AES International

01/06/2026

Today, we're celebrating someone who is an essential cog in the AES flywheel – Caroline Castro, marking ten incredible years with us.

Carol has this unwavering focus on getting the right outcomes for clients, no matter what it takes. She keeps operations for the financial life management team running smoothly, always on hand to share advice, explain processes, and genuinely help others develop their skills. She steps in without being asked, making sure clients always get the best care possible.

What people really appreciate about working with her is how approachable and thoughtful she is. She checks in regularly to see how she can support the team, creating a collaborative atmosphere.

When urgent cases need escalating, Carol's the one who drives things forward. She doesn't just pass problems along – she sorts them out, efficiently and without fuss. That generosity with her knowledge has built a stronger, more capable team around her.

A decade of Caroline means a decade of things getting done right, people feeling supported, and clients knowing they're in safe hands.

Thanks for being our constant, Caroline.

29/05/2026

The same event, described two different ways, can produce two completely different decisions in the same person.

In finance, the language we use every day shapes how we feel about money. And how we feel drives what we do with it.

"Crash."

"High risk."

Even, "the stock market".

In his latest piece for The National, Sam Instone unpacks some of the most expensive words in finance and what they're quietly costing investors.

Read more here:

Financial products are designed and sold by an industry that depends on you feeling either anxious or excited

27/05/2026

Eid al-Adha is a time to step away from the pace of everything and be present with the people who matter most.

Wishing you, your families and your loved ones a peaceful and meaningful celebration.

Eid Mubarak from everyone at AES.

25/05/2026

In 1993, Eugene Fama and Kenneth French published research that changed how serious investors think about building wealth.

It wasn't about picking stocks or timing markets. It was about understanding what actually drives returns over time, and structuring a portfolio around that knowledge deliberately.

Sam Instone walks through what the research found, why it matters, and what it means for how your financial life manager builds a portfolio that lasts:

📞 Book a Call: http://bit.ly/3KJmdlP 📘 Take a free Well-being Ass...

22/05/2026

For decades, unused UK pension funds sat outside the reach of inheritance tax.

From April 2027, that could change for many British families living abroad.

Most unused pension wealth is expected to fall within your estate. For estates above the £325,000 nil-rate band, inheritance tax applies at 40% on the excess. The rate itself hasn't changed.

What has changed is that pension wealth could now count toward that calculation, which for many British families living internationally could materially increase their overall exposure.

-Living outside the UK doesn't necessarily protect you. If you lived in the UK for 10 of the last 20 years, your global assets, including overseas pensions, could still fall within UK inheritance tax scope. Even after leaving the UK, a tail period of 3 to 10 years may apply.

-Your nil-rate band may have to stretch further. The £325,000 threshold could now need to cover pension wealth alongside everything else in your estate, reducing the capacity available for family planning.

There is still time to act. Review your position and start planning before the window closes: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0vxzjf0

21/05/2026

Most employers find out their group medical insurance isn't working at the worst possible moment. Renewal arrives, the number goes up, and there's no clear explanation why.

The signs were there before that conversation. They usually are.

We put together a short guide on the five things worth checking in your current plan before costs become the only conversation you're having.

Download your guide here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0vwQdn0

20/05/2026

Most HR directors couldn't tell you if their employee health plan is actually working.

Not because they don't care. Because no one ever gave them a way to check.

The plan comes up for renewal. The premium goes up. You sign.

Another year passes without anyone asking whether the thing is doing its job.

That's not a failure of effort. It's a failure of infrastructure.

AES built a 2-minute check. It benchmarks your plan across three areas, surfaces the gaps you're carrying, and gives you a clear view of what to focus on next.

If you're an HR director, CFO or CEO, it's worth two minutes of your day.

Take the AES Corporate Healthcare Assessment here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0vqT2S0

20/05/2026

Two years of Sam Hurst showing us what happens when you truly care about people.

Sam's built some incredible client relationships. But his secret isn't complicated: he's always the first to call, genuinely listening to whatever's on their minds and working through it properly.

He brings that same energy to the team. New people? Sam makes sure they settle in well. Projects stuck? He gets them moving. Need someone to boost morale with a good story? That's Sam too. And yes, his knowledge of planes has genuinely helped when booking flights – who knew that would be useful in this profession?

What you notice about Sam is how he commands attention without demanding it. He gets things done, brings people together, and somehow makes even the busiest days feel manageable. With him, ideas actually happen instead of just getting talked about endlessly.

Thank you, Sam!

19/05/2026

Do you know exactly where your finances stand right now? Most people who take our free 90-second Financial Well-being Assessment find 2-3 gaps they didn't know existed.

Get your instant results:
https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0vqPH00

15/05/2026

A business exit is a singular event. What follows is your actual life.

Most founders plan the first part meticulously.

The negotiation. The structure. The valuation. Years of preparation.

Then the money lands, and so do a completely different set of questions nobody prepared them for.

How do you replace the income the business was generating? How do you invest a lump sum without making expensive mistakes in year one? How do you structure things across jurisdictions? How do you make sure the wealth lasts as long as the life it's meant to fund?

These aren't new questions. But they catch most globally-mobile founders off guard anyway.

What happens after the exit matters as much as the exit itself. Start here: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0vkBb50