"I tell people it is like a dinner theater production," Wruk explains. "Before you start, you have a chance to set the stage and make all of the arrangements in your best interest. Once you take up residency in Canada, the curtain is up and you have to deal with whatever the situation is on the stage with no more time to plan."
Resources for financial advisors who are new to the international market include such organizations as Rotary International, which can assist in locating trustworthy real estate agents and lawyers in a foreign country, Wruk says.
"I advised a client who moved to San Miguel, Mexico, to find local real estate people and lawyers to deal with. If she wanted me to interview people for her I would, but I felt it was better for her to make the initial contacts," says Barbara Wolf of J. Cole Financial Advisors Inc. in Narberth, Pa.
Wolf has only one client who has retired out of the country, but she would gladly accept others; she feels the next one would be slightly easier than the first.
"The communication is done a little more by e-mail than I might like, but we just make our e-mails crystal clear, and my client returns to the United States about once a year for a face-to-face meeting."
Wolf's client went to Mexico out of a spirit of adventure more than as a money-saving measure. A renter in New Jersey her entire life, she is now investing in local real estate near San Miguel and needs assistance, but each client's needs can be different.
"Being a financial advisor is definitely becoming more of a global profession," says Barbara Steinmetz of Steinmetz Financial Planning in Burlingame, Calif., who had a client retire to Australia to be near family members. "It is a tax nightmare moving some investments to Australia, because of capital gains consequences and complicated tax issues. Each country has cross border issues, and most countries have tax treaties with the United States, so each side helps the other collect taxes that are due. And retirees have to remember, if income is coming from the United States it is still taxable here."
Like Steinmetz, advisor Tom Meyer of Meyer Capital in Marlton, N.J., fell into the international market by accident when a couple who are clients unexpectedly retired to South Africa.
"The husband was a dentist in Manhattan and his wife worked in his office to help, and they were going to retire here on the East Coast. We were going to have to turn their investment model upside down for them to be able to retire in the United States and maintain their lifestyle. But then they decided to move to South Africa, after numerous vacation trips there.
"They love the country and they could retire for half the price," Meyer says. "We did not have to change their portfolio at all because their income needs are now so much less. It took the pressure off of us as advisors, and off of them. At first they were going to maintain their place in Manhattan, but then they got such a good offer they made a clean break. Communication was a bit of a problem at first, but that has been ironed out."