How FX Brokers Help You Avoid Thousands in Fees | Ask An Expert with David Nixon (We’re The Brits In America S1:E34)

Transferring large amounts of money overseas can incur significantly large fees, if you go through the banks. FX brokers offer faster transactions, better fees and higher security. So how do they do it? And how much is there to be saved? This week for Ask An Expert, Richard is joined by FX broker David Nixon, Senior Partnerships Manager at Currencies Direct.

They explore the process, benefits and FAQs of foreign currency conversion through a broker. You’ll find out how Currencies Direct offer solutions for clients who need to transfer large amounts of money or navigate banking limits. Plus, Richard and David talk about their strategies for navigating the complexities of property transactions in the US.

We’re the Brits in America is affiliated with Plan First Wealth LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Plan First Wealth.

Information presented is for educational purposes only and does not intend to make an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific securities, investments, or investment strategies. Investments involve risk and unless otherwise stated, are not guaranteed. Be sure to first consult with a qualified financial adviser and/or tax professional before implementing any strategy discussed herein. Plan First Wealth does not provide any tax and/or legal advice and strongly recommends that listeners seek their own advice in these areas.

About Richard

Richard Taylor is a British expat, dual citizen (UK & US). Originally from Bolton, he now lives in Greenwich, CT, where Plan First Wealth has its head office.

As the firm’s leader, Richard launched Taylor & Taylor, now Plan First Wealth, and continues to fuel the firm’s growth. Richard is a Chartered Financial Planner (UK – CII) in addition to holding the IMC (CFA UK) and Series 65 (US – FINRA).

Connect with Richard on LinkedIn

About David

David Nixon is a global foreign exchange expert specializing in referral-based partnerships to help private and business clients secure competitive rates and streamline international payments. With a focus on educating clients for more cost-effective solutions, he brings extensive experience with real estate professionals and cross-border transactions. David is dedicated to guiding clients through the complexities of foreign exchange with confidence and ease.

Connect with David on LinkedIn

 

Transcript:

Richard Taylor:

[00:00:30 – 00:02:40]

Welcome to We’re the Brits In America, the podcast for Brits in America by Brits in America, dedicated to helping British expats thrive in America. I’m your host Richard Taylor and Plan First Wealth is the business I founded and run today and we work with successful British expatriates living across the US to make the most of their opportunity and avoid the expat landmines. However, while Plan First Wealth LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Plan First Wealth. Information presented is for educational purposes only. Now, if you aren’t already receiving our weekly emails, please go to our website, planfirstwealth.com and sign up to WealthHub. It’s free and you’ll then be notified every time we drop a new episode and so much more. Alrighty, let’s get back to this week’s show. Welcome to our Ask an Expert show where I invite a fellow professional in the US UK Cross border space to come in and talk to me about the issues we think Brits in America need to be aware of if they’re going to thrive here. My guest today is David Nixon. David is the Senior Partnerships Manager in the Florida Office of Currencies Direct, a Blackstone backed foreign exchange broker. Originally from Newcastle, but now a longtime US resident and a fellow dual citizen, David is a highly experienced foreign exchange professional who has been helping Brits and many other nationalities across the US move their money between currencies safely, securely and for a much better rate than they would get at their bank. And that’s really why we’re here today. Because amongst the many things that still surprise me after nearly 13 years as an expatriate right up there is how often I still encounter people using their bank to transfer their funds. They are leaving money, good money, thousands of dollars on the table and the service is usually pretty terrible. In fact, it’s worse than leaving money on the table. They’re giving it to their bank. So I thought I’d bring David in and have him share with the world that there is a better way. A much better way. So, without further ado, let’s get into this. Hi David, welcome to we’re the Brits in America.

David Nixon:

[00:02:40 – 00:02:50]

Thank you Richard. I am absolutely delighted to be here. And thank you so much for that introduction. I mean, goodness me, I don’t think even my mother would say such nice things about me, but appreciate that quite a lot.

Richard Taylor:

[00:02:51 – 00:03:15]

Well, I meant every word of it. So just so everyone knows, you know, we have A relationship with you guys. Had a relationship with you guys for a while. So full disclosure. But, you know, I know what you guys do is super valuable and I wanted to have you on here to share that with the world for those who still don’t know. And as I said then, I’m gobsmacked by those who still don’t know. Let’s spread the word. But before we do that, tell us in your own words how you ended up sat here in this unfortunate position.

David Nixon:

[00:03:15 – 00:03:27]

Talking to me with a huge slice of fortune at nearly every possible turn. But originally, obviously from Hexham, which is about 20 miles from Newcastle, were the.

Richard Taylor:

[00:03:27 – 00:03:29]

People of Hexenby coming up for me with pitchforks.

David Nixon:

[00:03:29 – 00:03:57]

I said Newcastle. Yeah, yeah. Because, yeah, maybe slightly we want to represent ourselves. Absolutely. Very different. We’re Northumbrians, we’re from Tynedale, we’re definitely our own people, but Newcastle being the sort of the nearest city and the thing that a lot of us as football fans identify as Newcastle United fans. So it just makes it a lot easier if I just tell everybody I’m a Geordie and I’m from Newcastle. That tends to put things on the right foot.

Richard Taylor:

[00:03:57 – 00:04:02]

Well, I understand that, but I do offer this apology to any Hexam people who happen to be tuning in today.

