Financial planning support for HR, reward, employee benefits & global mobility teams
International assignments, executive compensation and cross-border moves can create personal financial-planning issues that sit outside the employer's normal benefits framework.
Employees may need help understanding pensions, investments, retirement accounts, share awards, end-of-service benefits, future residence and how their financial position changes when they move country.
Josh Clancey works alongside HR, reward, employee benefits and global mobility teams where internationally mobile employees need personal financial planning around relocation, retirement, compensation and long-term wealth.
Financial planning alongside the employer's benefits framework
The employer and its HR, reward or global mobility team remain responsible for employment arrangements, compensation, benefits and mobility policy.
Josh's role is personal financial planning.
That can include helping employees and executives consider:
- pensions and retirement accounts
- retirement planning
- investment arrangements
- RSUs, share options and deferred compensation
- employer share concentration
- end-of-service benefits
- cash-flow planning
- protection
- international relocation
- future residence
- beneficiary arrangements
- retirement assets accumulated in several countries
The objective is to help the employee understand how the employer-provided benefits fit into their wider financial life.
Employee situations where HR and financial planning commonly intersect
An executive is relocating internationally
The employee may need to review pensions, investments, banking, currency exposure and retirement planning before or after the move.
An employee is leaving the UAE
The departure may trigger decisions around end-of-service benefits, pensions, investments, banking and where capital should be held next.
An executive holds RSUs, share options or deferred compensation
The compensation package may create concentration, vesting and liquidity issues that need to be considered alongside the wider financial plan.
A senior employee has a concentrated shareholding
Years of equity compensation can leave a large proportion of personal wealth exposed to one employer.
An employee is returning to the UK
Pensions, investments and other assets may need to be reviewed before UK residence resumes.
An employee is made redundant or receives a severance payment
A significant payment may create immediate decisions around cash reserves, retirement, investment and the next stage of the employee's career.
Questions that may indicate a wider financial-planning need
Has the employee moved between several countries?
Pensions, retirement accounts and investments may now be spread across several jurisdictions.
Does the employee understand their equity compensation?
RSUs, share options and deferred compensation can represent a significant proportion of overall wealth.
Is too much personal wealth linked to the employer?
Salary, bonus, shares and pension benefits can all create exposure to the same company.
Is the employee approaching retirement?
Employer benefits need to be considered alongside personally held pensions, investments and future spending.
Is an international assignment ending?
Departure can trigger financial decisions around banking, pensions, benefits and accumulated capital.
Has the employee received a significant severance package?
The payment may materially alter near-term cash flow and retirement planning.
Does the employee intend to return home or move elsewhere?
Future residence can affect how existing financial arrangements should be reviewed.
Professional resources for HR, reward & global mobility teams
The Document Centre includes technical briefs, professional guides and practical checklists covering international executives, equity compensation, concentrated share positions, UAE departures, international relocation and retirement planning.
Useful resources for HR, reward, employee benefits & global mobility teams
The Professional Adviser's Guide to International Executive Financial Planning
A broad guide to the financial-planning issues affecting internationally mobile executives.
Equity Compensation for Internationally Mobile Executives
A focused technical brief covering RSUs, share options and other equity-based remuneration within a cross-border financial plan.
Concentrated Share Positions for International Clients
A technical resource covering diversification and wider planning where significant wealth is tied to one employer or company.
UAE End-of-Service Benefits and Executive Departures
A technical brief covering the planning considerations that can arise when an executive leaves employment or departs the UAE.
International Executive Checklist
A practical checklist for identifying the key financial-planning issues affecting internationally mobile senior employees.
Client Moving Country Checklist
A practical checklist for identifying the financial arrangements that may need to be reviewed before or after an international move.
Executive compensation can create hidden concentration
Senior employees can accumulate substantial wealth through their employer without necessarily thinking of themselves as concentrated investors.
Their financial exposure may include:
- salary
- annual bonus
- RSUs
- share options
- deferred compensation
- employer pension benefits
- personally held employer shares
That can leave both current income and accumulated wealth dependent on the same company.
Financial planning can help the executive understand that exposure within the context of their wider assets, retirement objectives, liquidity requirements and risk tolerance.
Working alongside HR and the employee's specialist advisers
Josh can work within an existing employer and adviser structure.
For example:
- HR explains the benefits package, while Josh helps the employee incorporate those benefits into their wider financial plan
- the global mobility team manages the relocation process, while Josh reviews the employee's pensions and investments
- the tax adviser establishes the treatment of equity compensation, while Josh considers diversification and long-term investment planning
- the employer confirms end-of-service benefits, while Josh helps the employee decide how those assets fit into their retirement plan
- the legal or tax team advises on the technical implications of a move, while Josh coordinates the resulting personal financial decisions
Josh does not advise on employment law, payroll, immigration or specialist tax matters outside his remit.
Where a financial recommendation depends on tax, employment, immigration or legal advice, that position should be established by the relevant professional first.
Technical briefings for HR and global mobility teams
Josh can provide focused briefings for HR, reward, employee benefits and global mobility teams supporting internationally mobile employees.
Topics can include executive compensation, concentrated employer shares, international relocation, UAE departures, retirement planning and cross-border pensions.
Have an employee or executive case you would like to discuss?
If an internationally mobile employee has questions around pensions, equity compensation, retirement, relocation or accumulated wealth, an initial discussion can help establish whether personal financial-planning support would add value alongside the employer's existing framework.
There is no requirement to make a formal introduction simply to determine whether the case falls within Josh's remit.