At Smart Currency we like to think we’re there for our clients over the long term. Clients like Oliver Maurice, who took a chance on people he thought sounded “extremely pleasant” over 18 years ago and has remained a customer through an adventurous and energetic retirement in France.
Using a company you’ve never heard of before to transfer your house proceeds is not for the fainthearted. So when we caught up with one of Smart Currency’s most long-standing clients, with us for almost all of our 20 years, we asked him why he trusted his half a million pounds to a currency company only a year or so old?
“We were selling up in the Lake District and moving to France in 2006”, says Oliver Maurice, “and a friend said, really, don’t use a bank, you’ll be throwing money away. I did an internet search and Smart was the first FX company I came upon. I was a little nervous – so was my solicitor! – and so I gave Smart a call and spoke to Charles Purdy. He sounded extremely pleasant, and suggested that if I was worried I make the transfer in three lots, which I did. It was all so smooth that I have used Smart ever since and recommended them to many of my friends too.”
But Smart Currency weren’t there just for the property. For 17 years Oliver and his wife Deborah had their pension income sent to them in France each month.
Inevitably, during that time there were ups and downs in the currency, including the significant fall in the value of the pound after Brexit. “We did have to ‘draw in our horns’ a little after the vote with the fall in the pound,” says Oliver “but overall we found that life in France was not expensive and we were able to live quite comfortably, even saving money.”
“We found that life in France was not expensive and we were able to live quite comfortably, even saving money.”
Was life in France everything they had hoped? Yes! The couple set up home in Le Poët-Laval, which looks as nice as it sounds. “We were about 15 miles east of Montelimar,” says Oliver now 79, “in the foothills of the Alps. We had a beautiful old farmhouse and around 33 hectares of land.”
Oliver and Deborah made friends in the local community, carrying on the hobbies they’d had in the UK. That included getting involved in restoration for Oliver. “I had been involved in the National Trust in the UK, retiring in 2002. In France I became the first director of the International National Trust [www.into.org] in 2007.” Oliver has helped to spread the message of the UK’s National Trust around the world, on the need to maintain and restore the cultural and natural heritage of each country.
Is the battle being won? “Yes, there are more and more countries joining the organisation. In France it helps that if someone dies without a will, 50% of their estate goes to the Fondation du Patrimoine, which helps to maintain older properties.”
Deborah is a puppeteer and, helped by fluent French, set up a puppet festival at their home which ran for 12 years and attracted as many as 2,000 people over a weekend. Oliver’s French was a little more rusty, but it didn’t stop him making friends in the local community, singing in a choral society and helping with voluntary groups.
The world has been Oliver’s oyster
You get the impression that little would daunt this energetic couple. However, they have nothing but praise for France’s health services too. Oliver particularly notes how proactive the French health services are in health-protection measures for older people compared to the UK.
However, approaching his 80th birthday, Oliver and Deborah decided that the time was right to return to the UK, despite the sadness in saying goodbye to so many friends.
With a set amount of money required for their house purchase in Cornwall, Oliver decided that a forward contract would be the safest course of action when returning funds to the UK: “I was very pleased with the rate we set the forward contract at in February 2023.”
The couple felt vindicated in taking out the forward contract as the sale took longer than expected:
The couple felt vindicated in taking out the forward contract as the sale took longer than expected: “Smart were very understanding about that, and we finally returned in September,” says Oliver. They are now restoring a barn in Cornwall with one of their children, enjoying being back in the UK and even enjoying the cooler weather.
It’s been an exciting 18-year odyssey, says Oliver, and financial security has been a big part in the success of the venture. “I have nothing but good recommendations for Smart Currency”, says Oliver.
Ready to kickstart your own overseas adventure? You’ll need a trusted currency specialist on your side.
