Ep 43: Financial Planning 101: How to Find a Great Cross-border Financial Planner.
Listen & Subscribe
dark+apple dark+spotify dark+youtube
How do you find a good financial planner?
We share personal experiences and insights on the importance of cultural sensitivity, qualifications, fee structures, and effective communication in financial advising.
These are the things you want your financial planner to have in addition to cross-border technical knowledge.
We emphasize the importance of advisors understanding their clients' unique backgrounds and financial goals, as well as the fiduciary responsibilities they hold.
This will help you find the best financial advisor for your specific situation.
Key Takeaways on finding the right advisor for your cross-border needs
Look for cultural sensitivity
Look for advisors with CFP certification for quality assurance.
Understand the fee structure.
Ensure their communication will help you understand complex financial concepts.
Ensure they are a fiduciary - put your interests first.
Agree on how you define financial success and much more.
Episode Links & Resources
Ep 37: How To Find The Right Tax Pro For Your Cross-border Needs
Ep 31" Five Important Financial Planning Questions For Foreign-Born Families
A Prospect's First Visit - Nightmare Os The Start Of Something Beautiful
Kitces: Navigating Challenges Investing For Nonimmigrant Visa Holders
Are you Tax-compliant With Your Overseas Assets? - Free Guide - Scroll to the bottom of the page.
If you'd like to work with us on your finances or taxes, check out the process
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Be sure to join the conversation! Follow us on Social Media!
-
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the International Money Cafe Podcast, the show where we filter out the noise on cross-border taxes, finances, and life in the us. I'm your host Jen, me from Certified Financial Planner, founder and owner of Elgon Financial Advisors,
Speaker 2 (00:21):
And I'm your host, man, Nadi, enrolled agent, owner and founder of M and Tax and Business Services. Join us on this journey as we explore the unique challenges faced by inbound outbound families and businesses on taxes, compliance, and financial planning. Let's get to the show.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
We are back with another episode of the International Money Cafe, the IMC. A few weeks ago we had a podcast dedicated to finding the right tax professional, especially for your cross-border needs. In today's episode, we kind of wanna compliment that and talk about how do you go about finding a great cross border financial advisor. Before we jump into the episode, I wanna tell you a quick story and part of the reason why I became a financial planner. Now, this is a very short version of it. I'm gonna link to the bigger story in the podcast. Years ago, my spouse and I wanted to work with a financial advisor, and so we went looking, we were both on work visas, different work visas. We were from different countries, and we've been looking and really struggling trying to figure out how do we do this whole financial planning thing?
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Because we've been told this is how you build your American dream. We ended up with this financial advisor and it was a total disaster. We walked away from that experience, completely deflated feeling like we didn't know what we were doing. Oh, by the way, he's called us a ton. He's called us for not saving enough. He completely ignored where we were coming from. He completely ignored our immigration status. He completely ignored our cultural background, and it took us many, many years before we'd go back to another financial advisor, which is kind of funny considering what I do, but this is why I do what I do. My idea was nobody should ever, ever have to go through this process again.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Yeah, I know The importance of being able to get to that is what makes a good financial advisor. Right. But let's start off there. Today we are talking about why is it important to work with a financial advisor one and two, what it is that a good financial advisor should have? What are those qualities? What are the designations and the experience that you should look for in a good financial advisor? I was reading about this and I read that apparently there's more than 300,000 professionals in the financial services space, but only a third of them are actually CFP professionals. When you are looking at this and then going by what your story, you think about, wow, there are so many to choose from. It comes down to another story, <laugh>, that I heard of, which is, when you are trying to learn a language, you are trying to learn maybe Spanish, would you go to a French tutor? No, you'll go to somebody who can teach you Spanish. It all comes down to what are you looking for in a financial advisor? What's your issue? And that is kind of a jump off point today. So what do you think, Jane?
