Technical briefings for professional firms
Cross-border financial-planning issues increasingly appear within otherwise domestic professional relationships.
Josh Clancey provides focused technical briefings for firms whose advisers work with internationally mobile clients, helping teams recognise where pensions, investments, retirement planning and other financial decisions may intersect with their own professional work.
Briefings can be tailored around the firm's client base, jurisdictional exposure and the situations its advisers encounter in practice.
Built around the client issues your team actually sees
The objective is not to provide generic financial education.
A useful professional briefing should help advisers recognise the situations where financial-planning issues may arise alongside their own advice, understand the questions worth establishing and identify when another specialist may need to be involved.
A briefing can therefore be shaped around the work your firm already does and the types of clients your team regularly advises.
For example, a UK tax practice may want to focus on clients leaving or returning to the UK. A US CPA firm may encounter Americans living abroad with non-US investments or retirement accounts. A private-client practice may want to explore how pensions, beneficiary nominations and internationally held assets interact with estate planning.
Technical briefing topics
UK residence, the FIG regime and inheritance tax
A practical briefing on the planning issues that can arise when internationally mobile clients become UK resident, leave the UK or remain within the UK inheritance tax framework.
UK pensions for internationally mobile clients
A briefing covering common planning issues around UK pensions, defined benefit schemes, pension access, drawdown, overseas residence, beneficiary planning and international retirement.
US-connected clients living abroad
A briefing for firms dealing with US citizens, Green Card holders and internationally mobile clients with 401(k)s, IRAs, Roth IRAs, non-US investments or cross-border families.
PFICs and non-US investments for US clients
A focused session on the planning red flags professional advisers should recognise when US persons hold non-US funds, investment products or other potentially problematic assets.
Cross-border estate and beneficiary planning
A briefing on how pensions, investment accounts, insurance, beneficiary nominations and internationally held assets can intersect with estate and succession planning.
Business exits and liquidity events
A session for advisers working with business owners before and after a sale, covering the personal financial-planning issues that arise when business wealth becomes personal liquidity.
International executive financial planning
A briefing covering RSUs, share options, deferred compensation, concentrated employer stock, relocation, end-of-service benefits and retirement planning for internationally mobile executives.
International retirement planning
A session on coordinating pensions, investments, cash flow, currency, tax advice and future residence when clients are preparing to retire across borders.
Briefings can be tailored to the firm
The topics above can be delivered as standalone sessions or adapted around the client profiles and technical issues most relevant to your firm.
A session for tax specialists may focus more heavily on the financial-planning implications arising from residence and tax advice.
A private-client or trust team may want to explore pensions, beneficiaries, liquidity and implementation.
A corporate-finance team may benefit from understanding the personal planning issues that arise before and after a business sale.
An HR or global-mobility team may want to focus on employee relocations, retirement accounts, executive compensation and end-of-service benefits.
The purpose is to make the session relevant to the professional work already being undertaken rather than deliver the same presentation to every firm.
Who the briefings are for
Technical briefings can be useful for accountants, tax advisers, US CPAs, private-client lawyers, estate-planning and probate lawyers, family lawyers, pension specialists, trustees, fiduciaries, financial advisers, wealth managers, family offices, private banks, corporate-finance advisers, HR teams and global-mobility professionals.
The professional does not need to specialise in expatriate advice.
Often, the cross-border element sits with the client rather than the adviser.
A UK firm may have a client emigrating or returning from overseas. A US firm may advise a client moving abroad or holding non-US investments. A UAE or GCC-based professional may work with British or American clients whose pensions and investments remain in their home countries.
What a briefing can help your team recognise
When a residence change may affect financial planning
A client moving jurisdiction may need to review pensions, investments, retirement accounts, cash flow and future financial structures.
When a pension issue should not be viewed in isolation
A pension decision may interact with tax advice, retirement income, beneficiaries, estate planning and the client's intended country of retirement.
When a US connection changes the analysis
US citizenship, Green Card history, US retirement accounts and non-US investments can materially alter an otherwise conventional financial-planning discussion.
When a transaction creates a personal planning issue
Business sales, inheritances, redundancy payments and share disposals can create significant personal liquidity requiring a separate financial strategy.
When estate planning and financial planning need to connect
Pensions, investment accounts, insurance and beneficiary nominations may sit outside or alongside the legal estate-planning work.
When a client needs modelling before making a decision
Retirement timing, relocation, pension access and major financial transitions can often be tested more effectively through cash-flow modelling.
Supporting material for your team
The Professional Adviser Centre includes a dedicated Document Centre containing technical briefs, professional guides and practical checklists that can support a briefing or provide follow-up material for your team.
The library covers UK pensions, US retirement accounts, PFIC exposure, UK residence and the FIG regime, inheritance tax, US estate tax, international estate and beneficiary planning, business exits, executive compensation, international retirement, clients moving between jurisdictions and mixed US and non-US families.
Example professional audiences
Accountancy & tax firms
Briefings around international mobility, UK returners, US-connected clients, pensions, business owners and investment-planning considerations.
Law firms
Sessions for private-client, estate-planning, family, employment and international practices where financial decisions intersect with legal work.
Wealth & pension professionals
Cross-border briefings for advisers dealing with clients whose circumstances extend beyond their normal jurisdictional or technical scope.
Trust & fiduciary professionals
Sessions focused on beneficiaries, pensions, investments, liquidity and coordination with wider family wealth structures.
Corporate finance & M&A teams
Briefings around the personal financial-planning issues shareholders may face before and after a liquidity event.
HR, reward & global mobility teams
Planning considerations for internationally mobile executives, including relocation, retirement accounts, share compensation and end-of-service benefits.
Clear professional boundaries
A technical briefing is designed to help professional teams recognise financial-planning issues.
It is not intended to replace specialist tax, legal, accounting, fiduciary, immigration or other professional advice.
Josh's role is financial planning, including pensions, investments, retirement planning, cash-flow modelling, protection, implementation and ongoing wealth management where appropriate.
Where a subject depends on specialist tax, legal or other professional interpretation, the relevant adviser remains responsible for that advice.
Arrange a briefing for your team
If your firm regularly encounters clients with international pensions, overseas investments, changing residence, US connections, business exits or cross-border retirement issues, a focused technical briefing can be built around those cases.
An initial discussion can establish the audience, the areas of most relevance and the appropriate level of technical depth.