Abbey Wealth sits at the intersection of financial planning and cross-border living. While most firms in the mobility space focus on relocation logistics or second passports, Abbey specializes in something equally critical—but often overlooked: managing wealth for people who no longer live where their assets, pensions, or tax obligations began.
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Dublin, the firm has carved out a niche serving expatriates—particularly UK and Irish nationals living across Europe. Their clients aren’t necessarily chasing residency programs or global lifestyle perks.
Instead, they’re trying to make sure their retirement income is tax-efficient, their investments are compliant in multiple jurisdictions, and their financial life continues smoothly across borders.
What sets Abbey apart is that it speaks the language of long-term planning rather than quick fixes. For expats navigating foreign tax codes, shifting residency statuses, or post-Brexit pension transfers, the firm offers clarity in a space that’s often dominated by confusion or one-size-fits-all advice.
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Company Background
Abbey Wealth began in 2007 with a straightforward goal: to bring specialist financial advice to British expats who were no longer being adequately served by UK-based firms. Over time, that mission expanded. Today, the company operates out of Dublin, with satellite teams in Spain, Portugal, France, and Malta, offering wealth planning tailored specifically to the challenges faced by expatriates and cross-border professionals.
While it started as an independent firm, Abbey Wealth underwent a management-led buyout in 2022—a move that signaled a tighter focus on long-term service continuity and regional growth.
Now led by CEO Paul McGrath, the company continues to emphasize a relationship-driven approach, assigning personal advisers to each client and supporting them through every stage of their relocation or retirement planning.
Unlike traditional wealth managers who often center their services around domestic tax codes and banking systems, Abbey has built its business around mobility. Their advisors are trained to work within EU and UK regulatory frameworks, navigate pension transfer schemes like QROPS, and structure investment portfolios that remain compliant even as a client’s residency or tax status changes.
This isn’t a firm trying to be everything to everyone—it’s deliberately built for people whose lives straddle multiple countries, currencies, and legal systems.
Core Services Offered
Abbey Wealth doesn’t offer relocation packages or visa solutions—instead, they focus on what happens after the move. Their core services are designed for expatriates who need to manage wealth, pensions, and retirement planning while living in jurisdictions that don’t match their passport.
Here’s how their offering breaks down:
- Expatriate Financial Planning: Abbey helps clients create long-term strategies that account for life in a foreign tax system. Whether you’re living in Spain, Portugal, or Malta, the firm builds plans that account for double taxation treaties, local reporting obligations, and how your money behaves under a new legal environment.
- Pension Structuring & Transfers: A major part of their business revolves around UK pensions. They assist with QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes), SIPP management, and other transfers for clients who no longer live in the UK but want control over how and where their pensions are drawn.
- Investment Management: For clients with mid- to high-net-worth portfolios, Abbey provides access to tailored investment strategies via tax-efficient structures such as insurance bonds or international platforms that remain compliant across multiple EU jurisdictions.
- Inheritance & Succession Planning: Cross-border living complicates estate planning. Abbey works with clients to help ensure their wealth passes smoothly to the next generation, navigating country-specific inheritance laws and helping mitigate exposure to unnecessary taxes.
- Currency & Income Solutions: With clients often drawing income in one currency and spending in another, Abbey offers strategies to smooth currency volatility—particularly important for retirees on fixed incomes.
Program Coverage & Locations
Abbey Wealth’s footprint is tightly focused on Europe, but within that region, it offers deep, country-specific expertise. The firm primarily serves British and Irish expatriates living in countries like Spain, Portugal, France, Malta, and increasingly, Italy and Cyprus. Rather than trying to be global for the sake of it, Abbey concentrates on the markets where tax complexity, post-Brexit changes, and pension portability are everyday challenges.
Their team operates from a central base in Dublin, with client-facing advisers regularly meeting with expats across southern Europe. The firm doesn’t run a high-volume call center model—advisors are assigned regionally and typically remain with clients long-term.
That consistency is key for individuals dealing with shifting residency rules, tax treaties, and investment regulations across borders.
Abbey’s coverage isn’t based on physical offices in every city—it’s built around knowledge hubs. For example, they maintain specialized expertise in the Portuguese NHR (Non-Habitual Residency) regime, Spanish wealth tax, and French assurance-vie structures, offering clients strategies that align with both local and UK/EU rules.
They don’t manage immigration or real estate transactions, but for clients already established abroad—or planning to stay—Abbey acts as a long-term financial partner, fluent in the realities of cross-border life.