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yeah, so what you're saying is so key and a lot of that story that you just gave, you definitely want somebody that can solve your problem. So when you think about financial advisors, we have financial advisors who were generalists, right? Which is fine, okay? They may be able to solve a few of your problems, but before you start picking one, I think what we are saying is let's make sure you completely understand what it is that you are trying to solve. What's important to you? So are you looking for somebody that's gonna help your investment portfolio grow hundred percent or 20% or whatever the number is? Are you looking for somebody that will understand you? Are you looking for somebody that will help you with doing money for your college kids fund? What exactly is your problem? And if you're not sure, please make sure you pick out a financial advisor who's taught by helping you understand what your issue is, what it is that you are looking for. So basically they'll walk you through, you let me know what you're looking for, let's make sure we get to the same point and go from there. So I'll give you an example. I do a lot. In fact, I do a post on Mondays called the Intersection of Immigration and Financial Planning.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Oh, by the way, I love that. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (05:40):
<laugh>, thank you. Yeah, there's some big nuances between somebody who's come to the country, for example, and is looking to do financial planning compared to somebody who grew up and all their assets, all their things, all their issues are in the us. So the bottom line is it's important that you understand what it is that you're looking for, and if you're not sure that this person at least starts by helping you understand what it is that you are looking for. Does that make sense, man?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Oh yeah, totally, totally. You know, folks, this is why I love Jane. This is why I think that she is an amazing financial planner. Thank, thank you. And this is how we met. This was me out there looking for somebody who would keep all of this in mind, working with people who have a cross border footprint, the ability to have that empathy and understanding towards your cultural differences and the ability to relate to that when they are looking at your finances. Because you know what? At the end of the day, all of this is always interconnected. Your finances play a big part in your life and your life impacts your finances. So you just can't take those two out of the equation. They always have to be in there together. And that's how I met Jane, and that's how we became friends. Going off of that, you know Jane, I know you already agree with me when we say yes, you should have an empathy towards a person's cultural differences and know where they're coming from. But tell me something about how you or a good financial advisor in this space should be able to, or rather not a financial advisor, a person who's looking for a good financial advisor in this space, what should they look for? And if you have some examples of a person that, yeah,
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I have lots and lots of stories. I'll tell you just a few. When I talk about being culturally sensitive, true, we're talking numbers, but as you so eloquently explained, it's not just about numbers, it's about your life. And I've had somebody say, let's not just focus on optimizing your numbers, but let's focus on optimizing your life. Your life is the totales sum of you, where you're coming from, why you are here. So when I think of, for example, immigrants, we came to the US for a chance at our version of the American Dream, we really want to pursue that. It's true, we want to make money, we want to improve our lives, but a part of that is who we're, which we cannot separate from the two. So I'll give you an example. I was talking with a prospect, I think they were from Pakistan, and he said to me, and he was a little hesitant, he was bringing this up, oh, you know, I need to come up with, I think it was something like 2030 K.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
And I'm like, sure, tell me more about it. And that's so important that we are willing to listen. And he explained he is looking to save, I think for a wedding. And right away I am like I completely get it. And we actually ended up laughing about it. And what we said is, yeah, a software engineer in Silicon Valley, the parents and the family back home expects you to have a big wedding. They really don't care how much you are making. You may be able to explain that maybe you have other needs, but there's that cultural expectation that because our son is in the US and he's making a ton of money, we expect to see that. Another example that I see all the time, and now we've kind of coined a phrase for it, is where people will say, I am my parents retirement plan. I completely get it. Your parents sent you to the US for education. They put everything they had in you so you can help them. Also, in the end, it may not be a very US-centric thing, but I completely get it. And those are the things that I'm talking about being empathetic and really taking cultural differences into consideration. Okay, let's take a quick pause and when we come back, we'll continue with addressing or talking about how you find a great cross-border financial planner.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Hey, dear, I'm C listener. Let me tell you a little story. Coincidentally, when I started my practice, it was the same year in which FATCA was passed into law. FATCA stands for Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The government started to crack down on those who had financial assets overseas and were not compliant in disclosing these funds to the US government. The FinCEN Fbar filing requirement has been around since 1970, since the Bank Secrecy Act was passed. Well, even though it has been more than 10 years since these laws were passed, we still have many, many US taxpayers who may have the filing requirement but are completely unaware of it. I'm talking about that joint account with your dad with over 10 K back home. So this is in fact our most frequently asked question. We've put together a comprehensive free ebook, which goes over the most important compliance requirements for overseas financial assets.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
And we want you IM, IMC listener to have this ebook completely free. All you need to do is go to our website, www the IM cafe dot, and scroll to the bottom of the homepage and enter your first name and email address and you will be able to download this handy ebook. Now, hurry, go get your free and fabulous download. Hi, I am Sea listeners. Welcome back. We are talking about how to find a good cross-border financial planner, and we just were talking about the experience that they have and the ability to empathize. And Jane did tell us some case studies about who she has worked with and why this is important, but now let's get down to designations and licensing and qualifications. When you are looking at these licensing and qualifications, and you just go on to Google, my God, you get hit with so many acronyms. There's CFP, there's CFA, there's CHFC, there's a A MS Oh ton of those. Jane, can you break that down for us please?
