Full disclosure, I have personally applied for the GV through the fund route - IMGA Ações Portugal A and BPI Portugal FIAA. I may have surviorship bias but if you are looking a hands-free approach and most flexibility, i would highly recommend opting for an open-ended Index fund for your fund investment route.
Why Open Ended Index Funds:
Complete transparency
Comparatively predictable performance - In line with performance of Portugal’s economy
Flexibility to cash out anytime
Disadvantages:
Doesn’t generate any alpha
Super high annual fees, for an index fund
VC and PE funds:
I have contemplated investing half in a PE fund, which boasted impressive track record and over a decade of experience. But i’d be highly wary of these claims and really dive deep into the fine print, to measure the real performance (track record) after all the fees, tax. The fund industry, anywhere in the world, is notorious for cherry picking the data in their sales pitch. I am naturally averse to these funds as they are highly likely to underperform the market. And also consider that, cream of the crop fund managers are not likely to focus on Golden visa funds.
Technical correction - as I was told when I emailed the fund manager for IMGA, Ações is not an index fund per-se, though it seems to be run like one. Probably the biggest thing is that they have something like 30% cash, rather than investing everything.
I’d still recommend it as a fund for anyone looking to do the golden visa, but it’s definitely the least bad option, not straight up good
Which brokerages are folks using to buy these funds? Is there a Robinhood equivalent in Portugal? Also if you buy 500K of BPI/IMGA and the value of units go down, then is that fine?
I am currently in the data finding stage of applying for a Golden Visa in Portugal
This definitely seems far and away the best way from an investment perspective and I’ve found a decent number of fund to choose from. However, I am concerned about a number of issues.
First, I’m only doing the Golden Visa to get an EU passport and I don’t know if anyone has any experience getting citizenship going this route? It seems like a pretty naked “buy a citizenship” play and doesn’t really foster any “ties to Portugal” I’ve heard they ask for when applying for citizenship.
Second, do you know if you have to maintain a 500k investment, for example if it loses principle value do you have to put more in?
Third, I like the funds that only invest 60-70% in Portugal to meet the minimum requirement because it reduces the risk of being exposed to the local economy, however even though it meets the minimal requirements would it be frowned upon when applying for citizenship?
Here are the funds I’ve found so far: Optimize: Optimize Portugal Golden Opportunities Fund
Henley and Partners: HEED TOP Oxy Capital: Portugal Liquid Opportunities
Lincoln Global Partners: The Global Income Fund
3 Comma Capital: Portugal Golden Income Fund
I don’t think you really need a strong compliance. I might be wrong but all you need is a statement on December 31st, to file all the forms you need.
I am pretty early in the process, but I am splitting my investment between Optimize and another. I think the nice thing about Optimize was that I could transfer directly and not incur any currency exchange fees. I think I paid a 25 euro wire fee on my end, which wasn’t bad.
This,I also heard with optimize you don’t even need a bank account. And you can also save money because you don’t need to use Wise and pay them a fee.
