Book For Expatriate Investors Appears To Have A Hungry Market
I just finished the manuscript for, what might be, the world’s only investment book for expatriates.
I asked U.S. publisher, John Wiley & Sons, if they would be willing to offer the book at a wholesale price to international businesses and schools.
They agreed to a 40 percent discount off the retail list price for orders of 30 copies or more. (How to order)
So I wanted to test the market.
I contacted a few expatriate filled establishments, asking if they would be interested in pre-ordering copies for employees.
Enthusiasm for the book surprised me.
I knew there wasn’t a similar book available for expats (which is why I wrote it) but I didn’t think the few employers I contacted would pre-order so many copies—a couple of thousand in total.
Why so popular?
One possible reason could be the void it fills. It answers questions no other book has addressed for expats:
1. How much do you need to save to retire comfortably?
2. How could rental real estate income and home country benefit pensions fit into the plan?
3. How do the stock and bond markets really work?
4. What financial services should you definitely avoid?
5. What specific investment products should you buy:
…if you’re American?
…if you’re Canadian?
…if you’re European?
…if you’re British?
…if you’re Australian?
…if you’re from New Zealand?
…if you’re from South Africa?
…if you’re from South America?
…if you’re from Asia?
6. How exactly do you make such investment purchases? (I provided screen shots and clear instructions)
7. What brokerages will accept you as a client, and which will not?
8. What are the best (and cheapest) international brokerages to use?
9. If you want a financial advisor, what trusted firms do I recommend for those of different nationalities?
The book is packed with evidence-based studies, a comprehensive index, and hundreds of supported citations. What’s more, it’s filled with personal stories from expatriates, most of whom allowed me to use their real names while describing their financial dreams, successes and failures.
I hope you find it an entertaining and educational read.
As with my first book, Millionaire Teacher, you won’t need any financial background to understand this guide.
If you employ expats and would like to pre-order copies at 40 percent off retail, or if you’re an employee able to drum up enough interest in the workplace for at least 50 copies, please let me know. Contact me with your name, address, and place of employment and how many copies you would like. I’ll then contact my publisher, and Wiley will send you an order form and an invoice.
The book should be ready by November 2014. The retail list price is $29.99 USD. Orders for international teachers exceeding 30 copies will be available for $18 per book.
Thank you, John Wiley & Sons, for your flexible generosity.
Hi Andrew
Sounds great, but it would be very helpful to know the price for this. Any chance you could post a rough estimate?
cheers
Thanks for the interest Sendaiben. The publisher hasn’t set a retail price yet. I can only guess the book would retail for about $25-$28 if it comes out in hardcover. Forty percent off that would be a $10 discount per book. When I find out for sure, I’ll let you know. Thanks for asking!
Andrew
Hi Ben,
The publisher set a retail price of $29 USD. But for international educators ordering 50+ copies, they’ll sell it for $18 each. I didn’t recall who you were when you first commented. But now I remember….you’re a star in this book!
Cheers,
Andrew
Hi Andrew
Thanks! I’ll have to see if I can rustle up 50 copies’ worth of interest 🙂
I’d also love to review/give it away on my site http://www.retirejapan.info
Really looking forward to reading.
All the best
Hi Andrew,
It’s the perfect occasion for me to chime in and to say a very big thank you for your website and “Millionaire Teacher” book. I’m a continental European expat living in Singapore, I’ve been receiving cold calls from a number of financial advisors for months and a couple of weeks ago I caved in and decided to meet one of them. Out of curiosity and to put an end to these calls first of all, but also because I happen to have followed your first rule (living like a millionnaire) for as long as I can remember and I have a lot of cash just lying around doing nothing.
The nice guy I met went on to woo me with promises of ingenious investment systems, innovative stop-loss, tax optimisation from off-shore funds on the Isle of Man, etc. It all sounded pretty nice to me since the only reference point I had was the interest rate on my savings account… He proposed I take a policy with Royal London 360, showed me a large figure representing my capital after 25 years and kept it rather short on the expense side of things. A couple of things I didn’t like (lock-in period and lack of flexibility in disposing of my money), but it still sounded okay to me.
While doing some research on this fund on the internet, knowledge is power, I discovered your site and within minutes knew I was being “played”. It’s not a scam per se, it’s just a very, very unattractive proposal and that’s exactly what I’m going to tell that guy. I read your book over a weekend a couple of weeks ago, and since then I have already opened a brokerage account with my bank in Europe and made my very first investment in some short term government bonds ETF to try it out.
I’ll be looking forward to reading your new book. I thought Millionaire Teacher was excellent, it completely opened my eyes on a topic I always neglected and allowed me to understand a good few things about investment funds.On the other hand, even though your principle can be applied pretty much anywhere in the world, my situation as a European expat in Singapore didn’t entirely fit the options put forward in the book. I thought I needed to know more about taxation, where to invest (Singapore or my home country?), which index funds / ETF are popular in Europe (Vanguard ETF in Europe aren’t very liquid, is that an issue?), etc.
I’ll probably read your book before I make the bulk of my investment.
Thanks again!
I can’t wait to read this new book Andrew….your posts always inspire me.
I’d be more than happy to read the book, of course, and offer another copy as part of a giveaway on my site to one lucky reader.
Let me know if this is possible, doing something similar for this book as I did for Millionaire Teacher.
http://www.myownadvisor.ca/my-favourite-takeaways-millionaire-teacher-and-free-book-giveaway/
I would be only so happy to do so!
All the best during your world travels!
Mark
Thanks Mark, that would be great!
I’m sure I can get Wiley to send you a couple of copies.
Andrew
Yeah, i’m looking forward to this book as well. Being in China, there are quite a few difficulties with investing and with the amount of people I have led to this web site and have borrowed my copy of the book, the interest is definately there. Hoping it will be available on Kindle as well, so I won’t have to wait for three weeks for Amazon to deliver.
Hi Neil,
It will be on Kindle. I’ll also start an online forum for folks in your situation so you can build a learning community out of it.
Cheers,
Andrew
Hello Andrew,
I for one am looking forward to buying your new book.
Don’t suppose you address the subject of estate planning for (Canadian) expats? Specifically:
– living wills
– power of attorney for personal care and property
As an expat I’m finding this kind of info tricky to come by…
Cheers,
Hi Vig,
This kind of thing is very personal, and it wouldn’t be wise to try to get general about it in a book. That said, if you want professional guidance from an expert on expatriate circumstances pertaining to estate planning and the like, Kerry Blain is excellent. http://www.kjb.bc.ca/
Thanks Andrew. Truly appreciate your personal responses that you so often provide.
Hi Adam,
enjoyed the millionaire teacher and wish I had read it when it came out- wont make same mistake this time.
One interesting group of expats are the Irish esp with so many EFTs and index funds based in Ireland.
Very very confusing about tax implications as orodinary residency stays for 3 full years after you leave Ireland.
Will you be covering them in your book or the thorny problem of actually bringing your funds home ( one day)??
Or do you have any irish contacts to help??
I’ll have specific nationality repatriation sources and articles on this website. The book will also link to them. With readers’ comments to augment the specifics, it’s a better venue for repatriation details than a book would be. The book will also have a link to the repatriation section on my blog.
Cheers,
Andrew
Thanks – that sounds an excellent resource.
Kevin
Hi Andrew,
When it will be available on Kindle? Do you know if it will be on Kobo too, and when?
regards
Thanks for your interest in the book Pierre. I’ll try putting out an announcement when I find out.
Cheers,
Andrew