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Sure. One challenge is in terms of differentiating through the titles is you've mentioned a whole bunch of designations, but in terms of the actual titles, you have people that go by investment advisor, wealth, like a financial advisor, financial planner, all those. And unfortunately, our industry doesn't do a really good job of saying, these are the titles we should use. So you really don't have designated industry titles, and that's a big problem. I think the best way to think about this, and the way I look at it is at least make sure your advisor has what I call the gold standard, which is the CFP, the certifi Financial Planner. You have others like you've mentioned like the CFA, the chartered financial analyst, you have similar, so we won't talk about all those, but at least make sure they have the cfp, the Certified Financial Planner, and this is actually the number that you alluded to at the beginning where we only have about a hundred thousand CFPs in the country country.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
And the reason why, because it's pretty tough to go through the certification and get it, it involves a really series of challenging cost work. Then you have to pass the CFP exams and the pass rate is something like 60%, and then you need a minimum of three years in the advising industry, which is about 6,000 hours. And then on top of that, you'll need to adhere to a set of ethical guidelines from the CFP board. They're the ones that actually own the markets we call it. And then on top of that, you need to complete a series of continuing education classes every year. So what I'll say is start with that. Make sure the person you're talking to is at least a CFP trained person. They have the CFP marks, and then there's gonna be all these other designations, which will be towards specific areas. So for example, I wouldn't go into the other designations, but it needs to align with what it is that you're looking for. Does that answer your question, Elise? As far as the designations are concerned, Melissa?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Oh, yes, yes. Okay. Definitely Jane. Yes. And going off of what you just said, and I think that this is kind of a touchy subject when it comes to any professional expertise, but there is also a lot of confusion around it. And we are talking fees, there's the professional fees, and there's so much out there again about how do you even look for someone? Can you afford that person maybe, and how do you judge how you are going to pay for that service? So if you can explain that, I think that'll be great for our listeners.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Sure. This is another area that does cause a lot of confusion. The first thing you really wanna think about is make sure that the advices fee structure or their fees are very transparent. You want them to explain to you and you want to make sure you understand and you're okay with how the advisor is compensated or the planner is compensated. We have two broad categories. You have fee only advisors, a fee only advisor is paid by you, so the money could be coming outta your checking account or it could be coming from them managing your assets. So that's fee only. See, based on the other hand, means they get some sort of a commission. So somebody sells you, let's say a mutual fund or insurance, let's just say some type of product, they get a commission on that. So that's fee based where some of their fee or their compensation is coming from selling you some products.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
And then under the fee only model, we've now had a lot of other types of models come up. You have what's called a flat fee, you have an hourly fee. The main thing is you wanna make sure that the fee structure does not have a conflict of interest or at least has very little conflict of interest. There's always some sort of conflict of interest, let's put it that way, which is why you wanna make sure that the advisor explains that whole thing to you. So in terms of the fee, what I'll say is make sure you understand how the advisor is compensated, make sure that aligns with what it is that you want, but it's also really important to make sure that they will be able to address your problems. So Melissa and I talk a lot about fees and let's say in the cross border space, and sometimes we talk about you get what you pay, so you need to make that decision. How much do you value the kind of advice, the kind of expertise that the advisor is bringing in and make sure you're okay with it? Mana, how does that sound?
