Where do people living in Mauritius invest their savings?

@zurtle I'm an American expat. I have a heavy investment in NASDAQ stocks. If you want to know what is in my portfolio (and why), send me a private message.

@zurtle

[Moderated]

ok , best responses 1. Keep your money in your pockets and pay for your expenses as you go along;

keep your money under your matresd/pillows; buy properties etc etc unless you have no one in your own blood to inherit the savings/properties!!

Personally , I am giving everything to deserving charity and”yes “ when I mean deserving charities I mean what it takes to help the poor people to get out of the mess of these politicians controlled medium ❤️❤️

@Vedan

Not sure if you're trolling or being serious.

Keeping your money in your pocket makes you lose it to inflation.

I'm looking for info on the local financial market conditions, stock markets ,bonds and bank fixed deposit rates.

Interest rates are pretty low here. I have my money invested offshore with pretty good returns. Private message me if you are interested in more info

Now probably is the best time to invest in investment funds. MCB have overseas investment funds but not as interesting as those I bought in Hong Kong. Now the dividend give 15+% each month. And it is tax-free. However, you cannot open a bank account online but in person only.

@Vedan

After my dad passed, I have been giving the dividends from the investment funds he got lured to purchase (when he was 92 by Standard Chartered) to people who were born sick with rare diseases. Doing it this way, you can help more people in need, and the funds could last longer.

@Starry Expanse

Man, please don't mention NYSE or Nasdaq. I am scared to even look at my investment account.

@Pandora At Dodoland , can you please provide more information about the investment returns of 15% in Mauritius?  Sounds like high risk equity investment rather than fixed interest low risk deposits. 

Is there a principal preservation amount for those investments - like FDIC in the USA? 

How can dividends be tax free?  Dividend incomes need to be declared.  Or is the tax free treatment mainly apply because of DTAA agreement with specific countries? 

Are there any online brokers here based in Mauritius through which one can trade stocks and ETFs on many international stock exchanges? I am not referring to all the foreign providers (such as Interactive Brokers, Saxo or HSBC, which handle trades via the UK, for example), but only online brokers here in Mauritius.

Let me re-phrase my ask in a simpler question.  My long term investments are already set in equities and as I am approaching retirement, those long term investments are planned to be moving to cash.  Assuming that I am sitting on some cash for a 1 - 2 year time frame, I am investigating the best way to make this cash work for me.  I can purchase treasuries, bonds, money market funds, etc. abroad and the proceeds will be subject to the usual taxation rules regarding residency, citizenship, etc.  Is there a key strategic financial advantage to bringing the cash into Mauritius and work through the financial system there?  An example of a key strategic financial advantage is higher interest rates... BTW, I am not interested in illegal or even legal complicated schemes that depends on creation of shell companies or the like to get better returns - mainly because this will be for retirement use only - hence should be simple.  Thank you,

@prospectorland read carefully of what I wrote. It's tax-free in Hong Kong. Not tax-free in Mauritius. Mine is from my previous saving. So I don't need to pay dividends tax for Mauritius.

I'm not a licensed broker, so I can't give you any advice on which funds to invest. But any banker in HK can advise you for that. If you are interested, take original address proof with you and pay a visit to HK. But be aware that you probably will need to pay tax for USA and Mauritius as well.

I'm spoiled by HK. Almost everything is tax-free. I never paid credit card annual fee. Bank cheques are for free. But many HK people left for the same reason. Anyway, HK has been a financial hub for many reasons.

@Pandora At Dodoland , thank you for the info.  I visited HK a while back but as a US citizen, I am staying away from China these days.  I was just curious about how locals can invest.  Looks like the best deals are outside of Mauritius.

@prospectorland a few words of advice from a layperson: don’t hold 1 to 2 years living expenses in cash, that is a lost opportunity. Don’t convert excessive foreign currency to MUR as you cannot easily convert it back. As far as I know foreign interest is tax free in the hands of a retirement visa holder. Capital gains are tax free. Local interest will be taxable.

Are there any online brokers here based in Mauritius through which one can trade stocks and ETFs on many international stock exchanges? I am not referring to all the foreign providers (such as Interactive Brokers, Saxo or HSBC, which handle trades via the UK, for example), but only online brokers here in Mauritius.

