Last Updated on 8th April 2026
Creating a high-performing investment portfolio is only half of the challenge, because expat investors need to know that their returns are sustainable. Maintaining momentum can be difficult as markets shift, currencies fluctuate, and personal circumstances evolve.
While creating a portfolio with good returns may be the objective, you also need the right advice and understanding to make adjustments to your portfolio when your circumstances or the returns you are achieving change.
We’ve collated six tips that may help support ongoing portfolio performance, along with some indications that it may be an ideal time to revisit your investments.
Schedule Regular Portfolio Reviews
Our earlier guide explains the importance of a portfolio review, and it’s an essential part of investing, because reviews can identify slower-than-anticipated returns or underperforming assets before they have a larger impact on your portfolio’s value.
As specialists in expat investment management, the Chase Buchanan teams regularly take on new portfolios and recommend a review at least once a year. We can identify potential pitfalls or slowing investment returns, which pose red flags that there are more advantageous options out there.
The first step to avoiding a portfolio plateau is to conduct periodic reviews. If everything is running to plan, you have the assurance that your returns are at or exceeding expectations.
When this isn’t the case, you’ll then be able to take a proactive approach to make changes as required to remove any products that aren’t keeping pace and reinvest in better-performing alternatives.
Remain Up to Speed With Global Events
Global markets will always react to geopolitical events, cycles of inflation and announcements made about changing monetary policy. It’s essential for UK expats, whether resident in the EU or elsewhere, to be conscious about when these changes occur and whether they are likely to affect their portfolio.
During a portfolio review, we’ll look at factors like:
- Do existing cross-currency investments still present good value?
- Have your retirement plans changed since your last review?
- How has your appetite for risk exposure changed?
- Whether variations in FX rates, inflation and interest rates mean changes may be necessary?
- Are there are any new tax reforms or cross-border investment rules that we need to consider?
While many investors focus on the bottom line or presume that their affairs are in good order, it’s vital to look at the bigger picture to ensure you don’t hit a roadblock. Market predictions can change quickly and by considerable margins, and so even a long-term investment plan should be regularly revisited.
Assess the Costs of Investment Management
If you’re concerned about decreasing returns, these may be linked to the performance of your portfolio, but it may also be worthwhile evaluating the fees you are paying, because even a 1% increase in fund management costs could be having an impact on your long-term returns.
Investment portfolio fees vary, and much depends on the types of products you own and how involved your asset manager is in proactively identifying opportunities to diversify.
A professional portfolio review might uncover hidden fees, inefficient products and missed opportunities, or highlight a need to diversify, with outcomes that can include:
- Restructuring to reduce asset or portfolio management costs
- Recommending more cost-efficient investment strategies
- Producing a comparison to show how managing charges could improve your net portfolio income
To schedule a portfolio review, please get in touch with your nearest Chase Buchanan office.
Revisit Your Risk Exposure
One of the most common drivers behind a portfolio plateau is that it has been left to run at the same risk vs return balance for months, or even years. For example, holding a large proportion of low-risk, low-return assets might feel safe, but during periods of high inflation, your investments could be losing value in real-world terms.
Every investment has a risk element, but you need to ensure the risks you’re accepting align with your risk appetite and willingness to expose your assets to potential losses in return for prospective returns.
Revisiting your risk level, at least once a year but also when any major events or changes in circumstances have occurred, means answering questions like:
- Could you increase your risk level to outpace inflation?
- How controlled are your risks?
- How could you incorporate lower-risk products to mitigate exposure?
When plans change, your investment portfolio should, too. Opting for the lowest risk options can seem prudent, but may result in long-term losses when you factor in inflation.
In addition, having an up-to-date overview of portfolio risks and making timely adjustments when your circumstances change, such as approaching retirement, avoids panic selling or over-investing in assets that have become higher risk than you are comfortable with.
Take Advantage of Diversification Strategies
Diversifying investments is an essential aspect of managing your portfolio. Diversification limits or spreads risks, and avoids concentrating all investments within one country, currency, sector or asset class.
Balancing risk exposure and the potential returns available, and weighing up how well-balanced your portfolio is, can help to prevent an avoidable plateau or protect against sudden losses if your portfolio is highly concentrated in one area.
Incorporate Professional Tax Planning
Finally, taxation is highly relevant to ensuring investment portfolios continue to perform, and for expats, tax reforms in their country of residency, the locations of investments and assets, and cross-border tax rules may all have an impact.
Taking advantage of available tax efficiencies ensures that expats aren’t paying unnecessarily high taxes on their investment returns, but it can also be an aspect of succession planning.
A tax-efficient portfolio may avoid plateaus caused when tax obligations rise, and mean that returns aren’t as likely to be eroded due to heavy inheritance taxes when those assets pass to your beneficiaries.
If you’d like a clear picture of how your portfolio is performing or want to see if there are ways to improve your investment returns, please get in touch with the Chase Buchanan Private Wealth Management team, and we’ll arrange a convenient time to talk.
© Chase Buchanan Private Wealth Management.
Chase Buchanan Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission with CIF Licence 287/15 and offers its services in the EU on a cross-border basis as per the provisions of MiFID.
Chase Buchanan Insurance Services, Agents & Advisors is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Insurance Companies Control Service with License No 6883 and offers services in the EU on a cross-border basis as per the provisions of the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD).
Investing in financial instruments involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The value of investments may go up as well as down and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. You may lose part or all of your invested capital.
*Information correct as at April 2026