David Nixon:

[00:04:02 – 00:05:49]

Yeah, yeah, I think there’s probably three of us in the whole of the usa. So a very limited amount of people that have managed to escape that particular place in the uk. And I think escaping was just a huge part of like, you know, what I wanted to do as a kid, a little small town, you know, so the opportunity after college or university, I should say, came to go and work and live in Europe. A 21 year old boy had the opportunity to become a holiday republic for Cosmos Holidays. So any Brits out there that might have holidayed in the 70s or 80s and went to Spain or Greece, there’s a good chance that we’re using Cosmos Holidays, which were the largest independent tour operator and holiday repping abroad. It is fun. It’s as fun as it looked and it sounded. But it was also extremely challenging, especially from someone like myself, who I consider myself quite a shy person. And then all of a sudden I’m Thrust Talking to 400 people, vacationing, you know, in some of the hellest of holes in the whole of sp. And not only are you dealing with loads of complaints, but you’re also expected to sell a ton of excursions at the same time. So I think the experience that that gave me was phenomenal. It Helped me come out of my shell. It helped me communicate with people from all works of life and also gave me that experience of living in a foreign country. And I think once I’d experienced that difference, there was no turning back. And eventually, through work, I got the opportunity to come and live and work in the United States. And at that time, we’re looking at two. I mean, it was just a great opportunity to come to a place that that particular time was suffering financially, and a time to come and really establish myself in the United States. And as a Brit, I think there’s always been that romance about living in the United States. I don’t know if it was the same for you, but for me, it was definitely a huge factor in me coming to work in the usa.

Richard Taylor:

[00:05:49 – 00:06:19]

Yeah. So I think America is, you know, love it or hate it, America is the leader. And there is a romance for that. And then there’s also the familiarity that we just. I think we think we know America. We’re disabused with that notion when we get here. But the special relationship and all the movies and the common language in inverted commas, because there’s a lot of differences and there’s just the vastness, and there is also the opportunity. Right. To come and make it in America. And it’s kind of like a romance and intoxication in that.

David Nixon:

[00:06:19 – 00:06:19]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:06:19 – 00:06:20]

Yes, I felt that.

David Nixon:

[00:06:20 – 00:08:28]

Yeah, I think so. Like, I mean, honestly, I arrived here from Spain and as someone that was working in tourism there, you know, hadn’t made a lot of money, I didn’t arrive in America with a lot, and I do kind of feel like it was a suitcase and I landed here, and the opportunities, they just kept opening up for me. As a Brit in the United States, I didn’t intend to come here and listen, I’m only going to be friends with British people. But typically what happened was I just kind of generated or kind of like grew towards them, you know. So I would say the majority of people that I’ve met here and have become close friends with or have done business with are Brits. And, in fact, how I came to work for Currencies Direct was actually through some guys that I was playing golf with at the time, a big, large expat group of people here in central Florida. And it was actually in a bathroom when someone came up to me and looked over and said, hey, do you want to come and work for me at Currencies Direct? And at the time, you know, it was. What is all this about? Absolutely, yeah, I’d love to do that because I think when it comes to foreign exchange, I think a problem that Currencies Direct was having here was that actually in the United States, there’s a very lack of information around that particular subject. As opposed to someone who’s grown up in Europe, we have that innate relationship with foreign exchange right back from when we were kids going on vacation to Spain or France. I remember what the franc was or the deutsche mark or the peseta was. And so I had that idea that currency exchange is different. It moves all of the time. One year I was getting this amount of pesetas for my dot pounds and the next year I was getting a different amount. Right. Because of changes in that particular system. So the learning around the that particular thing is just, I think a lot more accelerated for somebody from Europe. And it’s something that over time, especially here in Currencies Direct, where we’ve grown our office, there’s four Europeans here, but the rest of our team here are all Americans. And we’ve had a really great chance to sort of educate them on the industry, but also to, you know, bring up their standards, because American people are extremely motivated colleagues and they’re great people, you know, to have working alongside us. So it’s been a fun journey so far for sure.

Richard Taylor:

[00:08:28 – 00:08:31]

So when was this? When did you start at Currencies Direct?

David Nixon:

[00:08:31 – 00:08:59]

Yeah, this was 2014. So I got offered the job in February. They said, do you want to come and work for us? I said, I can’t because my current visa is an L1A visa. It won’t allow me to move. But I was just started dating a girl at the time. Her name is Jamie, and we just decided, you know, like, let’s get married. I’m going to get this great job at Currencies directly and we’ll be good. And that’s exactly what we did. So six months later we were married and pretty much the next day I started working for Currencies Direct.

Richard Taylor:

[00:08:59 – 00:09:00]

So nice.

David Nixon:

[00:09:00 – 00:09:24]

Again, a lot of luck involved in that. And, you know, and thankfully, 10 years later, it’s worked out just great. And we have two wonderful children. In fact, one of them is their fifth birthday today. So really fabulous journey. And Currencies Direct, you know, definitely accelerated that journey for me because I’m not sure I would have taken the step into marriage without such a good job offer.

Richard Taylor:

[00:09:24 – 00:09:26]

Brilliant. Are you only kidding? Five today.

David Nixon:

[00:09:26 – 00:09:27]

Yeah, yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:09:27 – 00:09:28]

My oldest.

David Nixon:

[00:09:28 – 00:09:42]

Yeah. So pretty. Pretty crazy journey with her. So I was 39 before I became a father and now I’ve got two so really the best thing that’s ever happened in my life. And I know that’s cliche, but it’s absolutely true.

