Article by Russ Prince

“The tremendous accumulation of wealth is occurring in a time of great uncertainty leaving many at political, financial and personal risk. This, coupled with increasing meddling by governments – often with unclear motives – in one’s personal affairs, necessitates that creative jurisdictional planning be part of traditional wealth planning. Too often the very wealthy are getting piece-meal advice when what they need is a comprehensive, multi-disciplined instruction that protects them, their families, their businesses, and their wealth,” says Reaz Jafri, CEO of Withers Global Advisors, a specialist business offering internationally mobile high-net-worth individuals a comprehensive service on global movement and securing additional citizenship or residency rights through investment programs.

According to Jafri, a number of factors regularly come into play when considering modifications in citizenship and deciding where to reside. Included here are:

• The quality of life available in the jurisdiction. Some of the issues taken into account often comprise the quality of the healthcare system, educational system, quality of housing, and the ability to easily access major capitals.
• The various taxes – income, capital gains, and estate – collected by the jurisdiction. Also, the astute exceptionally wealthy regularly factor in the eligibility to establish tax residence status and the existence of tax treaties with other countries.
• The political and financial stability of the country. Crime rates are also often taken into account.
• The perception people – including the wealthy – have of the country. This can prove especially important to the super-rich.
• The utility of the passport from the jurisdiction. In effect, to what extent does it provide visa free travel to the maximum amount of countries.
• The processing time and cost it takes to become a citizen. Although this is often not particularly important to the super-rich.

According to Rick Flynn, managing partner of FFO Business Management & Family Office and author of The High-Functioning Single-Family Office, “We find that when global wealthy families set up residencies in other countries often including citizenships, by adopting a holistic approach incorporating personal, family, business, and wealth planning decisions, these families are not only able to better ensure the lifestyles they want but are able to do so as cost effectively as possible.”

Originally posted on Forbes.com, April 12th, 2018. Original Article can be viewed here