We at Swiss American are happy to celebrate our one year anniversary as a firm! 

We would like to take this time to share an interview, conducted by Justin Halvorson, our first summer associate, to reflect on why we chose to found Swiss American, what we have accomplished so far, as well as some new exciting updates we are rolling out in the coming months.

Our Mission is to empower clients to achieve the highest form of wealth: living purposeful lives led by their values and free of financial worry.

And so, about a year ago, on July 1st 2020, we organized a Pennsylvania Benefit Company to partner with clients as their fiduciary financial advisors. 

Through this partnership, we navigate the sometimes conflicting nature of US and Swiss crossborder finances. Together, we reduce or take advantage of financial, tax and investment conflicts and inefficiencies (in every conflict lies opportunity!) to accelerate wealth growth and to break free from the day to day minutia of crossborder wealth management. This allows our clients to focus on what matters most to them: their loved ones, their aspirations and the causes they care about. 

We chose to organize as a Pennsylvania Benefit Company because we believe that businesses have a responsibility to have a positive impact in the world. PA Benefit Companies are limited liability for-profit companies that voluntarily choose to be purpose-driven businesses that create a benefit for all stakeholders: their clients, their employees, and the communities in which they operate.

Launching a new company in the early days of a global pandemic was not easy, but today, we are proud of what we have accomplished and we are excited about our plans for the coming year. 

Some of those accomplishments:

• Providing free educational resources, including webinars, blog posts and articles published in different media outlets, to help crossborder Americans access the pandemic financial relief benefits available to them through the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan and other 2020 and 2021 relief legislation.
• Building a full suite of ESG model portfolios that are internationally compliant, tax and cost efficient as our core investment offering. 
• Creating and funding an annual Financial Empowerment Grant and awarding the first grant to a Philadelphia based charity. 
• Developing a paid internship program that provides access to the financial planning profession to a new generation of advisors who are career changers, are members of a community that is underrepresented in the financial services industry, or both. 
• Filing our first Annual Benefit Report with the Pennsylvania Department of Corporations and Charitable Organizations.

Looking forward

In addition to the financial education resources we have already released, we are excited to announce our Financial Education Video Library. Between now and our next anniversary, we will be releasing a series of educational videos made specifically for individuals and families with Swiss American ties who, for financial or other reasons, are not currently working with a US-Swiss CrossBorder advisor. 

The videos are educational in nature and will be broken into two video libraries, one for Swiss nationals living in the United States, and the other for Americans living in Switzerland. 

Our first set of videos will be released in August, covering the top ten tax considerations both Swiss citizens and Americans should be familiar with when living in their other country. Stay tuned every month as additional videos covering investment, retirement, estate, and risk management planning are released. 

For our clients, we are working on expanding our service offering, but we are still putting together the final touches. We plan to share additional information about this at the end of the summer. 

Speaking of our clients, we cannot end this announcement without thanking them for their continued trust and support. None of this would be possible without you! 

One of our most cherished accomplishments is having the privilege of working with some of the most amazing people in the world. We appreciate how fortunate we are to work in a profession that we are so passionate about with such extraordinary partners. Thank you for being part of this journey! 

Reach out to info@swissamericanwealth.com with any questions.

Marina Hernandez is an Investment Advisor Representative with Dynamic Wealth Advisors dba Swiss American Wealth Advisors. All investment advisory services are offered through Dynamic Wealth Advisors. Marina Hernandez also offers tax preparation services under MHTax. This is considered an outside business activity from Dynamic Wealth Advisors and is separate from Ms. Hernandez’s activities as an investment advisor representative of Dynamic Wealth Advisors.