Wealth management for Americans in Spain

Imagine a rock & roll band that spent nine years perfecting their live show. They know which song opens the night, how to transition to the one that brings the crowd to their feet before the break, and which song should close things out at the end. Their setlist, songs they’ll perform in the order they’ll play them, is perfect. It works every time.

Then they book their first European tour.

They play the same set in Barcelona that they played in Boston. And their sound doesn’t connect. The rhythms feel off. The songs that typically bring the crowd to their feet just… don’t. Nothing is wrong with the sound system or their instruments. But the room is different, the audience is different, and what worked so well at home feels oddly out of place here.

Americans who move to Spain bringing their U.S. financial plan with them face a similar situation. Like music, financial plans seldom travel well.

Successful bands don’t abandon their music when they tour internationally. They adapt it. They collaborate with bands who understand the local market. They discover which tracks travel well and which need to be rethought. Similarly, Americans in Spain shouldn’t abandon the idea of following a financial plan simply because they’ve moved. They simply need to collaborate with local experts to help them remake their financial plan, so it works on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bissan Wealth Management is an independent Spanish financial advisory firm that has been assisting clients with financial planning and investment management since 2010. They began helping U.S. clients in Spain in 2023, when American financial planner Peter Dougherty joined the firm. Mr. Dougherty is accredited in both the U.S. and Spain, having earned his CFP® certification and his European Financial Planner certification from Spain’s EFPA España. Bissan has offices in Barcelona and Bilbao.

Most financial advisors in Spain work for a bank. That bank has its own insurance and financial products, and its own reasons to recommend them. Bissan Wealth Management doesn’t. They’re independent: no parent company, no products to sell, no hidden incentives. That independence is authorized and supervised by the CNMV, the securities regulator that protects investors in Spain.

If you are an American in Spain, Bissan can help you create a financial plan and investment strategy that fits your global needs: having assets, taxes, currencies and decisions in two countries — and headaches in both.

Here’s what bands often figure out: the audience in Barcelona isn’t indifferent to their music. They just come to the show with different expectations and different musical tastes than an American crowd does. If the band gets advice from the right local musicians, the connection they can make with the audience is just as real as anything they built back home. Sometimes more so.

The same is true of life as an American in Spain. The financial challenges are real, but they are not insurmountable. With the right planning, the right structure, and the team at Bissan Wealth Management helping you navigate two systems at once, you can build a financial life in Spain that is just as solid and efficient as what you had in the United States.

You just need a new setlist.

For more information: www.financial-planning-in-spain.com