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About us: Alec Maclaren

I have over 20 years experience as both a UK based IFA and an offshore financial adviser, I started in London in 1992 after leaving HM forces, I qualified in March 1993 and then spent 6 years in London. I moved to Cyprus with my wife and two girls in 1998. We had two more children whilst living in Cyprus.

I enjoyed living and working in Cyprus we made many friends and it was an excellent place to raise a family. I worked and spent a great deal of time in other areas including Romania, Czech Republic, Grand Cayman and the Middle East, as well as Kazakhstan.

Over the years as an offshore IFA I have experienced both good times and bad in regard equity markets and asset management. The world has suffered quite a number of financial meltdowns from the net bubble at the start of the decade, to the liquidity and debt crisis which is still ongoing. I have learned and experienced a great deal over this period certainly about the importance of long term planning and risk management. As well as working with Parmafey I also currently manage a compensation based trading fund, which I funded myself. The aim of the fund is to build an asset base and use trading profits to provide compensation for clients who lost capital when the hedge fund I managed went down at the height of the 2008 crisis.

This experience I feel makes the quality of advice I am able to provide now is well balanced and an excellent asset to any expatriate trying to plan ahead. I also want to improve my abilities so I am half way through my MBA and have started a part time LLB.

On my blog I will raise important issues concerning expatriates, mainly financial but also in other areas that I feel may be relevant or useful or just interesting. I hope the information provided will be useful. The blog goes live 15th December 2011. www.proinvestorblog.com

Thanks

Alec Maclaren
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