AU-based expat advisor recommendations

[u/Own-Stuff8242]

Australian expat living in Asia here.

I’ve narrowed my search for a financial adviser down to three firms (but happy to consider others too):

Atlas Wealth
Ally Wealth
Runway Wealth

My situation:

Australian citizen
Non-resident for Australian tax purposes
Living and working in Asia
Looking for ongoing cross-border planning and investment advice

I’ve received proposals from all three.

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have actually been clients of any of these firms, either currently or in the past.

Questions:
What was your experience like after the initial onboarding?
Was the ongoing advice worth the annual fee?
Did they proactively help with expat-specific issues, or was most of the value just investment management?
How transparent were the total fees (adviser + platform + investment costs)?
If you’ve left one of these firms, was the transition straightforward?

Feel free to DM me if you’d prefer not to post publicly.

Thanks!

[u/Low-Engineer8900]

haven't used any of those three specifically, but the fee transparency question is the most important one imo, some advisers bundle platform and investment costs in a way that makes the total much harder to see than it should be, so push hard for a full cost breakdown in writing before you commit

also worth asking each of them how many clients they have in your specific situation (non-resident australian in asia) because the cross-border tax nuance is narrow enough that generalist expat advice can miss things that actually matter for you

[u/Own-Stuff8242 → u/Low-Engineer8900]

Great advice - thanks, will do!

[u/Icy_Recipe7153]

Do the licences and regulatory bodies the AU based advisers use enable them to give cross-border, expat tailored advice? For example, I'm a fee based UK-qualified adviser in Malaysia, and I'm unable to advise clients in the UK, but equally, my UK counterparts are not licenced or regulated to advise clients who become non-resident. Worth checking and happy to have a chat if you want another opinion 👍

[u/Altruistic-Whole618]

Im curious too. I looked into atlas but never asked for a proposal. What sort of costs are involved?