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Absolutely, yes. Okay. Okay. That was very, very well explained. And this is something that when I'm working with my clients and they have some financial questions, I always preface it with saying that I can only give them tax advice and for investment advice, they should be working with a financial planner. Then they may come back and then they tell me, oh, we don't understand the fees. Or they got a very salesy kind of feeling because they felt like the products were being sort of pushed, encouraged. <laugh>, yes, I better, those are definitely so things that transparency is good, as like you said. Now moving to the next thing that, and here I quote my father, he says, to be a true master of what you know, you should have the ability to teach it as if you are teaching it to a 10-year-old. Maybe going off of that, how important do you think are strong communication skills? Jane <laugh>, and let's talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
I think that is everything. A good advisor should be able to explain complex financial concepts in a way that you completely understand. One thing I keep saying is when we first come to the country, we already feel out of place. Let's say because you are new and you've been told you need to understand us finances, for example. You go, you start Googling and talking to different people and a lot of it doesn't make sense. And what that tends to do, again, you have people who are brilliant who've come to the country, they don't understand the concept. It makes you start kind of doubting yourself. So as a financial advisor, now that I understand these things, I really need to break things down for you in a way that you can understand. So communication is everything, and a big part of communication is being willing to listen.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
It's not me talking all the time, it's listening to your questions, asking good follow up questions and answering those questions in a way that makes sense. So really being empathetic, being able to judge a what level, I guess I need to deliver the information to you being responsive. And I've talked about being willing to answer all your questions, and I mean all your questions, as we've said, finances is a big part of your life. You really cannot separate unquote your life from your finances. You need the two to work together. And what I find is over time, if you're doing a good job communicating, answering all the questions that the client or the prospect is asking, you end up with a great relationship. And by us listening, you actually end up uncovering other areas that they should be working on as part of their finances. Does that answer your question?
Speaker 2 (21:15):
Oh yeah. Very eloquently. Yes. <laugh>,
Speaker 1 (21:18):
I like that word eloquent.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
A good talent to have for good communication skills, <laugh>. Yes. Yes. So yes. Alright, so yeah, jumping off of that, obviously both of us are in the cross border contacts. We work with people either here on various different work visas or green guards or naturalized citizens of foreign born nationals. And also we work with expats who have American funds and have now moved out of the country maybe for a short period, or maybe they have retired there and or a longish period of time, however you look at it. That kind of brings me to the aspect of the analytical and market expertise that a good cross border financial advisor should have. Maybe it's knowledge about immigration specifics or to even know terms like SPT or those kind of things that we experience that like acronyms are constantly thrown at us.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
And maybe even like something which somebody in a regular quote unquote place wouldn't think about is, Hey, how can I repa funds? Maybe back to the country where you are now or back to the US now if you're staying. So what is this analytical and market expertise here we're talking about Jane,
Speaker 1 (22:53):
I probably have a lot to say about this. <laugh>.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yes, I know you do <laugh>
Speaker 1 (22:58):
In terms of when I think of expertise, you got your CFP, you already a pretty good US financial advisor. That's the way it should be. You should understand retirement, you should understand retirement accounts, tax planning, insurance, all the things that go into what we call holistic financial planning. And by holistic, I don't wanna use a big word, it's all aspects of your finances. So you really should already be good at that or this advisor should already be good at that. Now let's step it up a notch. You wanna make sure you as a prospect that you understand their investment philosophy. What kind of portfolios are they gonna put you in? Basically, where are they gonna invest your money? And can they explain the reasoning behind it? Are they flexible in terms of putting the portfolios together? So for example, if you wanna keep this individual stock that you've had because it's not time to sell it, are they willing to incorporate that into what they invest your money in?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
Are they willing to explain expenses? So all that stuff is really, really key that you understand and make sure you align. You want to make sure the advisor has a deep understanding of market trends and they're able to advise you along that line. Now, one thing we always talk a lot about is another kind of advisor who's watching TV all the time and making changes based on that, which is why the investment philosophy is so key. You wanna make sure they help you take stress out of your life, for lack of a better word, by how they help you invest. And then of course, now let's add the core cross border piece. I've had people come to me and as soon as I look at their situation, I can see where they already made a mistake or somebody made a mistake because they completely ignore the fact that this person has roots elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
So for example, I'll start working with somebody and the first thing I always say is, can we talk about your taxes the last couple years? Can we talk about your assets overseas? And it's so many times I've had to even refer people to MANA to say, okay, mana, this person needs some streamlined filing because they haven't been reporting they overseas stuff the last couple years. And Mana has seen a lot of that. So to me, in terms of expertise, it's also understanding how the US interacts with whatever other country that you are coming from. And if not, if they're not familiar with the country, be willing to bring somebody else into that space. This podcast really is geared towards people with a foot in another country. We could probably end up linking all the episodes to this, but you understand what I'm talking about. It's key that they have that whole cross border aspect on top of the US aspect. How does that sound, man? <laugh>?