Richard Taylor:

[00:09:42 – 00:09:43]

It’s a wild ride, right?

David Nixon:

[00:09:43 – 00:09:43]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:09:43 – 00:10:14]

We’ve got a five year old and we’re now realizing that we’re not far off. The last time you picked them up. Yeah, you know, I’ve got a bit longer than my wife, but my wife’s getting to a point where she won’t be able to pick you up and you start to, you feel, I mean, we’re feeling it, we’re very conscious of it. And it’s going to be, it’s gonna, it’s, you know, you want life to progress, you want people to grow up, you want to be part of that journey. But there’s a sense of mourning at every stage. But when you’re in it, when you’re in that stage, it’s blooming hard work. The days are. What is it? The days along. The years are short. That’s. It’s so true.

David Nixon:

[00:10:14 – 00:10:16]

It’s exactly how it feels.

Richard Taylor:

[00:10:16 – 00:10:26]

You’ve been at currency direct for 12 years when. So Currency Direct, I just read between the lines what you said then was an established company in Europe or elsewhere in the world, but was struggling to make waves in America.

David Nixon:

[00:10:27 – 00:10:32]

I think it was just a brand new office for them. It had been around for about six months at that particular time.

Richard Taylor:

[00:10:33 – 00:10:35]

Right from the start, practically.

David Nixon:

[00:10:35 – 00:11:50]

Yeah, pretty much so. Yeah. So to see where we were then in terms of the product that we were offering clients then to see the products and the solutions that we solve now it’s night and day. So to be able to be a part of, you know, helping so many people along the way, move huge sums of money for a variety of life changing transactions and be able to handhold them through that process and be able to talk to them like a human being about the best decisions for them within that process has been something that just happened to suit my skill set down to the ground. I always talk about, I’m not necessarily a great salesperson, but when it comes to relationships, that’s obviously key in our industry because again, it’s great to move small amounts of travel money. But when you’ve got private clients buying and selling property, for example, or emigrating here to the United States with huge sums of money to transfer or invest here, being able to give them advice, help them stay away from pitfalls in the process really is a job that brings us a lot of joy every day to be a part of. And it’s a really great Industry as well, with a lot of upside. So the future looks bright from our point of view.

Richard Taylor:

[00:11:50 – 00:11:55]

Good. Right, well look, let’s talk about this. And so right down to basics. So what would you guys do and why?

David Nixon:

[00:11:56 – 00:12:42]

Yeah, so we’re a foreign exchange and international payments company. Really we’re an international payments company, you know, with an FX element to it. And primarily if you’re using banks to do transfers. And there’s three things that we look to to be a comparison to them. First, number one is price. So if you were just to compare our exchange rates with the exchange rates offered by a bank in the U.K. for example, or a U.S. based bank, our exchan rates are going to be much, much better. And again, if we’re helping a client save 2 to 3% on £1,000, maybe that’s not such a huge difference. However, if somebody has got 200, 300, 400,000 to move and we can help save them 2 or 3% versus their bank, then that’s an absolutely huge chunk of change for the client.

Richard Taylor:

[00:12:42 – 00:12:48]

Like I said, thousands of dollars or thousands of pounds, we’re talking thousands. And once you get into the millions.

David Nixon:

[00:12:48 – 00:12:50]

Tens of thousands, a hundred percent.

Richard Taylor:

[00:12:51 – 00:13:24]

And I just want to jump in here because when we have these conversations and we ask people how they move money around, they’ll say the bank and then they’ll say there’s no charge. So I just want to, I want to just spend a second just to. When you approach your bank, the charge for FX is not an explicit charge. Generally it is the exchange rate you get. And when you go to your bank versus someone like David or another broker, you might not get an explicit charge, but you are getting an exchange rate that is better or worse than it could be. And the worse it is, the more is your fee, basically.

David Nixon:

[00:13:24 – 00:14:39]

Yes, absolutely. So if you look at just again the exchange rate at any particular time with your bank, it is one thing versus a foreign exchange company, it’s a completely different exchange rate. Again, banks you’re dealing with also, you know, people in branches most often than not because again, it’s very difficult to do these transactions online. You know it as well as I do. UK banks, for example, have limits on the amount of transfers that you can do in any one time. There’s also fees as well for transacting the funds. But generally speaking, you have one exchange rate that’s live, it moves all of the time, we know it. Or call it the mid market rate or interbank rate and then you’ve got the rate that the bank offers you within the margin between the rate that your bank has given you and that actual mid market rate, that is where the bank is making their revenue. Now, because that margin is so large, it’s quite easy for us to go in there, offer a much better exchange rate that helps that client save a lot of money. But at the same time, by concentrating on these really large transactions, it’s helping us because we get to make our money on a much smaller margin but on a much larger volume of turnover. So that’s generally the same for not only our company, but every other company that’s in our industry.

Richard Taylor:

[00:14:39 – 00:14:50]

Yeah. Perfect. So putting a figure on it is the 2 to 3% range, like you say, $1,000. Not huge potatoes, but once you’re getting into the hundreds and the millions, serious money.