I would like to renew my question about online brokers. Does nobody know an answer?

@Novalis1 why would that online platform need to be Mauritian? Why not just use something like eToro?

@Expat Ash Because I do not want to have these assets in Europe, USA etc. I would like to prefer an Mauritian broker.

@prospectorland We, Hong Kong people do separate ourselves with mainland Chinese. I do not know anyone would want to make HK independent. Just we have totally different culture with some mainland Chinese. Since China border reopen, there are so many "fake" beggars in the street of HK. Some are mad enough to pee and poo in the street, while many people are walking pass by. Anyway, politically HK is part of China. Fortunately up to now, the financial system is not following China's one. And yes, investment is better to do it outside Mauritius. FYI, after I've got cheated twice to build my house. I got a loan from a HK bank with 1.723% pa interest rate. I don't think you can get this any where in the world.

@Pandora At Dodoland , re:  HK culture - Since I live in NA West coast and have visited many South East Asian countries where Cantonese is spoken and written, I understand the Southern Chinese culture is very different from the rest of China - and HK is even more unique.  Most of the Chinese Mauritians are Hakka who fled the civil war at the beginning of the 20th Century.  In terms of HK being an investment hub, I think that the British did a fantastic job of creating the competitive advantage structure and this trickled down to the people.  I do not think that Mauritius will ever become like HK in terms of financial landscape.  Mauritius suffers from too many economic disadvantages such as long distance between producers and consumers, shortage of human creativity / skills, a fractured sense of identity, and lack of vision to become like HK.  When I think of Mauritius, I think of a laid back culture on the beaches sipping a fruity drink.  When I think of HK, I think of rags to riches stories fighting against all odds.  In conclusion, investing outside Mauritius would bring in the highest returns.

Thank you for sharing.

Mauritius suffers from too many economic disadvantages such as long distance between producers and consumers, shortage of human creativity / skills, a fractured sense of identity, and lack of vision to become like HK. When I think of Mauritius, I think of a laid back culture on the beaches sipping a fruity drink. When I think of HK, I think of rags to riches stories fighting against all odds.
Thank you for sharing.
-@prospectorland

You forgot to mention that most of the assets/land  on the island are  in the hands of a handful of  Mauritian families

@External I thought that land ownership in HK is by lease only and not free-hold like Mauritius.  But you are bringing a point that this is yet another difference between HK and Mauritius.  Thank you.

@Novalis1 then consider a BankOne Custody account. Their fees for such are lowest of all the banks on the Island.

@Expat Ash Unfortunately, I can't find any information about trading shares and ETFs on the website of BankOne.

I have been looking for ways to preserve capital, as a retiree, from MU's 10 to 15% taxation regime. Brining money into MU when you are actually resident here makes it fall under the "in hand and remittance" nature of MU personal taxation. However if you use foreign credit cards, they do not fall under  MU remittance tax.

Same for a trust fund. Putting your foreign funds into a Mauritius  trust fund, the fund is treated as a corporation i.e. 15% tax rate or if exempt, when it remits to the benefactors, they get charged the 15% "cash in hand" regime. Or so I presume.

For example if you are not resident or domicled in certain EU countries, your dividends and capital gains income   etc are in some cases  tax  exempt. If you transfer those to MU, then you will be taxed 15% not on the capital gains, but when you get the money "in hand" as I understand it, if you are a retiree here.

It would seem to make better sense to keep as much of your money  outside MU as possible if it is already in a low tax or no tax regime and pay for nearly everything with a foreign  bank card. Of course this does apply to house rent for example, for that you would convert into rupees.

For retirees, the  15% income tax flat rate and no capital gains tax ( it is not true that there is no dividend tax in MU as far as I can tell it follows exactly the personal bands of 10-12- or 15%) look great if they are in countries that charge much more than that. Move capital here and pay much less than they would as residents of UK, for example. No death duties, inheritance tax, withholding tax and so on.

But from a Hong Kong or even Kenya perspective ( expats retired in Kenya with income outside Kenya pay no tax on it at all), moving  capital to MU is something I am not sure is an advantage.

Comments?