Background

REMEMBER THAT BELIEVABLE OPINIONS ARE MOST LIKELY TO COME FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ACCOMPLISHED THE THING IN QUESTION.

Background - JAN DE LAET

After seeing the movie - Trading Places - and a visit to Chicago, I started my financial career as a commodity broker for an American futures brokerage firm. Lots of leverage, lots of speculation. Exciting and dangerous, a bit for the broker but especially for the speculators.

Later, I traded the commodity exchanges in for the stock markets. After training in New York, I started working at the Belgian branch of one of the largest stockbrokers in the world. Lots of analysts, lots of research. Everything was going well until on a blue (black) Monday in October 1987 the stock market crashed 25%. The research and analysts in NY had not seen this coming. First lesson in humility and some skepticism towards research and analysts. Take a deep breath, watch the movie Wall Street and get back to work.

The stock markets recovered faster than we thought we were experiencing golden times. It turned out that the broker in America had been a bit too enthusiastic in selling certain products. The firm was fined massively and placed on probation by the SEC.

Through some relations I ended up as an introducing broker for MeesPierson in London. A fantastic prime broker. Everything went well, even the dotcom crash of 2000 we survived perfectly. Financially, neither the 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers nor the US accounting scandals and Enron's bankruptcy in 2002 were a problem.

Everything recovered smoothly, but we still started to get more questions from America about the "beneficiary owner" of the holding companies.

Background - JAN DE LAET

From 2003 everything recovered. American banks lent money to anyone to buy houses, then packaged those loans and sold them on to European banks and other investors. Not a problem as long as house prices rose. Someone couldn't pay, no problem, the bank seized the house and sold it for a higher price to someone else with a new loan. That couldn't last. From 2007, prices began to fall, few people paid back their loans and the crisis began that culminated in the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and problems for many European banks. Investors lost fortunes.

I received an offer from a large Luxembourg private bank to join the department for very wealthy families and try to restore confidence and attract new wealthy families. Unfortunately, confidence in the banks had completely disappeared in most families.

Another model emerged. Families sought independent personal advice in their relationships with banks. Through a family office or through independent asset managers, people were no longer completely dependent on the management of the bank, but family, family office and bank could build a personalized strategy together. A win-win for everyone.

In addition to my professional career, we have of course also traveled a long life in private. My wife's father and brothers were contractors and she worked there for several years in the office. We both loved beautiful homes and have always tried to experience that. From a cozy apartment to a charming farmhouse style (taste can change) Then to a classic French villa in a prime location to end with a manoir in a quiet location next to a castle. Two of our daughters are real estate brokers in Belgium and our third daughter has a business and mom coaching firm.

With my professional and our private background, I believe we can provide personalized and holistic advice if you want to move to Andorra or if you have other plans.