David Nixon:

[00:14:50 – 00:16:52]

Yeah. And then you’ve also got the other elements of it in terms of speed and expertise. So for example, again, when you’re making a large transaction with a bank or you’re sending that money to a third party in a foreign country, again you’re having to give those banking details to somebody in your local bank in the uk, or if you’re sending money back, you’re going to have to go into the American bank. An American person in a bank account isn’t going to necessarily know what a sort code is. You know, they’re not necessarily going to be able to tell you how that transaction is going to complete. And then the receiving bank on the other side probably has a few questions when it comes to what on earth is this huge transaction of 400,000 landing on our bank account? And guess what, banks, they’re not proactive about reaching out to you because customer service has been stripped away from all of them. So generally speaking, when you don’t see your money land in your bank account, then you’re going to be wanting to speak to a human being about that process, especially if you’ve been up for two or three nights worrying where the funds are going to be going. And finally, thing that a lot of people misconsider as well is the security of funds. And it’s again, I just want to use my bank because it feels safe and familiar. Banks, they all have limits on the amount of money that they Insure. In the UK, I think it’s as small as £85,000. A company like Currencies Direct, because we’re what we consider a money services business, we have to consider and insure the whole amount of the transactions. So actually we are taking the liability off your hands and off the bank’s hands to make these transactions for you. And generally our transactions happen within one working day. So in terms of speed and security, not only are we quicker than a bank, but generally speaking, when sending large amounts of money overseas, we’re more secure because we’ll do all of our stuff. In terms of pre compliance, when we onboard you as a client, we want to know why are you sending the money, where is it coming from and what is the reason for the transaction? And if you’ve got like most people would have all of their ducks in a row, they’d be able to answer those questions easily. It would allow us to release those payments quickly without any hesitation from our behalf whatsoever.

Richard Taylor:

[00:16:52 – 00:17:00]

Wait, I didn’t know that. So you’re saying if I was moving a million pounds out of the uk, say the bank could potentially only be insured up to 85 grand?

David Nixon:

[00:17:00 – 00:18:00]

Yeah, true, but again, I mean, these large banks aren’t necessarily going to go bust, for example, and generally there are things in place that will help you get your money back. So in the uk with the Financial Conduct Authority, but that doesn’t say there’s going to be delays within that process. And I never thought a bank, you know, I was kind of one of those people that would be like, well, a bank is never going to fail. But here in the United States, just in the last couple of years, we’ve seen Silicon Valley bank, you know, be in a situation where they had to shut down and deposits were frozen for, you know, a period of time. Now, luckily there were things in place that meant that everybody received their full amount of funds back. However, you know, there are delays and I can tell you from dealing with clients that had money with that bank, a lot of worry in those particular times, which again is probably something that, you know, you need to think about when you’re moving these huge sums of money, especially via wire transfer, which is very difficult to reverse. Big decisions to make for sure.

Richard Taylor:

[00:18:01 – 00:18:46]

You know, I just think about trying to. Obviously I use an FX broker personally and for my business, but I just think about going into like the local Wells Fargo around the corner and trying to, trying to talk to them Here. I live in a village, in a village, right? So I live in town of Greenwich, but I live in a little village called Glenville. So going there and asking them to move a substantial sum of money and it’d be blank stares and then, you know, they’d whip out a paper form and it’d go, it would be, it’d be in transit somewhere for a couple of days. And I wouldn’t know who to talk to. And I caught in the helpline, just. I just wouldn’t want to do that. Whereas having. It’s a double whammy if we just put the safety to one side for a second. Right. Let’s just assume we live in this perfect situation where banks aren’t going to go bust, but it’s just, just you save money and you’re gonna have a better experience.

David Nixon:

[00:18:46 – 00:18:47]

Yeah. 100.

Richard Taylor:

[00:18:47 – 00:19:13]

And you’re gonna have someone to talk to. And I’m sure you can’t guarantee everything, but because this is what you do, the wrinkles, the blockages that occur downstream, you’ve taken care of them upstream. So it just should be a much smoother experience. And if it’s. By the way, if it’s not, they’ve got your number, they can speak to you or whoever they’re dealing with, they can get answers and they can go and investigate it. Rather than when you call your bank and you get. Computer says no. Computer says no.

David Nixon:

[00:19:13 – 00:20:08]

Yeah. And we’re also, as a company, we’re very much invested in where we got that piece of business as well. For example, so let’s just say you were to refer me to a client. That client becomes doubly important to me because not only do we need to make sure that we offer them great service, and we’re doing that primarily because we want them to turn around to you and say, hey, we had a great experience with currencies Direct. David really helped me understand the process. And because of that, you know, thank you very much. Right. That’s really what we want in essence, when we have partnerships, which is primarily what we deal in, our leads are not necessarily. Or our clients aren’t necessarily coming from online searches. Most of our clients, because there are higher value in nature, are referred to us by a professional that is within an industry, either like wealth management or one that I specialize in in particular, which is property.

Richard Taylor:

[00:20:08 – 00:20:13]

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Your name came up in conversation today with Matt Dixon, fellow Boltonian.

David Nixon:

[00:20:13 – 00:20:18]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good, good, good man, good man. A northerner as well. We like to.

Richard Taylor:

[00:20:18 – 00:20:20]

Yeah. From Bolton.

David Nixon:

[00:20:20 – 00:20:21]

Yeah, he’s from Bolton.

Richard Taylor:

[00:20:21 – 00:20:28]

Yeah. We drank in the same pubs, we parted in the same clubs, although probably in different eras. Right. So case closed.

David Nixon:

[00:20:29 – 00:20:29]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:20:29 – 00:20:49]

Save money and have a better experience. That’s why we use FX brokers. That’s why everyone moving money around should use FX broker or an international money payments company, whatever you call yourself. I call you an FX broker. But let’s talk. How does it actually Work. So I want to move some, I want to move pounds in the UK into the us. What happens?

