Is this brochure irresponsible.

Here is a brochure from the QROPS firm STM that is aimed at US citizens and residents. It down plays the US/UK DTA and how it treats UK pensions and that the IRS might well see any transfer of a UK pension to a Maltese QROP as a taxable event. It sounds as if they are trying to use the Malta/US DTA as a marketing tool to capture US citizen and resident clients. Also try to find information about fees and funds, you won't find any so all I can imagine is that they are ridiculous. So is this brochure irresponsible?

http://www.stm-qrops.com/US-QROPS-STM.pdf

Irresponsible? Kind of seems like any other piece of advertizing to me. Kind of reminds of me signing up with Edward Jones financial years ago......I didn't know better and I wanted some hand holding with where to put money. Once I got off my butt and at least picked up the basics of investing I realized Edward Jones was too expensive and didn't have my best interests in mind, and they make it difficult to really find out how much you will pay in expenses etc. This company kind of seems the same way. They offer a product......and if you need some hand holding and advice. I wouldn't blame someone for signing up with these folks if they are legit....anybody who has checked into the tax issues on dealing with both US+UK taxes is likely a slobbering wreck by now.

I went onto the FCA website to see if they were registered (STM Group Plc is who their brochure says they are) but couldn't find them.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/firmSearchForm.do;jsessionid=a71e48d6db5840be9181c6da1851b68e.s6fNml1Ka38InBbv-ArJrwTPoNCNa30Ocybtah0IaNuIahiIbh0IaNfwmxiInxiObk9ynhvybMSHc30Ka2aToi5hch0Na2TSn7bvq70KawTAqQ4InQXQ-BjF8NaSahyRbwbMnkrDqRfzqwbMnkrDqRfzqwbynknvrkLOlQzNp65In0__



If they are not listed with the FCA then I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole and I don't believe you can even report them to the Financial Ombudsmen for false or misleading advertising if they are not listed.

Even a worse complany then. So many of these types of places wouldn't exist if people were just a little bit educated on investing. I'm guilty as well of not knowing better until just recent years. Combination of just pure ignorance and laziness. When I was working I didn't want to spend any of my off work time doing more work. I still think there should be a way to stick just one really good class of finances into the high schools somehow. Even then there is no guarantee that it would be run well.....

I think brochures like this just point out how careful you need to be. It is trying to sell a product. They do at least suggest that you take independent tax advice, but I'm sure many people don't do it. There is no mention of fees or the funds you might get and the worst thing is the way it glosses over the protections of the US/UK DTA.

This whole area is very difficult for the regular expat. Advice is expensive and hard to come by, taxes and investing can be complex for even the simplest of circumstances and you often need to go to at least two separate professionals. Be careful out there.