Hi everyone,
I’m currently evaluating the Optimize Golden Opportunities Fund and IMGA Ações Portugal as potential investment options for the Golden Visa program.
Has anyone here reviewed or invested in either of these funds? I would greatly appreciate any insights, practical experiences, or feedback you could share…
Happy to speak on this! What would you like to know 
How stable are the funds?
‘Stable’ means what?
FWIW: IMGA Price history
Also - a search of the forum would have resulted in: Questions for IMGA Ações Portugal investors
I equally decided upon the Optimize fund and just wired funds to them last week. I do not have experience of any results yet, but have had a very professional and easy process in dealing with them thus far.
Thx for sharing! Did you invest all 500k into optimize?
Yes, I did invest all $500k into Optimize. What I liked about their fund is that it is low risk and more importantly it is completely liquid in case I ever wanted to pull out of the GV program.
Making a similar evaluation, differences exist in these funds but mainly I note one point: Only IMGA exists long enough (since 1995, long before this GV program) such that some GV intenders actually achieved their goal by investing in IMGA. No Optimize investor has yet obtained a GV card, as confirmed to me by email from the firm: “The first clients have already done the biometrics but none have obtained the golden visa yet.”
Interestingly, just minutes I ago emailed IMGA to clarify what I believe NG participants already confirmed, that a history exists of IMGA holders successfully obtaining GV cards.
To be clear, I have no reason to suspect that Optimize or Oxy (I liked Oxy’s diversified approach, but not its cost structure) won’t lead to the same GV outcome. Rather, I’m seeking to minimize at least some unknowns from an overall pursuit that’s absolutely flooded with them.
Re IMGA and getting the card.
IMO, the more important metric would be being able to extract the funds after the 5y GV period is over (however one defines the 5y period). Should one wish to divest at that time, of course.
Certainly Optimize/Oxy don’t have the longevity yet. But IMGA does.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I met with Optimize earlier this month in their office and liked their flexibility to have higher bond exposure. May I ask if you completed the transaction by opening a Portuguese bank account or transferred directly from your home country (bypassing the need for a Portuguese account)?
I went “directly” from my bank to Bison. “Directly”, however is doing a lot of lifting here.
There were two corespondent banks in the middle. My bank → Citibank → Caixa Geral → Bison. Getting all the ACH, SWIFT and IBANs understood and aligned was a struggle. I assume this is because there are only a few US banks that can do the interface between ACH and SWIFT
I did a test run with 1k$ to make sure it would all work. When I was sure it all went through properly, sent the rest. And held my breath, exhaling finally three days later.
If you need to deal with a currency conversion, make sure you factor that cost in to your arithmetic.
I just was informed yesterday that PT has not been accepting GV applications for the last 2-3 months. My attorney did not inform me of this until AFTER I sent them all my filing fees. I feel comfortable that I’ll be able to pull my $500k investment back out, but my attorney fees may be lost which I’m not happy about. I would make sure applications are being accepted again before you spend any money.
Who gave you this information?
My attorney, DLAS law firm
CarpeDiem/Drew,
This deserves elaboration, please. Not granting Pre-Approval aside from lawsuits forcing as much, that description would hit as very likely true based upon what I read here. However, not accepting new GV applications, period, runs counter to even the extremely limited data collected on this forum’s tracking database at Main view — Crowdsourced Golden Visa Timeline Database by Nomad Gate. Perhaps something lost in translation from Portuguese lawyer to English speaking client, intending to warn you that AIMA is not pre-approving/approving applications vs not accepting new ones for pre-approval?
Thanks
CarpeDiem/Drew indeed elaborated to me via DMs here, and here is the essential part of their reply for the record in case others are tracking:
“It appears my previous post was a misunderstanding as I just spoke with my law firm and AIMA is just experiencing a delay”
What a terrible misinformation to post without proper vetting!!
Again, it appears that CarpeDiem simply themselves misunderstood or misinterpreted communications from their Portugal lawyer, whom they still endorse. I pursued the matter directly with them because I suspected this. I agree it’s important to vet carefully before publishing as fact potentially incendiary or disturbing news. Given their efforts to clarify matters and to respond privately following my messaging, though, I understand that they weren’t intending to troll or to upset others (though, I also note that it would have been considerate to have published their own retraction rather than me doing it indirectly).
why not split 50/50? you can consolidate 1-2 years down the road.
Not sure this is good advice from a GV perspective - the advice is clear - you may jeopardise your GV application. It is very difficult to sell out and buy into a new option as, for a period of time, you will not be invested at EUR500k. Needless to say your bank statements will be also be materially different.