David Nixon:

[00:20:49 – 00:23:38]

Well, first of all, absolutely register for a free account and you can do this with multiple brokers if necessary. But generally speaking, to register, it’s a simple link. It’s very basic information about yourself. Your name, your address, your contact details. And then basically then we need to verify who you are so you can upload clear images of your passport, Ford or driver’s license, for example. And once we’ve verified who you are, your account is open and it’s free to use and there’s no obligation to trade whatsoever. So if you want to go in there and just have a look at the exchange rate, have a look at the platform, see how user friendly it is, that is absolutely your prerogative. However, you also get an account manager once your account is active, who will reach out to you to say, hey, I’m here if you need me at any point. These are all of my contact details and I can call you up and arrange everything for you over a telephone call. Now the reason why this is great again is because you do have a lot of companies in our industry that are only online based and if you’re sending a couple of thousand dollars to yourself, absolutely fine to use, no issues whatsoever. However, you’ve got a large amount of money and you need to plan that kind of money. Your account manager can help do all of that for you over the telephone. They can discuss strategies with you depending on how long you have to make this transaction. That can either help you save money in the long run or hedge against something potentially terrible happening to the exchange or the currency that you’re particularly buying. So the account manager plays an important function, especially for larger transactions. But again, the way that it would work on a telephone call was if you said, I want to buy US$100,000, they would tell you, right, at today’s rate, this is how many pounds you need to send us. If you say, yeah, go ahead, we want to lock in that exchange rate at that time. Currencies Direct uses its own money. We buy your US Dollars for you and those US Dollars are set in the United States, ready to be sent to your bank account. We then give you two or three days to send those pounds to our UK based bank account, in this case which would be with Barclays. And as soon as we’ve received those funds via a domestic transaction, we are then free to clear it and pay it out on the other side. So it’s a very quick and simple process that you can go it alone and, and do everything online, or if you want to be walked through the process one or two times before you do that, absolutely, you can do that as well. So for clients that are moving a lot, a lot of money, that aren’t tech savvy, that generally need some customer service or a lot of questions answering, then we completely empathize and we understand that. So that’s what we’re here to do, is to provide, you know, great service, but also, you know, help people save money along the way. At the same time, do you find.

Richard Taylor:

[00:23:38 – 00:23:50]

That’S how it frequently works? The first few times, there’s a lot of hand holding, coaxing through, you know, just getting people comfortable and understanding. Then once people are trusting the system, they’ll just go online and do it themselves.

David Nixon:

[00:23:50 – 00:24:16]

Yeah, so we’re quite lucky. So again, working in the property space, from my point of view, it generally involves an introduction from a Realtor or a tax company. And generally speaking, there either has to be a transaction like a deposit coming first, which is a small amount, followed by a large amount, you know, the second time. So generally once people see that it works, once you know that, they come a lot more comfortable with that process, which I think is a fair statement to make.

Richard Taylor:

[00:24:17 – 00:24:40]

Does everyone have a dedicated account manager? So everyone at Currency Direct has an individual, a named individual, who they have a direct link to telephone, email. They’re not going into a telephone tree, they’re not going into a call center. They’re not speaking to a different person each time. There’s not a mailbox at the email. It’s a human being who owns their situation, their account.

David Nixon:

[00:24:41 – 00:26:08]

Yeah, exactly. It’s a human being that owns the situation. 100% account manager. For every single client, whether it’s a business or an individual, they are eager to help out. They pride themselves on what they do. And again, from their standpoint, they’re just basically given information and then allowing that client to make a judgment based on that particular conversation. An account manager can make allowances and they have the discretion to obviously take care of you, because in our industry, obviously our industry reputation is paramount. And I think from Currencies Direct standpoint, if you were to check us out online versus on a trust pilot, for example, we’re by far and away the best rated foreign exchange company because we do a lot of this handholding for clients. We do a lot of that personal service which just isn’t there for other companies because they have way too many customers. And generally speaking, they’re Transferred much smaller amounts. So again, you know, their service is spread out as opposed to with us, that dedicated account manager every single time. And generally speaking also someone like me in the background who has a vested interest in the happiness of that client, again overseeing the process as well. So lots of sets of eyes on every client to offer assistance. Never let anybody, you know, go asking for a phone call and not getting one back. So very important part of our process for sure.

Richard Taylor:

[00:26:08 – 00:26:12]

Good. Do you see many people hedging?

David Nixon:

[00:26:12 – 00:27:54]

Yeah. Now particularly especially people who have given themselves a lot of time to make a decision. So a couple of the things that we’ve seen. So let’s just say again, I’ve got, I need to transfer, you know, $200,000 to the UK at some point or other. A lot of people can break that transaction down into 10 smaller transactions. Say for example, if they’re targeting year is a year and date and then what happens with 10 smaller transactions is you’re getting an average of the exchange rate over that 12 months. So never the best rate, never the worst rate, but you know, you’re getting an average within that particular timeframe. We also see a lot of people in that situation, especially now using things like a forward contract which allows clients to lock in today’s rate for up to 12 months, in some cases up to 24 months for a 10% deposit. And the great thing about a product like that is let’s just say I’m buying an investment in the UK, it’s going to cost me, I don’t know, $1 million. I get to buy the $1 million, but I only have to commit 100,000 right now to secure that rate. Currencies Direct has bought that a million dollars and when you resend this, the further 900 in 11 months time or whatever, then they’ll make the payment for the client. Now the benefit for that person is they’ve got $900,000 now that could be sat in a high interest account, you know, earning interest and they haven’t had to commit it to their purchase of pounds which they don’t need for like another 12 months, for example. So again, these are the kind of conversations that people would have depending on their requirements with their account manager.

