15 years of bdhSterling: Reflecting on a changing financial landscape

Category: Australia & News & United Kingdom

Wednesday 22 July 2009 was a quiet day for news, with the biggest stories relating to natural phenomena.

The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century occurred and an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale had, according to the Guardian, brought New Zealand and Australia 30cm closer together

In the world of sport, England had just beaten Australia in an Ashes test at Lords for the first time since 1934.

Weathernet confirmed that the month of July 2009 was exceptionally wet with twice the national average rainfall – something any of you in the UK today may find familiar!

In other news, a small financial advice company, Global QROPS, based in Epsom, Surrey, were first authorised to provide financial advice in the UK. In 2014, that company became bdhSterling and, a decade later, we’re now celebrating our 15th birthday.

Regular newsletter readers will know a QROPS – a qualifying regulated overseas pension scheme – is one of the key financial options for anyone moving from the UK to Australia. Since day one, we’ve been helping clients moving from the UK to Australia with their financial arrangements.

In this article, you can read about how financial advice has changed since we began life in that small Epsom office, and discover some of the key moments in our 15-year history.

We were a year on from the financial crash in July 2009

In July 2009, both the UK and Australian governments (headed by Gordon Brown and Kevin Rudd respectively) were still dealing with the turmoil caused by the global financial crash the year before.

Both countries’ stock markets had bottomed out earlier in the year and were then showing signs of recovery. The FTSE 100 had risen almost 20%, from 3,830 in February 2009 to 4,576 in July 2009.

The ASX 200 had shown even sharper growth, from 3,145 on 6 March 2009 to 4,089 by July.

This chart shows the comparative UK and Australian interest rates in the last 15 years and illustrates the different ways the UK (the grey line) and Australia (the blue line) sought to recover from the crash:

Source: Trading Economics

In the UK, quantitative easing resulted almost immediately in lower interest rates to facilitate business borrowing and investment.

Conversely, the Rudd government’s post-crash stimulus package avoided recession and the Australian economy grew. Interest rates fell steadily from a 2011 peak of 4.75%, until the next financial upheaval after the 2020/21 pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine led to banks increasing the cost of borrowing on both sides of the world.

The second chart shows that there has been a much closer alignment when it comes to inflation:

Source: Trading Economics

The respective rates followed a similar path from July 2009 until post-pandemic demand and the struggle to re-open supply lines drove inflation in the UK above 10% in 2022.

There have been big advances in financial advice since 2009

Looking back over the last 15 years, one important change we have noticed has been that financial advice is now much more geared towards long-term holistic planning, rather than meeting a short-term need.

There has been a divergence between financial advisers, helping clients with a single objective transactional arrangement such as a life insurance plan, and financial planners, who provide you with a bespoke long-term financial plan that will be reviewed and updated regularly.

We are firmly in the latter camp.

We take time to understand your financial situation and get a clear idea of your goals and aspirations.

We will then work with you to develop a bespoke plan, specific to your circumstances and objectives.

This process has been greatly helped by the development of cashflow forecasting software, which has added a valuable new dimension to the planning process. In particular, it can help you “role play” certain scenarios to see how they could affect your financial position.

The advances in digital and online communication have also helped improved the efficiency and effectiveness of our relationship with you.

The timing of our launch in the aftermath of the financial crash means we have always been conscious of the importance of a robust investment strategy and having plans in place to deal with seismic financial events.

Operating in 2 countries means understanding 2 financial jurisdictions

The UK and Australia have plenty in common, including a shared language, and similar government and legal systems.

However, there are enough significant differences in taxation and financial planning to create complexity and potential pitfalls if you are moving from one country to another.

This means that having one advice company with experienced financial planners who are authorised to provide you with advice at either end of the journey can be invaluable.

For example, we can help you maximise the tax opportunities around issues such as different tax years, as well as help you avoid some of the financial mistakes that could result in you receiving an unwelcome tax bill.

Our aim is to help you make a seamless financial transition from one country to another, and to thrive in each.

Our business has grown from strength to strength

As you have read, helping many individuals and families manage the financial aspects of their move from the UK to Australia has been a key part of our business throughout the last 15 years.

Since those early days, however, our business model has expanded to provide full bespoke financial advice to over 1,200 families.

In 2020, we achieved the prestigious Chartered status from the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) in the UK. This puts us among the UK’s leading financial planning practices, meaning that you can be confident you are working with proven professionals.

In 2019, we received a great accolade by winning the top award for Excellence in Professional Development at the International Adviser Best Practice Adviser Awards. The following year, we won the same award again, and we then completed our hat-trick in 2021! These awards are highly sought after, so winning for three consecutive years is a fantastic achievement.

Get in touch

As a dual-licensed financial planning firm, we are ideally positioned to provide advice encompassing both countries.

If you would like to find out more about us and how we can help you, please get in touch with us.

Please note

The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

This article is for information only. Please do not solely rely on anything you have read in this article and ensure that you conduct your own research to ensure any actions you may take are suitable for your circumstances.

All contents are based on our understanding of HMRC and ATO legislation, which is subject to change.