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yeah. Yeah. And really, I wanna also hear, actually highlight the fact that Jane has written an amazing article breaking down the whole analysis of different non-immigrant work weers and how the investment change for each of them. And we'll link it in our episode notes. So that's an amazing article. So that actually tells you how much knowledge a cross border financial advisor should have about all of these immigration specifics and
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Yes, yes. And maybe this sounds like a self plug <laugh>, but also make sure that they're connected with a good tax professional who also understands that. So yes,
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Now moving on to our next one, like we were talking all professionals here in this cross-border context, but then any professional advisor that you're working with, whether it's in the legal space or the financial space or the tax space, should be a fiduciary, which is a, someone you can trust to handle your finances. But I'll let Jane get into the weeds about that. But another one that I think is important here is kind of the client focused approach to things. Jane, would you explain that and
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Tell us
Speaker 2 (27:34):
How that's all connected?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
And actually I think the client focused approach that you mentioned, really talk to the whole fiduciary idea. I've had people reach out and they said to me, are you fiduciary? And now I'll sometimes ask, what exactly do you mean? Am I a fiduciary? So a fiduciary basically means one, the person is obligated to put your interest first, but you don't want it to be just a legal obligation. You really want somebody that truly puts your interest first. You want somebody, again, we talked about the communication bit that lessens to you patiently answers your question. You really wanna walk away being had. And at the end of the day, whatever recommendations they make, you really want to ensure that those recommendations are in your best interest first. And really that's what a fiduciary means. I can give you a ton of examples, but I think we can talk about some of those examples later. Just make sure they're putting your interest first and you can get a sense for this just by talking with them and asking them questions and just seeing how the whole process goes. I think that's all I'm gonna say with this man.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, that's great. Actually, that explained it very nicely. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Okay. Okay.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yeah. And now the next one, which, sorry to borrow this cliche, which is, you know, the last but not the least, <laugh>. So, uh, professional, especially in this space of finance or taxes or legal, there's so much influx all the time with especially now when we are recording this podcast. We've just learned a whole lot of stuff is going to change or not change. That brings me to this one about the necessity to have a commitment to continual learning. I'll let you tell us about how that applies to financial professionals.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
It's everything. And if you recall, part of being a CFP and maintaining the certification is actually being able to complete so many CE credits every year. But you really wanna go beyond that and especially in the cross border context. So for example, one thing I do is I keep up with immigration changes. And of course right now we know there's a lot of that happening in this space. I keep up with what's happening with the tax law. Again, there's a whole lot happening in that space. So for example, we all know the TCJA is gonna sunset basically at the end of this year. If nothing has happened, God forbid you get hit by a bus, you won't be able to leave. I think we go back to 7 million instead of 13, 14 million. That's a big change. We really need to keep up with what's happening in that space.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
The same tax will made a lot of changes to things like I a beneficiaries, IRAs, uh, trust as beneficiaries, like a whole bunch of technical things. Really the only way to keep up is to go and ensure you are learning a lot. This is basically how I met Mana. We were doing a CE thing on cross board at access. It's key. And when you talk to your advisor, try and find out how they gain this knowledge. And the other part I always talk about is if they don't know something, please ensure that they're willing to say, I don't know, but I'll go out and talk to somebody who knows this and bring it back to you. I think that's probably all I wanna say about the continued learning. It's a lot, but you get the idea.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah, CS continuing education. That's great. Now I know I said that was last but not the least. But here's one thing that I suddenly thought while you were talking, I guess it sort of sums up this entire conversation really nicely, Jane, is I asked co-pilot this question, I said, what is the biggest concern that people have before they meet a financial advisor? And of course it threw up. The big one was they don't think that they are rich enough or they are not there yet before they can go meet somebody. Which I know that you'll address that. But another question which kind of took me by surprise was they were unsure about even the need to talk to a financial planner. Let's kind of bring that together and say, how should a good cross-border financial planner or any financial planner, if you think about it, how should they measure success and how should they keep up with it for you or on your behalf?