Richard Taylor:

[00:27:54 – 00:28:05]

Yeah, I was thinking about property as well, because you can agree to buy a house and a property and not buy it for what, 90 days long? Yeah, exchange rate can move a lot in that time. Yeah, hopefully not, but it can do.

David Nixon:

[00:28:05 – 00:28:25]

Oh yeah, definitely. And I mean yesterday a change of half a percent, there was a day last month that it moved by 2% in one particular day. The US dollar against a basket of currencies. So, again, 2% if you just made the transaction the day before. You know what I mean? But on the flip side, somebody’s on the right side of that as well.

Richard Taylor:

[00:28:26 – 00:29:01]

What we find about currency, David. So we do a lot of pensions, we manage a lot of pensions for clients. So obvious, obviously, those UK pensions start in pounds and eventually we want to get them into dollars because most of our clients retiring in the us. And what I find is that people agonize about the FX rate. Agonize like they’re checking their apps daily and they’re just constantly worrying about it, even though they’ve got no control over it. And we used to agonize over it as well, until I got to a point where after I’ve been doing it long enough and seeing people go through this emotional roller coaster, I just said to people, look, if you’re confident, you’re saying, in the us, convert it.

David Nixon:

[00:29:01 – 00:29:02]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:29:02 – 00:29:23]

And because what I’ve seen is once people convert it, they stop thinking about it, they stop worrying about it and they just get on with their lives. And generally, what I’ve seen is it either works out the same or better. It’s probably because the dollar strengthened in the last few years, but I’ve not seen anyone be materially disadvantaged by that financially. But I have seen them be materially advantaged emotionally.

David Nixon:

[00:29:23 – 00:29:24]

Yes.

Richard Taylor:

[00:29:24 – 00:29:39]

And I think that’s the flip side to that is this forward hedging is if you don’t do it, you will spend however long that period of time is before you need that money. You will agonize, you will worry, you will stress, and then eventually, if you win, you’ll be happy. If you lose, it will gnaw away.

David Nixon:

[00:29:39 – 00:29:40]

At you big time.

Richard Taylor:

[00:29:41 – 00:29:42]

Lock it in.

David Nixon:

[00:29:42 – 00:30:47]

Yeah, I agree. I mean, when people ask us for advice all of the time, but generally speaking, we’d end up with egg on our face. Nearly. Like every time. I always tell the story about the day before Brexit, we had a lot of people interested in moving their funds. And if you’d have asked me the day before what the PO rate was going to be the next day, I would have been incredibly wrong, because I would have assumed, just by looking at the polling that we’re going to remain and nothing’s really going to happen with the pound, except maybe it gets stronger. What happens is the next day there’s this huge change. It resulted in probably the busiest day in our industry’s history. Because it obviously generated a lot of panic, but also it offered a lot of opportunity for people at the same time. So those huge currency exchange rate movements, they actually benefit companies like ours, but it causes a lot of stress for our clients. So in that respect, it’s obviously something that, you know, we’d prefer people just to, you know, look at the circumstances. What is going to be the most stress free from them? Because nobody has a crystal ball. Yeah, nobody can predict what’s going to happen, especially in a volatile global community like we live in today.

Richard Taylor:

[00:30:47 – 00:31:07]

I think people underweight the emotional impact of this stuff as well. I think they come at it from a pure numbers point and without necessarily realizing the emotional toil it will have on them. I remember the Brexit thing well, like you, I was not expecting it, but the pound go from about 1.55 to about 1.2 eventually. I mean, that it just cratered.

David Nixon:

[00:31:07 – 00:31:11]

Yeah, crater, yeah, it was a, it was a crazy day.

Richard Taylor:

[00:31:11 – 00:31:22]

Yeah, I bet it was. So do you, Are there any like, common pitfalls that you see or what are the kind of like most common pitfalls that you see and the ones that you can preempt? Yeah, that might not happen. They might not preempt till they go elsewhere.

David Nixon:

[00:31:22 – 00:33:17]

Yeah, I think you think of the. In the uk, for example, is just banking limits. So if you’re not in the United Kingdom and you need to transfer money from the uk, then generally there’s banking limits on the amount of transfers that you need to do. So let’s just say you are working with a company and you commit to sending them £50,000, for example, if it’s an online provider or whatever that may be. And then all of a sudden you go to transfer that money and your bank says, well, listen, you’re going to have to do 10,000 a day for the next five days. Right. That is obviously again a very stressful situation to be in. And generally speaking, the company that’s waiting for your is asking, where’s your money? Where’s your money? Where’s your money? So again, you’re not having to deal with a bank in a foreign country all the time, but you’re also having to deal with somebody who’s expecting those funds on the other side. And in the United States there is a ton of issues. I’m sure you probably feel the same way about the US banking system that I do, but it is fraught with problems. And again, when it comes to problems, it allows companies like ours to offer solutions which really help us with our sort of go to market strategy. So in the US in particular, there’s laws surrounding the Patriot act which came in after 9, 11, and this came in basically to prevent terrorist financing from overseas within the US banking community. And basically it suggests that if you’re not physically in the United States, you cannot transfer your funds from a US bank account. So if you’re an investor or you’ve moved back to the UK and you’ve got funds sat in a US bank, then generally speaking, if you ask your bank to transfer those funds, they’re going to say no, you have to walk into a branch and show us a copy of your ID before we transfer those funds out for you. So again, that causes lots of issues for people. And again, that would be the thing that I would say that flabbergasts most people until they come up with a solution or they get put in touch with somebody who can offer them a solution like we can.

