This is the case study we've built more times than any other. It's also the one that pays for good planning a hundred times over.

A nomad, entrepreneur/business owner, wealthy family, or retiree from a high-tax country — Australian, American, British, Canadian, Chinese, German, etc. — has around USD $5 million in investment assets. Some in retirement accounts, some in taxable brokerage accounts, some in real estate, maybe some residual business interests.

They want to exit abroad. The question is not whether to move, it's how to structure the move so their portfolio doesn't get shredded by tax across three jurisdictions.

Here's the framework.

The Three Jurisdictions

Home country. Where you currently live and where your tax obligations begin. Where your retirement accounts sit. Where your CGT exposure lives until you formally leave.

Residence country. Where you're moving to — Colombia, Panama, elsewhere. Where your personal tax residency will be, and where the day-to-day compliance will happen.

Structuring country. Panama, the British Virgin Islands, or the Caymans in most of our cases. Sometimes Singapore, Cyprus, Gibraltar or elsewhere for EU or Asian regional needs. Where a holding entity or foundation sits to hold specific asset classes for legitimate purposes (USD, Euro, or GBP denomination, succession, diversification, asset protection, legal tax minimisation).

Each of these three has its own rules, and the interaction is where good structuring lives.

Step One: Home Country Cleanup

Before you emigrate, clean up. Key cleanup items might include:

• Realise or defer specific gains strategically based on the home country's exit tax rules.

• Collapse any accounts that don't survive emigration well (TFSA for a Canadian moving to Colombia; ISA for a Brit; certain low-basis positions).

• Rebalance retirement accounts into structures that will draw efficiently after emigration (RRSP → RRIF for the Canadian).

• Sort out anything the home country still taxes after departure (typically real estate) into it’s own holding company/trust structure.

• Time the departure date to optimise the year's tax outcome.

Step Two: Structural Layer

The structural layer sits above the investment assets and below the personal tax residence.

For this example we’ll use Panama - since it’s one of the best structuring jurisdictions for families in 2026 - but these concepts can broadly be applied to most legitimate structuring jurisdictions.

1. Set up either a Panama SA (for a straightforward holding structure) or a Panama Foundation with an underlying SA (for succession-focused structures).

2. The entity opens a bank account — usually in Panama, sometimes Switzerland, sometimes Singapore, sometimes Jersey/Isle of Man/Gibraltar.

3. The investment portfolio is either transferred in (triggering exit-tax events in some countries) or built up over time using post-departure cash flows.

4. The entity is properly registered with the destination country (Colombia's Formulario 160 and CFC/ECE reporting) and with the home country if any obligations continue.

Step Three: Personal Residency

1. Apply for the destination country's visa — M-Pensionado in Colombia, Pensionado in Panama, D7 in Portugal, etc.

2. Actually spend time in the country. The 183-day rule is the easiest way to indisputably make you a personal tax-resident, not the visa.

3. Sever ties with the home country — spouse and dependants matter, dwelling matters, driver's licence and health card matter. Different jurisdictions have different specific requirements (tax exit planning is one of FTR’s specialties).

4. File your first year's tax returns properly on both sides.

Step Four: Ongoing Discipline

Cross-border structuring is not set-and-forget. Things you need to maintain include:

• Annual filings in the destination country (Formulario 210, Formulario 160 for Colombia).

• Annual filings in the home country if any obligations continue.

• Portfolio management inside the Panama structure — buy/sell decisions, currency management, distribution timing.

• Periodic review of the structure — CFC rules, treaty positions, and personal circumstances all change.

Budget for ongoing compliance and structure maintenance. Compared to the tax being saved, it's trivial. If you hold an FTR Membership, all of your standard ongoing compliance needs get packaged together and covered by the subscription fee.

Popular Destinations in 2026: The Colombia Model vs the Panama Model

Colombia model: personal residency in Colombia, Panama holding structure for investment portfolio, home-country accounts drawn down under treaty. CFC/ECE rules mean the Panama structure doesn't shelter Colombian income, but succession, asset protection, and USD denomination benefits remain.

Panama model: personal residency in Panama, Panama holding structure for investment portfolio, home-country accounts drawn down under treaty. Full tax efficiency because Panama doesn't have CFC rules that reach through the structure for a Panama tax resident.

The Colombia model wins on cost of living and lifestyle. The Panama model wins on tax outcome. Many clients build a plan that lets them shift between the two over time.

What This Actually Costs

Planning, structuring, and filing (all inclusive) for a USD $5M portfolio: typically USD $15,000–35,000 depending on complexity.

Annual maintenance: USD $7,000–15,000 for the Panama structure, personal tax filings in the residence country, and periodic strategic review. Around double to triple that for the most ‘prestigious’ jurisdictions (Singapore, Luxembourg, etc.).

Savings vs unplanned emigration: typically hundreds of thousands to millions in tax in the first few years alone, plus significant succession benefits on the eventual passage to heirs (we can structure it to be essentially a non-tax event if/when you pass).

The economics are decisive at this wealth level. They start to matter around USD 1 million in liquid assets. Below that, simpler personal-name structures usually suffice.

We have a range of all-inclusive packages designed for specific profiles/needs - send us an email (hello@ftr.finance) or book in a consultation to get clarification on which packages might suit you.