Cross-Border Financial Planning
Your Wealth Is Global. Your Strategy Should Be, Too.
Global Wealth Strategy begins with everything included in Tax Confidence, including U.S. tax preparation and applicable international reporting, then adds comprehensive financial planning. It brings your tax position, cash flow, investments, retirement, real estate, business interests, estate considerations, and cross-border goals into one coordinated plan. We help you understand where you are, decide what should change, and lead the work of putting the plan into action.
- Complete global financial assessment
- U.S. tax preparation and international reporting
- Tax-aware cash flow, retirement, investment, and estate coordination
- Prioritized Global Wealth Blueprint
- Implementation leadership with outside specialists
- Ongoing annual planning and advisory
You have advisors. What you may not have is one strategy.
Cross-border families often have a U.S. accountant, a foreign accountant, investment accounts at different institutions, real estate in multiple countries, an attorney who prepared documents years ago, and financial decisions that affect all of them. Each professional may be competent within a specialty, but no one is responsible for answering the larger questions:
Are your investments aligned with your residency, tax exposure, and long-term goals?
Can your retirement plan support the life you want in the countries where you may live?
Is your cash flow organized across currencies, accounts, properties, and businesses?
Do your ownership, beneficiary, and estate arrangements still reflect your intentions?
Which planning opportunities matter now, and which can wait?
Who will translate the plan into a sequence of actual decisions and coordinated professional work?
A blueprint, an implementation plan, and an ongoing strategic relationship.
Global Wealth Strategy starts by organizing the client's complete financial life. We assess the present structure, identify risks and opportunities, model important decisions, and deliver a prioritized Global Wealth Blueprint.
We then help the client implement the recommendations by completing tax work within our scope and coordinating with attorneys, investment professionals, insurance professionals, and local-country specialists as needed. The relationship continues with annual tax preparation, maintenance, and advisory so the plan stays current as laws, markets, family circumstances, and goals change.
We provide comprehensive, tax-aware wealth planning. We do not take custody of client assets, execute trades, or earn commissions for recommending financial products. When regulated investment management, legal drafting, insurance placement, or country-specific advice is needed, we coordinate with the appropriate outside professional.
What the Blueprint gives you
The Global Wealth Blueprint is the central onboarding deliverable.
Global financial inventory
Global financial inventory and household balance sheet.
Asset and entity map
Asset, liability, entity, account, property, and cash-flow map.
Goals and priorities
Review of stated goals, priorities, time horizons, and family considerations.
Current-state observations
Current-state observations, including planning gaps and cross-border risks.
Scenario analysis
Tax-aware scenario analysis for key decisions.
Prioritized recommendations
Prioritized recommendations with tradeoffs and rationale.
Implementation roadmap
An implementation roadmap identifying timing, responsibility, and outside specialists.
Decision meeting
Blueprint presentation and decision meeting.
It gives the client a consolidated view of the current situation, our observations, recommended strategies, and a prioritized roadmap for action.
Who This Package Is Built For
Global Wealth Strategy is designed for:
- U.S. expats and cross-border families with meaningful assets or income
- Business owners and professionals whose personal and business decisions are closely connected
- Property owners and investors with assets in multiple countries
- Pre-retirees and retirees deciding where and how to live
- Families who have several professional advisors but no one coordinating the full picture
- Clients who value judgment, implementation support, and an ongoing relationship more than a one-time financial plan
Not the right fit
- Someone seeking discretionary investment management or a person to trade assets
- Someone seeking specific financial products or commission-based recommendations
- Someone who wants only a one-time investment allocation
- Someone looking for isolated tax-return preparation without broader planning
- Someone unwilling to gather financial information or participate in implementation decisions
Financial planning areas
Global financial organization
Worldwide balance sheet, account and entity map, document organization, consolidated view of assets and liabilities
Goals and decision planning
Prioritizing objectives, evaluating tradeoffs, sequencing major financial decisions
Cash flow and savings
Spending and liquidity analysis, emergency reserves, savings targets, multi-currency cash needs, debt strategy
Tax strategy
Cross-border tax projections, entity and compensation planning, retirement contributions and distributions, charitable and gifting strategies
Retirement planning
Retirement readiness, income needs, Social Security or pension coordination, withdrawal sequencing, country-of-residence considerations
Investment strategy coordination
Risk capacity and goals, high-level allocation review, tax location, liquidity, currency and cross-border constraints, coordination with the client's investment manager
Real estate planning
Purchase and sale modeling, financing decisions, rental economics, ownership structure coordination, lifestyle-versus-investment analysis
Business-owner planning
Owner compensation, distributions, liquidity, succession, entity coordination, separation of business and household finances
Estate and legacy coordination
Ownership and beneficiary review, gifting goals, incapacity planning, cross-border estate issues, coordination with legal counsel
Risk and insurance planning
Coverage needs and gaps, life, disability, liability, health, long-term-care and property-risk review, coordination with licensed professionals
Education and family support
Education funding, support for family members, family loans, multigenerational gifting considerations
Charitable planning
Giving goals, timing and tax-efficient methods, coordination with legal and investment professionals
Life transitions
International moves, marriage, divorce, career changes, inheritance, business sale, property acquisition, and retirement
Available as needed
Legal services, investment management, insurance products, local-country services, valuations, and other specialized work are contracted and billed separately by those providers. We coordinate with the professionals you already trust, or introduce one through our Professional Rolodex.
