The Webber Group: Expat Wealth Management Services and Solutions

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The Webber Group: Expat Wealth Management Services and Solutions Helping expats and other investors find the proper services to protect and grow their wealth.

Being an expat myself, I understand the challenges involved with moving to another country. I can assist with wealth management and planning so you can enjoy discovering new things about the exciting new place you're living in.

Even though summer is winding down, Spain is still beautiful and Friday is still one of the best days of the week. Last ...
04/09/2026

Even though summer is winding down, Spain is still beautiful and Friday is still one of the best days of the week. Last weekend before school starts again, another heat wave where I am, but it's still going to be a great one.

I'm lucky in what I do. Every day involves meeting new people, hearing their stories, figuring out where they are and where they want to be. Some of those conversations this week have been about some pretty serious stuff. People who realized too late that whoever they trusted with their money wasn't actually looking out for them.

Most of the time people come to me directly. But just as often someone gets in touch because they heard something from a friend or a family member or a colleague that didn't quite add up. An investment that sounds too good. A return that seems unrealistic. An advisor who gets defensive when asked basic questions. That instinct to check is almost always right and I'm always happy to be the second opinion.

So if something doesn't feel right about your own situation, book a call. And if you know someone else who is dealing with something that sounds a bit off, send them my way. First conversation is always free, no pressure, and I'll be upfront and give whoever it is a straight answer about what I actually think.

That's what this is for.

https://calendly.com/ben_webber/30min

While posts this week sort of come across like a scare tactic, that's not the intention. Not every unregulated advisor i...
03/09/2026

While posts this week sort of come across like a scare tactic, that's not the intention. Not every unregulated advisor is deliberately out to scam you. But the odds are not in your favor. When someone is operating without proper registration in Spain or Portugal, without the oversight, the compliance requirements, and the accountability that comes with it, the reasons for that are rarely good ones. Proper regulation is not difficult to obtain if you are genuinely committed to operating legitimately. The ones who haven't bothered to get it usually haven't bothered for a reason.

A properly regulated advisor might seem like they cost a little more upfront. In reality they are almost always considerably cheaper overall. What you are paying for is someone operating within a legal framework that protects you, that requires transparency about fees and commissions, and that gives you somewhere to go if something goes wrong. The alternative might look cheaper on the surface but one bad outcome wipes out years of apparent savings in an afternoon.

However, on the other hand, I am not the only regulated option available to expats in Spain and Portugal. There are other firms operating properly within the regulatory framework here and that is genuinely a good thing. The more legitimate options available to people the better.

What I would say is that the majority of regulated financial firms here are focused primarily on Spanish nationals. The specific situation of someone who has moved from the UK or Ireland, who may have pensions in multiple countries, assets in different currencies, and a completely different relationship with the Spanish tax system than someone born here, that requires a different kind of understanding. It is what I focus on specifically and it is genuinely a different conversation.

If you want to talk through your specific situation with someone who understands where you are coming from or just to get a second opinion on what someone is telling you, book a free call below.

https://calendly.com/ben_webber/30min

This one hits close to home because it happened right here in Spain, on the Costa Blanca, about a month ago.A British ge...
02/09/2026

This one hits close to home because it happened right here in Spain, on the Costa Blanca, about a month ago.

A British gestor, someone hired to handle tax payments and administrative paperwork for expat clients, was arrested after multiple people discovered he had been pocketing their money instead of passing it on to the Spanish treasury. People who thought their taxes were being handled properly were left with fines and debt to the tax office. One couple sent him €30,000 to cover a property transfer tax. It never reached the authorities.

A gestor and a financial advisor are different things. What I do involves investments, pensions, and wealth management rather than tax administration. But the warning here is exactly the same regardless of who is handling your money.

He was recommended. People trusted him because someone they knew had used him. He had a business, a local presence, he even stood in local elections. None of that meant their money was safe. There was no proper regulation or oversight behind any of it and when things went wrong there was nobody to hold accountable.

That pattern is not unique to gestors. It shows up across financial services here regularly. Someone local, someone who seems established, someone who comes recommended. Seeming trustworthy and being properly regulated are two completely different things and one does not guarantee the other.

If anyone is handling your money in any capacity here in Spain, the question worth asking is not whether you like them or whether a friend recommended them. It is whether they are properly registered and regulated in Spain specifically.

Here is the full story:

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2026/07/29/excl-notorious-costa-blanca-advisor-leaves-expats-with-fines-and-debt-after-failing-to-pass-on-tens-of-thousands-in-tax-payments/

If you want to check whether whoever you are dealing with is properly set up, book a free call below. Happy to have a chat.

https://calendly.com/ben_webber/30min

Yesterday's post got a lot of attention and a few people reached out asking about one thing specifically. The sophistica...
01/09/2026

Yesterday's post got a lot of attention and a few people reached out asking about one thing specifically. The sophisticated investor loophole. So I want to explain what it actually means because it's important and it affects more people living here than most realise.