Richard Taylor:

[00:33:17 – 00:33:18]

What is a solution?

David Nixon:

[00:33:18 – 00:34:19]

So from our point of view, this isn’t the most glamorous of solutions. We have a couple of them, but one of them is that we can link bank accounts now with US based bank accounts and we can transact some money from US bank accounts that way. The other solution is that you can use a debit card. But both of those instances, they are very small amounts because of again the US bank will limit the amount of money you can transfer that way. The final way is the US are still crazy, luckily enough for us, about paper checks. So if you’ve got a bunch of money in a US bank account, you can simply write a check to Currencies direct. We bank it with our bank. It actually incredibly takes two weeks to clear. But once it’s clear, then that money can be transferred exactly the way that it was before. And it saved a person the cost and the misery of a nine hour flight, you know, back to the USA to transfer those funds from a bank account that, you know, wasn’t helping them out very much.

Richard Taylor:

[00:34:19 – 00:34:22]

Wow, the US banking system, eh? Yeah, in all its glory.

David Nixon:

[00:34:23 – 00:37:57]

Yeah. I mean one thing that we found, you know, in the, in the property sector is where we found our biggest sort of opportunity I would say to date has been in the last, you know, three or four years since COVID So if you know anything about sort of the investment in US residential property by foreigners, in 2017 there was $157 billion worth of property bought by private individuals here in the usa. Now one thing that we know about foreign buyers is foreign buyers become foreign sellers eventually in most cases Unless people emigrate here. Foreign sellers are subjected to something called firpta, which is the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax act, which basically withholds 15% of their property sale proceeds and it gets sent to the irs. Now, the IRS will give you that money back eventually, but they’ll do it via two methods. One is via a paper US dollar check sent to your address wherever you live in the world, and good luck banking it in a foreign country. The second one is they’ll transfer money to your US based bank account. However, if you transfer money into a US based bank account and you’re not physically here, well, guess what, it’s stuck. Yeah. So what we’ve done is we partnered with JPMorgan Chase, they gave us virtual accounting to use, and now we’re able to collect funds for individuals into their own individual US based domestic account. We call it a personal collections account because it’s used to receive property proceeds, it’s used to receive funds from the irs. And we’re the only company that’s really looking to, you know, connect the dots for the foreign seller, for example. So a foreign seller, they’re in a really horrible situation when they come to sell. There’s not a lot of information and advice out there. And left to their own device, that is going to be a disaster for most people. So we found by partnering with the top four firms in the world, when it comes to dealing with this firm withholding tax, we’re able to offer solutions to their clients, which helps those particular companies and it allows us to deal with not only the property proceeds and transferring those funds back to wherever those clients live in the world, but it also allows us to seamlessly collect those funds from the I IRS as part of their tax withholding. So by connecting the dots, by being better connected with our major partners, then that’s really helped us streamline a process for thousands of foreigners that are selling property here in the United States. Because GUESS what, since 2017, property prices has gone up by about 50% in that particular time. And the U.S. dollar at the same time has gone up by about 25% versus about basket of currencies. So foreigners, you never want to turn your big winners into losers. And these foreigners are typically people that are much older. They’re like my parents. They made a great investment back when 1 pound was $2. And now they’ve really got this opportunity to spend that money in their retirement to buy a villa a little bit closer to home because their grandkids have grown up now and Spain’s a Lot closer and a lot easier and it can us to a flight. So that’s been a massive accelerator for our business in the last few years and it came from solving a problem that was within a huge industry which is obviously property in the United States. And it’s allowed our company to really accelerate towards our goals in the future, which is really exciting to have been a part of that from the very, very beginning.

Richard Taylor:

[00:37:57 – 00:38:06]

Is this the property ecosystem thing that we were talking about the other day? Yeah, just smoothing all this out, Just making this challenging transaction easier.

David Nixon:

[00:38:06 – 00:39:02]

Yeah, exactly. Smoother. Exactly. So, you know, most people now, and I try and find someone who hasn’t browsed to have a look at property in Italy or property in Spain. And now for people like Americans that are doing that process again, they’re flying to Spain to try and buy a property and then, oh, we found one, we needed to get $3,000 deposit here, let me call my bank. And then all of a sudden they’re not physically in the United States. They cannot make that deposit. Having to fly back to the United States to make their deposit for their property purch in Europe, for example. So yeah, in Europe we’ve got products that will help like notaries in that particular area, collect funds, send alerts to people to say we’ve received the money, you know, and again, make that whole process about buying a property in a foreign country, no matter where you are or where you’re from, a lot simpler because it is a trillion dollar a year industry that again has lots of issues surrounding, you know, that scenario.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:02 – 00:39:06]

So the American looking to buy property in Europe, which is big right now.

David Nixon:

[00:39:06 – 00:39:06]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:06 – 00:39:19]

If you find yourself on the ground in Spain, for example, continuing your example, is it too late or do they need to set this up before they go? Or if they find themselves on the ground in Spain, is there a way to fix it from the ground there or are they flying back to resolve.

