Who is looking after your financial passage plan?

Part one of a three-part series for yacht crew

The owner arrives tomorrow.
The captain is reviewing the weather and berthing arrangements. The engineer is investigating a noise nobody else can hear. The chief stewardess is preparing cabins that were already immaculate.

The chef has just discovered that “no dietary requirements” means one vegan, two gluten-free guests and someone who only eats fish caught by a fisherman they trust.

Everything is under control. More or less.

Meanwhile, your savings are sitting in an account opened three boats ago, your pension paperwork is somewhere in your emails, and you will sort out that property deposit after the season.

Which is what you said last season.

And the season before that.

Crew put extraordinary care into preparing someone else’s yacht. I think their own finances deserve some of that attention.

Establish your position before setting a course

My career has taken me through financial advice and investment management, and back to advising people here in Mallorca. One thing remains central to the job: before discussing investments, I need to understand the person.

A captain needs a reliable position. A chef checks the stores before writing the provisioning order. An adviser needs to establish what you earn, own, owe and want to achieve.
Without that inventory, you can end up with the financial equivalent of six tubs of saffron and no breakfast eggs.

Maritime history offers a useful comparison. During the 1761 trial of John Harrison’s H4 timekeeper, his son William used it to predict landfall at Madeira earlier than the crew expected. Better information changed their understanding of their position.

Your equivalent involves bank statements rather than a pioneering marine timekeeper. Less exciting, admittedly, but considerably easier to fit into a Zoom call.

Decide what you are preparing for

The chef needs to know whether they are preparing a quiet lunch for two or a birthday dinner for twelve. Ideally before the tender returns carrying fourteen.

Tax is part of the preparation.

Working at sea does not automatically make earnings tax-free. Your residence, employment and the relevant countries’ rules need checking. The UK’s Seafarers’ Earnings Deduction, for example, has qualifying conditions.

“My old captain said I didn’t need to pay tax” is not quite the supporting documentation an accountant is hoping for.

Neither is a screenshot of a crew WhatsApp conversation, even if the person explaining it used CAPITAL LETTERS.

My role is to connect your financial decisions with appropriately qualified tax advice and help keep the plan organised.

Plan the arrival too

Buying a property needs preparation before you fall in love with the terrace.

A mortgage specialist can establish what lenders will accept as evidence of income, how they assess your employment and what borrowing may be available. The wider plan should consider the deposit, purchase costs and repayments between contracts.

That last point matters. A bank will not usually suspend the mortgage because you are “waiting for the right boat”.

The captain coordinates the passage, the engineer prepares the machinery, and the chef and interior team prepare for the people coming aboard. Financial planning also requires the right specialists working from the same information.

You decide the destination. My job is to help turn it into a practical plan.

Preferably before the end of next season.

Again.

General information, not individual financial, tax or legal advice. Investments can fall as well as rise. Advice and tax treatment depend on personal circumstances and the relevant jurisdiction.