A sophisticated investor is technically someone who is experienced and comfortable in financial markets and has met certain criteria set by regulators. It sounds like a compliment. In practice the way some companies use it is anything but.

Here's what actually happens. You get approached by someone offering an investment. Before they tell you much about it they ask you to sign something confirming you are a sophisticated investor. Maybe you've dabbled in stocks, maybe you read the financial news, maybe you've just got a decent amount of savings. You sign it. Now the protections that exist for ordinary retail investors, the ones that exist specifically to protect people like you, no longer apply.

The reason some companies push this so hard is not to give you access to better investments. It's to shift the blame onto you if things go wrong. If you signed a document saying you understood the risks and were experienced enough to make the decision yourself, it becomes significantly harder to hold them accountable when the investment collapses.

It also means they can do less work. Less due diligence, less explanation, less paperwork. More commission for less effort with someone else carrying the risk.

If anyone has ever asked you to sign something describing yourself as a sophisticated or high net worth investor before properly explaining what you were investing in, that is worth revisiting.

Book a free thirty minute call below if you want to talk through anything you've already signed or been offered.

https://calendly.com/ben_webber/30min

31/08/2026

A lot of people assume that because something was banned it stopped happening. That's not how the world works unfortunately sometimes.

The FCA, the UK's financial regulator, banned the mass marketing of high risk loan note investments to ordinary people back in 2021. And yet last week they have issued a fresh warning because people are still losing money to exactly the same type of products. Over 1,200 warnings issued so far this year alone. The schemes didn't stop. They just got better at finding ways around the rules.

The full article warning about this is worth a quick read:

https://archive.ph/IBEt4

One of the most common tricks is asking you to sign something saying you are a sophisticated or high net worth investor. Once you sign that, the protections that exist for ordinary retail investors no longer apply to you. A lot of people sign it without understanding what they are actually agreeing to. If anyone has ever asked you to tick a box saying you are a sophisticated investor before discussing an investment with you, that is worth thinking carefully about.

Another warning from the FCA this week is about firms that mention the involvement of regulated businesses or overseas stock exchange listings to make themselves sound more legitimate. Just because a regulated company is mentioned somewhere in the paperwork does not mean the product itself is regulated or that you are protected if things go wrong.

The Godwin Capital collapse now has a £155 million High Court freezing order against it. These are not small numbers and these are not rare cases. They are happening regularly and the people losing money are ordinary people who trusted someone who sounded professional.

If you are unsure about anything you have been offered or anyone who has approached you, book a free thirty minute call below. We can break it down together and I'll give you an honest answer.

https://calendly.com/ben_webber/30min

As we've been talking about over the past few posts, there are a few things I really want people to take away from all o...
28/08/2026

As we've been talking about over the past few posts, there are a few things I really want people to take away from all of this. If you haven't seen the other posts this week, compliance and regulatory laws are there for a reason.

I know that a lot of people view financial advisors with suspicion and honestly I get it completely. The industry has a bad reputation in some areas and there are people out there who are in this purely for the commission, who hand wave away the important questions, and who disappear when things go wrong. That reputation makes my job harder but it also makes what I'm about to say more important.

The process I follow takes longer than most people expect. The paperwork is a pain, there are more questions than you might get elsewhere, and it can feel like jumping through hoops. But the reason it takes longer is because we do it properly. The companies I work with are strictly regulated in Spain and Portugal and I'm completely upfront about what I earn before anything is signed. No hidden fees, no surprises, no predatory commissions buried in the small print.

That's not how everyone operates. And the difference between working with someone who follows these rules and someone who doesn't can be the difference between your savings being protected and losing everything.

If you are currently working with a financial advisor and have never been clearly told what they earn from you, ask that question. If you are unsure whether whoever you are dealing with is properly registered in Spain or Portugal, find out. These are not awkward questions. Any legitimate advisor will answer them immediately without hesitation.

And if you have any doubts at all, book a free thirty minute call below. I'll give you an honest answer whatever the situation is.

https://calendly.com/ben_webber/30min

Something that confuses a lot of people is how a financial product can be based in one country while the person selling ...
27/08/2026

Something that confuses a lot of people is how a financial product can be based in one country while the person selling it is regulated somewhere else. It sounds more complicated than it is so let me explain how it actually works.

A lot of the products I use are based in places like the Isle of Man, Guernsey, or Mauritius. These aren't dodgy offshore locations. They're well established and reputable financial centers that have been around for a long time. A big reason for using them is that they can save you money on tax, which for someone living abroad and dealing with more than one country's tax system can make a real difference.

The important thing to understand is that no matter where a product is based, I still have to follow the rules that apply here in Spain and Portugal. Those are the rules that protect you as someone living here and they're the ones that matter most for your situation.

