerns: they’re worried about compromises they might have to make in retirement or if they’ll always have enough. Perhaps they’re concerned about taxation and the impact on them & their family. Often people with advisers contact us, they’re usually disappointed with investment performance, concerned about high fees or just don’t have the clarity they need that they’re on track.
Depending on the complexity of your situation perhaps you can. If you have relatively simplistic needs, are knowledgeable about investing and have the right temperament you may not need advice. Even still most benefit from working with a financial planner.
A comprehensive financial plan and working with professional to keep you on track towards your goals will give you peace of mind. Beyond that, we’ll help you invest smartly through evidenced based investing. We’ll identify blindspots even in the most knowledgeable do-it-yourself investor overlook.
If you’re on the fence, arrange a free introductory call we’ll get to know you better and understand whether advice is right for you or not.
Absolutely. Most of our clients previously had an adviser before they started working with us. We love working with clients who have already received advice because they’re blown away in the difference between the financial salespeople they used to work with and a financial planning professional who genuinely cares about them.
What is the advice process?
Our relationship is based on a simple three-step plan. We start with a quick phone call or video call, to get to know a little bit about you and your goals, during which we’ll arrange a free initial meeting. This our chance to get to know each other better and for us to understand you and your goals on a deeper level, understand what you’ve currently been doing and start to plan on how we can work together to achieve your goals.
If you decide to work with us, we’ll create a comprehensive financial plan based on your goals, cash, investments, insurance, tax planning & estate planning. It’s a detailed plan and roadmap for your future. The detailed plan is condensed into a one page plan, the one page plan will give you a summary of your current position with the actions needed to be taken between each meeting to keep you on track.
Once you’re up and running, we’ll meet as often as necessary based on your unique situation and goals. Typically, this varies between once to four times a year.
Nothing happens without your prior approval. In terms of the decision-making process, you can be as involved as you like. We have some clients that prefer a complete hands-off approach where they want us to make all decisions for them and other clients who want to get as involved as possible.
Expat financial planning has a bad reputation and often rightly so. Financial salespeople have caught onto this claiming they’re not like the last person whilst being no different.
We not only talk the talk, we walk it. We’re active in helping people exit toxic financial products helping over 2,000 victims of mis-selling.
Not only that, we charge a fixed fee for the development and implementation of any financial plan. Because we’re paid for our time and expertise we don’t need to sell investment products for commissions.
What protection do I have?
We don’t hold client money so there is no trading risk in working with us.
We only recommend reputable investment providers which are either based in jurisdictions with investment protections or whereby the investments are held in nominee accounts so investors are protected against the investment company failing. The level of protection you have will always be communicated to you prior to making any decision.
Investing money in any asset carries a degree of risk and you may get back less than you invested. Your financial planner will conduct a risk profile assessment as well as understanding your capacity for loss to ensure you invest in investments are right for you and your circumstances.
DTM Private Wealth is an Appointed Representative of Lawsons Network AG, who are registered as an Insurance Intermediary with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA – 37795), a member of the Client Advisors register at Association Romande des Intermédiaires Financiers (ARIF – 33974) and affiliated to Organisme de Surveillance pour Intermédiares Financiers & Trustees (SO-FIT) as an SRO – Affiliate No. 1202. Lawsons Network is a partner of Continental Group, which includes entities licensed by the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) of the UAE – License No. (608026). Lawsons Network is a partner of Beacon Global Advisor Network, LLC (BGAN) registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an investment advisor – SEC#:801-110724.
DTM Private Wealth is an Appointed Representative of Financial Services Network Ltd who are licenced as an Investment Adviser (unrestricted) and as an Insurance Broker by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission ( licence number C116016070).
How do you charge?
Our fees for producing & implementing a financial plan start from $3,000. This increases based on both the complexity of your situation & the estimated time to create and implement the solution.
Our ongoing advice and service fee is capped at 1% each year and reduces based on the amount you invest. It includes all aspects of the ongoing financial planning & wealth management service and any meetings you require throughout the year.
For one-off project work where you do not need require regular ongoing advice or support, we quote a fixed fee based on the time and complexity.
Many financial advisers don’t charge a fee for their financial plan. Instead, they rely on selling you a product to get paid. Often, they recommend the product that makes them the most rather than the right solution for you.
We take the focus away from products, we focus on you and your goals. We take time to understand you and your current situation, build you a comprehensive financial plan. We model the various scenarios you predict in your future into a cashflow forecast. We condense our advice into an overview and action points in a one-page plan. We take the time to make sure you understand and our empowered by advice. Our fees represent the time and expertise that goes into creating a bespoke financial plan to fit your needs.
We know the time and expertise your plan will require, we’ll tell you the fees upfront, before we get to the solution. We want you to be in control and to make informed decisions.
In most cases the cost of all our fees are more than covered through the reduction in your ongoing investment fees, reduced taxation, investment optimisation or fixing leaks in your other financial provisions.
We believe that our fees not only represent excellent value in the expat market, but even in the most competitive and regulated environments.