Membership
Everything in Tax Confidence, plus a more comprehensive planning and advisory relationship.
- Includes
- Every Tax Confidence benefit.
- Community
- The Expat Tax Coach Community on Circle.
- Network
- The Professional Rolodex: trusted providers for work outside the package.
A relationship that runs all year
The plan only works if everyone acts on it. We coordinate with the professionals you rely on throughout the year, so your strategy stays on track.
Attorneys
Wills, trusts, powers, beneficiaries, and cross-border estate concerns.
Investment professionals
Allocation, account location, liquidity, and tax considerations.
Insurance professionals
Coverage analysis and product implementation.
Local-country specialists
Entity, property, and country-specific advice where you live and invest.
The standard due date for individual returns and the FBAR, plus the first estimated payment.
Federal dates. They move to the next business day when they fall on a weekend or holiday.
How It Works
The initial planning and onboarding process is tailored to your circumstances and may unfold over several structured meetings.
Step 1: Introductory conversation
We begin by discussing the client's situation, what they want help with, and whether the relationship appears to be a mutual fit.
Step 2: Discovery and engagement
We take a deeper look at the client's financial life, priorities, family considerations, countries involved, existing advisors, and long-term objectives. If the client chooses to proceed, we confirm scope and begin coordinated onboarding.
Step 3: Planning and Global Wealth Blueprint
PurposeUnderstand the present situation and determine the most important next moves.
Step 4: Coordinated implementation
PurposeConvert the blueprint into action.
- Tax elections, projections, restructuring, or compliance work within the firm's agreed scope
- Coordination with investment professionals on allocation, account location, liquidity, and tax considerations
- Coordination with estate attorneys on wills, trusts, powers, beneficiaries, and cross-border estate concerns
- Coordination with insurance professionals for coverage analysis and product implementation
- Retirement contribution, distribution, and account-consolidation actions
- Cash-flow, savings, debt, education, charitable, or real-estate action items
- Entity or property structure changes with appropriate legal and local-country professionals
- Progress tracking and client decision support
Implementation is advice and coordination. Legal drafting, asset management, product sales, custodial work, and third-party professional fees are not included unless expressly stated.
Step 5: Ongoing tax preparation, maintenance, and advisory
PurposeKeep the strategy aligned as the client's life changes.
- At least two structured strategy reviews per year
- Annual U.S. federal and applicable state income tax preparation
- Applicable international information reporting within the agreed scope
- Annual update of net worth, cash flow, goals, and planning priorities
- Tax projection and year-end planning coordination
- Retirement progress and distribution planning
- Review of investment strategy with the client's regulated investment professional
- Estate document, ownership, and beneficiary checkup
- Insurance and risk-management review
- Planning for relocations, property decisions, business changes, inheritances, gifts, retirement, and other major transitions
- Ongoing access for significant financial questions within scope
- Coordination among the client's professional advisors
- A refreshed annual action list
Your Team
Alex McGowin
Your planning lead
Alex leads every Global Wealth Strategy engagement. He builds your Global Wealth Blueprint, prepares your U.S. tax returns, and works with your attorneys, investment professionals, and local-country specialists so each part of the plan is carried out.
Your Questions, Answered
No. We provide tax-aware planning and coordinate with the investment professional or custodian you select. We do not take custody of assets or execute trades.
One Plan for a Life That Spans Countries
Combine the confidence of coordinated tax preparation with a complete view of your global financial life. We develop your Global Wealth Blueprint, lead implementation, prepare your tax returns, and provide ongoing guidance as your life evolves.