One of those rules is being completely upfront about what I earn and what everything costs you. No hidden fees, no surprises, no commissions buried in the small print. You get to see exactly what you're paying and why before anything happens with your money. That's not just good practice, it's the law under the framework I operate within.

The advisors who aren't properly registered here don't have to follow any of that. And that's really the whole point of this week's posts.

If you'd like to have a chat about your own situation and make sure everything is set up properly, you can book a free thirty minute call below. No pressure and no obligation.

https://calendly.com/ben_webber/30min

26/08/2026

The biggest issue that I deal with is how long this process takes, typically it's a bit more than people expect. A few more forms, a few more questions, a bit more back and forth before everything is set up. I completely understand why that can feel frustrating when you just want to get things moving.

We operate under strict regulatory requirements in Spain and Portugal. That means proper compliance checks, full documentation, and a process that is designed to protect you as much as it is to satisfy the regulators. It's not bureaucracy for the sake of it. It's the framework that exists specifically to make sure that what happened to that couple in Spain last week, losing their entire life savings to a scheme that skipped all of this, cannot happen to our clients.

The advisors who make it fast and easy and painless are often the ones who are skipping the steps that exist to protect you. When someone can get your money invested in a matter of days with minimal paperwork and no real questions asked, it's worth asking yourself why the process was so simple. The answer is usually that the protections that slow things down were never there in the first place.

A process that takes a little longer because it's done properly is not a problem. It's the point. Every form we complete, every box we tick, every compliance step we follow exists because people who didn't have those protections have lost everything.

If you want to understand exactly what our process looks like and why each step matters, book a free thirty minute call below. I'll walk you through everything clearly and you can decide whether it's the right fit for you.

https://calendly.com/ben_webber/30min

A retired couple living in Spain lost their entire life savings last month. £150,000. Gone. The money they had spent the...
25/08/2026

A retired couple living in Spain lost their entire life savings last month. £150,000. Gone. The money they had spent their working lives building, the money that was supposed to cover their care costs and their future, is expected to come back at around 5 pence for every pound they put in.

They were not careless people. They were not greedy people chasing impossible returns. They were ordinary retired expats who trusted someone who sounded professional, had a nice website, said all the right things, and was taking up to fifteen percent of their money in commission before it went anywhere near the investment they were promised.

That fifteen percent figure is the one that should make everyone reading this stop for a moment. A properly regulated financial advisor charges between one and three percent. Some of the people selling these products to expats in Spain and Portugal were taking fifteen percent, often without telling the people handing over their savings. That money disappears before your investment does anything at all.

The Times published a major investigation into this recently. The schemes involved sounded completely legitimate. They talked about asset backed security, guaranteed returns, track records with major brands. None of it held up. The people running them are now being pursued by insolvency practitioners and in some cases criminal authorities. The people who lost their money are left with almost nothing.

The full investigation is worth reading:
https://archive.ph/n63LM

If anyone has contacted you recently about an investment opportunity, before you do anything else ask them two questions. Where are they regulated, specifically in relation to residents of Spain or Portugal. And what is their commission structure. If they can't answer both of those questions clearly and immediately, that tells you everything you need to know.

If you want a second opinion on anything you've been offered, or just want to make sure whoever you're dealing with is properly regulated, book a free thirty minute call below. No obligation, no sales pitch, just an honest conversation.

https://calendly.com/ben_webber/30min

24/08/2026

Something that comes up a lot in the expat groups I spend time in is people asking whether the financial advisor they've been contacted by is actually legitimate. It's a great question and honestly more people should be asking it before they sign anything or move any money.

Here's the reality of the situation. Spain and Portugal have specific regulatory requirements for anyone offering financial advice to residents. In Spain that means being registered with the CNMV, the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores. In Portugal it's the CMVM. These aren't just bureaucratic boxes to tick. They exist specifically to protect you as a consumer and to make sure that whoever is handling your money is operating within a legal framework that gives you recourse if something goes wrong.

The problem is that there are advisors operating in both countries who are not registered with either of these bodies. Some are registered elsewhere in Europe and operating in a grey area. Some are not registered anywhere meaningful at all. They can sound completely professional, have a nice website, and say all the right things. That doesn't make them compliant with the rules that apply specifically to you as a resident of Spain or Portugal.

If you've been contacted by a financial advisor recently, or are thinking about working with one, the single most important question you can ask is where they are regulated and whether that regulation covers residents of Spain or Portugal specifically. A legitimate advisor will answer that question immediately and clearly without hesitation.

With The Webber Group, I operate fully within the regulatory framework that applies to expats living here. That's not something I say to sell you something. It's something I say because it matters and because I've seen what happens to people when it doesn't.

If you have questions about whether someone you're dealing with is properly registered, feel free to reach out. Happy to help you figure it out.

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