Assignee profile | American national, Chief Technology Officer, technology industry |
Origin | San Francisco, CA |
Destination | Dublin, Ireland |
Family | Spouse and one child (age 6) |
Challenge | Significant stock option portfolio and California real estate holdings; no pre-departure financial planning undertaken; a very large and entirely avoidable tax liability was weeks away from crystallising |
GW360 solution | In-house advisor-led pre-departure planning engagement, coordinating US and Irish tax specialists from our professional services network before the move was executed |
Outcome | Material tax exposure identified and mitigated before departure; family arrived in Ireland with a clean, properly structured financial foundation |
When a fast-growing Irish technology firm recruited Michael C. as its Chief Technology Officer, the move from San Francisco to Dublin was the kind of opportunity that comes around once. The role was right. The timing was right. The compensation — a base salary, a substantial equity package, and a relocation allowance — looked right on paper.
What looked considerably less right, on closer inspection, was the financial planning. Michael and his wife Rachel had spent a decade in Silicon Valley accumulating a meaningful portfolio of stock options — some vested, some not — across two previous employers. They owned a home in Marin County with significant embedded capital gain. And they were planning to board a flight to Dublin without anyone having reviewed what any of that meant the moment they became Irish tax residents.
A colleague who had worked with GlobalWealth360 on a previous relocation suggested they make one call before they made the move. That call changed the shape of the transition entirely.
GlobalWealth360’s in-house financial advisor took the lead from the first conversation. The immediate priority was to build a complete picture of the family’s asset position — not in isolation, but in the context of the specific tax changes that would take effect the moment Irish residency was established.
Our advisor mapped the exposure, identified the decisions that needed to be made before departure, and then coordinated the appropriate specialists from our professional services network: a US tax attorney with cross-border relocation experience, and an Irish tax advisor who works regularly with inbound high-net-worth executives. Having a single, in-house point of contact to manage that process meant the advice was coordinated and actionable — rather than the family receiving conflicting opinions from advisors who had never spoken to one another.
Within that process, three specific actions were identified and executed: the exercise of a tranche of vested options before departure; a structured approach to the California property that preserved the family’s options; and a review of Michael’s unvested equity vesting schedule with his new employer. When the issue was clearly framed, the firm was open to a modest adjustment to Michael’s start date that meaningfully improved the family’s position — a conversation that would never have happened without the pre-departure planning.
In parallel, we managed the home search. The family wanted a high-quality property in South Dublin, close to an excellent primary school and with easy access to the city centre. We identified a recently renovated period home in Ranelagh that had not yet reached the market and arranged a private viewing. The property was secured within the week.
We also coordinated Irish banking setup, PPSN applications, and school enrolment, ensuring that by the time Michael and Rachel landed in Dublin, the administrative infrastructure of their new life was already in place.
The most expensive mistakes in cross-border relocation are almost always made before departure, not after arrival. For high-net-worth individuals with complex asset portfolios, the window between accepting a role and establishing residency in a new country is not an administrative gap — it is a critical planning period with real financial consequences.
GlobalWealth360’s financially intelligent approach to relocation is built around that reality. Our in-house financial advisor manages our professional services referral network with one purpose: to make sure clients’ financial questions get the answers and the plans they deserve — before those questions become problems. We bring the right specialists together, coordinate their advice, and make sure families arrive not just with a home, but with a financial foundation built to last.
