Hi It’s my first post and I’m beginning the journey.
La Vida caught my attention because they have good information on their site, including information on the funds they work with. They told me they get paid a commission from the funds. I don’t know if that’s somehow passed on to me, but a reasonable fee is worth it if they make the process easier. The fees for their recommended lawyer are in line with what I’ve read on this forum.
I’m considering investing in multiple funds to diversify. Could it make the process easier to work with La Vida?
I would ask them to declare how much that commission is. I’m aware of some funds paying very high commissions to introducers. Yes that will be coming out of your returns.
Be aware that most of the funds now available (post banning of real estate options) are by their very nature - i.e. venture capital funds - high risk. If you want as much diversification as possible in order to spread your risk I’d go and take a look at the open ended funds that invest in the stock market. Still at risk of high volatility as they track the equity market, but less risk than a VC fund that only invests in a handful of companies.
I appreciate the warning and suggestions. La Vida ended up being pushy beyond my comfort level.
I’ve decided to work with Kurran from Valerio Partners. He impressed me with his knowledge and how much he listened to my situation without pushing particular funds. He does recommend diversifying and our next meeting will be to figure out a portfolio that fits my goals.
I understand the potential conflict of interest and I see the value of having expert help. It’s a judgement call and time will tell!
This forum has been a great resource so I’ll give back by posting what I learn.
I would add a couple things here. First, the prior post about the VC funds is very true, because the VC market is very, very small in Portugal. Second, I would note that I invested into 2 funds and it’s a real pain to be in more than one. 2x the kYC, 2x the tax reporting, etc. In retrospect I kind of regret it. If I had the choice now given both of these topics, I agree that it would be best to invest into the fund that buys the stock market. Just my 2 cents, I’m not a financial advisor
Can you help me understand how much pain? One end of the spectrum would be that you had to pay more to accountants but they took care of it. The other end would be you had to do a bunch of legwork yourself and make unclear decisions based on tax rules that aren’t well understood.
Some of it is dealing with accountants, but it’s mostly on you. Obtaining documents, getting them certified, dealing with different teams, etc. So it’s mostly just a pain in the ***. Also, if your goal is diversification, once you remove real estate, I am going to assume the set of opportunities for funds to invest in will be quite limited and probably there will be a lot of overlap among the funds.
I did two funds and the paperwork was not too bad. In the scope of the entire GV process, it is actually nothing. Probably the most time I have spent is attending annual or periodic meetings of the investors via Zoom. Considering most funds will have to vote on changes to the management agreement during the fund’s life, it is important to be there to know what is going on and to vote.