Speaker 1 (32:31):
That's an interesting one. <laugh>. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:34):
Lemme use my example in what I do. When I first meet somebody and we're talking at the beginning, I ask them how do they define success if we work together two, three years down the road? And a lot of times it ends up being, I would've met some of my goals or I'll be on my way to meeting some of my goals. I hear a lot about, I wanna make sure I'm not worrying about these things. So some of that is obviously difficult to measure. Once you tell me how you define success, my goal is then work with you to towards that thing that you wanna achieve. I talk a lot about you as a prospect or as a client. You know your life best. All I can do is bring in the technical knowledge into the relationship. You let me know what's going on on your end.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
I bring the technical knowledge and we marry the two together. One thing I talk a lot about doing is when I do financial planning, I don't do a lot of all this is from my tech days. When it comes to we do where think we take bitesize problems or issues in your situation, we solve them, we come up with recommendations, we implement them, and we can put that off to one side. And anytime you look back, you are able to see this is what we've achieved. This is where I started, this is where I'm going. It's a little nuanced, but it needs to align again with your values, with what it is that you wanna achieve. I know that sounds a little bit, I don't know, fluffy, but it's the only way I can think of that you've agreed this is how we'll be defining success.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
And as you move forward, you're able to see yes, making progress. You may end up working with a planner, let's say for six months because you just wanted help to open a college account just as an example. You've done that. It's done. The only thing is when it comes to financial planning, you life is constantly changing and you need a financial planner who's willing to be flexible and be willing to change with you. So it's important that right at the beginning they understand again, that whole communication client focusing, they understand where you are coming from, where you want to go. Taking into consideration your cultural background and both of you agreeing, this is how we measure this. Obviously constant communication is gonna be key. I think that's all I'll say about it for now.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Yeah, no, that was great from what you were saying, I remember reading this book called The Psychology of Money. I think it's by Morgan House. Yeah. I hope I said his last name right. The very fact that there is a book called Psychology of Money tells you how interconnected your sentiments and your deep kind of, uh, connection to your money is. But also I guess it takes a lot into account as far as your life, your cultural influence on that and your immigration status on top of it, and your footprints in two countries and so on. So that's all what we have today. Dear IMC listener is the importance of working with a good financial planner in the cross-border context. Who has the ability to understand and empathize with your immigration status, your cultural background, and your goals for growing your wealth long-term and financial wellbeing in the short and the long term, and how to go about finding one who ticks all these boxes. Thank you for listening and please go to our website, the i am cafe.com. Please subscribe to our newsletter and you will be notified of all new episodes dropping if you are here. Thank you so much
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Digga. Thank you for listening to the International Money Cafe podcast. The content is for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. Seek the advice of your qualified service provider with any questions you may have regarding your cross border finances and tax needs.
Share this episode
The speakers' views and opinions discussed in this episode should not be considered financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult your advisor for any legal, cross-border tax, and financial advice.