David Nixon:

[00:39:19 – 00:39:21]

This in those situations, kicking themselves for.

Richard Taylor:

[00:39:21 – 00:39:22]

Not doing it before?

David Nixon:

[00:39:22 – 00:40:51]

Yeah, in those situations they’re probably flying back to resolve it. And most of the time, again, if you’re a foreigner and you’re going abroad and you’re dealing with somebody in that particular country that has absolutely no idea about the money transfer element of it, then you’ve probably made a bad decision again. So again, when we talk to our partners in Spain, for example, or in Italy, I have one gentleman in Italy, his name is David Benton, he’s a Brit in Italy that sells hundreds of homes to Americans and, and you know, he helps them throughout every single part of their journey and the money transfer part of it. He knows that if the money doesn’t land exactly when it’s supposed to land, then, you know, that property might struggle to close or there could be huge delays in that particular transaction. So it’s in his best interests as well to make sure that his clients have the information to make these transactions in the same way that anybody would. And what he does is he leaves that situation to us. As experts, we are beholden to a person like that that’s sending us lots and lots of business. We want to make sure that he feels secure about the process, that he knows what’s going on with the transaction and that his clients, you know, feel the same way from their point of view again. So, again, it’s a lot more than just exchange rates. It’s about being better connected as a community. But also, you know, we’re trying to help these clients connect dots when it comes it comes to difficult transactions.

Richard Taylor:

[00:40:51 – 00:41:10]

You know, the more I do this job, the more I do this podcast. I’m already a massive convert, obviously, but just the power of a professional network and the power of paying professionals when you’re a successful person. Diying. It is such a false economy. It’s such a false economy financially and emotionally.

David Nixon:

[00:41:10 – 00:41:11]

Yeah.

Richard Taylor:

[00:41:11 – 00:41:17]

And I’m just. I’m reminded of that every single day. Strengthens my resolve in what we do, in the power of what we do individually and together.

David Nixon:

[00:41:17 – 00:41:24]

Yeah, Listen, I once tried to lay my own irrigation once, and my lawn, it suffered quite badly. Right.

Richard Taylor:

[00:41:24 – 00:41:25]

So never recovered.

David Nixon:

[00:41:25 – 00:41:43]

Not only do I have a bad back for life now, I also, you know, have a expensive irrigation system that I should have just put in in the first place, and it would have saved me and my family, you know, lots of hours of worry and not exactly the same, but, you know, that would be my similar experience for.

Richard Taylor:

[00:41:43 – 00:42:13]

No, I get it. I’m useless at diy and for the same reason, it would just end in disaster. Okay, so the message, loud and clear, focus is, if you’re moving money around, please use an FX broker. If you don’t, you’re leaving money on the table, you’re giving it away. You’re having a poorer, a lesser experience. And one day you might hit a roadblock that could have been avoided and it could be painful. It might just be a minor irritation, but it could be painful and it could all be avoided. And you’ll have a much better experience and you’ll save money. So take that message from this, please, people.

David Nixon:

[00:42:13 – 00:42:44]

Yeah, I think also it’s free to Open an account and speak to a human being. All right. And again, if this is a huge amount of money to you, and it could be that $10,000 is a huge amount of money to you because, you know it is, why not just have that conversation, you know, and if it’s like a case of, oh, brilliant, so what I’m doing is okay, then that’s going to give you the peace of mind. Right. If what you’re doing is not okay, then you’re going to get the information to correct those problems before they even begin. And from our point of view, I mean, it just seems to be like a no brainer.

Richard Taylor:

[00:42:44 – 00:43:01]

It is. It’s a no brainer. I agree. I’m going to rubber stamp that. All right, so I’m the impartial one here. It’s a no brainer. It really is. There’s no reason not to. You’ll save money and you’ll have a better experience. So it’s a no brainer. That’s my definition. Right, David, where can people find you?

David Nixon:

[00:43:01 – 00:43:20]

Yeah. So I am david.nixonurrenciesdirect.com David Nixon with Currencies Direct on LinkedIn, if you want to add me there. Absolutely, my pleasure. And also Currencies Direct. If you wanted to call Currencies direct and ask for David Nixon, they would buy. Certainly put them through to me. So that would be fine.

Richard Taylor:

[00:43:20 – 00:43:33]

That’s good to know. That would be concerning if that wasn’t the case. So I’m pleased to hear that. Great, David. Well, thank you for coming on and telling us this and sharing your story. This is a valuable message and I look forward to spreading the word.

David Nixon:

[00:43:33 – 00:43:35]

Appreciate it, Richard. Really honored to be on.

Richard Taylor:

[00:43:35 – 00:44:43]

All right, cheers. See you soon. All right folks, that’s another episode of We’re the Brits in America Under Our Belts. Thank you for listening. I appreciate it and I appreciate you. If you’re enjoying the show and would like to support the mission which is to help Brits thrive in America, I’d ask you to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen and also consider leaving a rating and a review. This stuff really does matter. Please help us get this information to the people who need it. That is your fellow Brits living in America. Just a quick reminder that this show is brought to you by Plan First Wealth. We are a US based US UK cross border financial planning and wealth management firm and we help successful British expatriates living across the US to make the most their opportunity and ultimately to retire happier. So if you’re a British expat living in America and you’d like to know more about what we do for people like you, you can find us at our website, planfirstwealth.com or you can look me up on LinkedIn. Do get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. As always, thank you to the podcast guys for their help producing this episode and the entire show. See you next time.