Pricing & Transparency
Abbey Wealth doesn’t publish fixed fee schedules on its website, but their pricing model is generally built around portfolio size and service level rather than flat-rate products. Most clients engage the firm on an ongoing advisory basis, particularly for investment management, pension structuring, and cross-border planning.
Their typical approach involves an initial consultation and suitability assessment, after which a formal proposal is delivered outlining fees tied to asset management, pension transfers, or planning services.
For clients investing through platforms or tax-efficient wrappers, Abbey charges either a percentage of assets under management (AUM)—usually ranging between 0.75% and 1.25% annually—or a pre-agreed advisory retainer for more complex, hands-on support.
Importantly, Abbey emphasizes that they don’t take commissions from the sale of individual products—a key distinction in a market where financial advice is often blurred with product pushing. Their focus is on transparent, fee-based advice, aligning with the regulatory expectations in both Ireland and the broader EU financial services framework.
For British expats dealing with pension transfers (like QROPS or SIPPs), Abbey provides detailed cost breakdowns, including third-party platform and trustee fees, before any commitment is made. This upfront clarity is especially valuable in a segment of the market where opaque pricing is still too common.
Client Experience & Reviews
Abbey Wealth isn’t a mass-market firm, and that shows in the way they work with clients. The experience is highly personal—centered around long-term relationships, not short-term campaigns or high-pressure sales. Most clients are assigned a dedicated advisor who stays with them through the years, even as they change countries, tax statuses, or retirement plans.
Public reviews are limited, which is common in the expat wealth space, but the available feedback paints a clear picture. Clients often highlight how Abbey helped them understand cross-border pension options or restructure their portfolios after relocating.
In particular, the firm gets strong marks for handling UK pension transfers, which can be notoriously complex, especially post-Brexit.
There’s also praise for clarity and responsiveness. Many clients mention that they appreciated getting straight answers to difficult questions—especially around topics like tax liability, inheritance exposure, and long-term residency implications.
That said, some have noted that the onboarding process can feel paperwork-heavy, particularly when coordinating with pension trustees or international platforms. But that seems more a reflection of the process itself than the firm’s service.
What stands out most is how often Abbey clients describe the relationship as ongoing. This isn’t a firm that sets up an investment account and walks away. They check in, adapt plans as laws change, and act as a financial sounding board for clients who may not have the same access to trusted advisors in their new home countries.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Tailored for Expats: Abbey isn’t a generalist firm dabbling in international work. They’re built specifically for expats dealing with UK and EU pension, tax, and investment challenges—especially retirees and mid-career professionals relocating long-term.
- Strong Pension Transfer Expertise: Their experience with QROPS, SIPPs, and cross-border pension consolidation makes them a valuable partner for clients looking to bring clarity and control to their retirement assets.
- Relationship-Based Advisory Model: Clients work with a dedicated advisor over time, not a rotating pool of salespeople. This continuity is rare in a space where long-term follow-through often falls short.
- Transparent, Fee-Based Advice: Abbey emphasizes independence and avoids commission-led product sales. That makes them better aligned with clients seeking clear, unbiased guidance.
Cons
- Limited Geographic Scope: While highly specialized in Europe, Abbey doesn’t offer support for clients relocating to the U.S., Middle East, or Asia. Their focus is firmly on the EU and UK expat market.
- No Turnkey Relocation or Immigration Services: Abbey doesn’t handle visa applications, real estate, or legal residency processes. Clients need to pair their financial planning with separate legal or relocation support.
- Modest Online Visibility: For a firm with a solid track record, Abbey maintains a low online profile. Prospective clients may need to do extra due diligence or request references directly to get a full picture.
Why Choose Abbey Wealth?
If you’re an expat trying to make sense of your financial life across borders—whether that means moving a UK pension to Europe, aligning your investments with a new tax regime, or planning for retirement in a foreign country—Abbey Wealth offers a rare combination of clarity, continuity, and cross-border know-how.
This isn’t a firm that’s trying to be trendy or oversell luxury services. It’s designed for people who need steady, technically sound advice to navigate financial systems that weren’t built for international lives. What Abbey does well is simplify the complex—especially for clients who’ve outgrown the one-size-fits-all advice from their home country but don’t want to gamble on local firms that don’t understand UK pensions or international tax law.
They’re not for everyone. If you’re looking for a concierge-style experience or need help with immigration logistics, you’ll need to bring in other specialists. But if you already live abroad—or are planning to—and want someone to help structure your income, retirement, and investments so they actually work in your new country, Abbey is a smart, dependable partner.
For many expats, that kind of steady expertise is exactly what’s missing—and exactly what’s worth paying for.
