Hoxton Life

Moving to France Made Easy: Expert Tips for Americans & Brits

• Hoxton Wealth

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Is moving to France the new American dream? More and more Americans are leaving the U.S. for a better quality of life, lower cost of living, and a fresh start in France. But making the move isn’t as simple as packing your bags - there are visas, banking restrictions, taxes, and bureaucracy to navigate.

That’s why in this episode of Hoxton Life, we sit down with Richard Hammond-Chambers-Borgnis, founder of French Connections HCB, the experts in helping English speakers relocate to France without the stress. With 90% of their clients coming from the USA, Richard has a unique insight into why Americans are making the move—and the challenges they face.

We discuss:


🇫🇷 Why Americans are moving to France in record numbers


💰 The real cost of living - cheaper than you might think!


📑 The visa process & how to avoid getting stuck in bureaucracy


🏦 Banking struggles for Americans & how to get set up before you arrive


🤝 How French Connections HCB & Hoxton Wealth make the transition seamless

Plus, managing your wealth internationally has never been easier. The Hoxton Wealth App lets you track and manage all your global assets in one place - for free! Whether you're keeping U.S. investments or building wealth in Europe, our app helps expats stay in control of their finances from anywhere in the world.

Thinking of making the move? Don’t go it alone. Watch now and get expert insights on how to make your dream of living in France a reality!

👉 Follow us for more Hoxton Life episodes and expert insights on expat life, financial planning, and international living!

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Speaker 1:

Why don't you introduce who you are and who French Connection HCB is?

Speaker 2:

French Connection HCB is kind of an idea that I had when I was 18 years old. I'm now a little bit older and I was told, like many people, that it was a bad idea at the time. French administration gets an awful lot of bad reputation, but the one thing is with France is the system is very fair and it works very well, france has notoriously difficult bureaucracy. Notoriously the good thing about France, and this is what people usually also love about France.

Speaker 1:

Why are Americans?

Speaker 2:

moving to France. Worst case scenario is you've got to go back to your own country and start the whole process again.

Speaker 1:

French connections can pretty much guarantee visa acceptance, would you?

Speaker 2:

say, the biggest challenge quite often for people is where are you going to live?

Speaker 1:

So, richard, thanks for joining us today on the Hoxton Life podcast. It's absolutely awesome to have you over in Dubai. We've been working with you for quite some time now as a partner. Richard, why don't you introduce who you are and who French Connection HCB is?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, sam. Well, thanks for inviting me. And yeah, french Connections HCB is kind of an idea that I had when I was 18 years old. I'm now a little bit older and I was told, like many people, that it was a bad idea at the time.

Speaker 2:

Growing up in France from English parents, I just realized that when I first started doing my studies and I got a work experience in France and I just realized there's so many English speakers that needed help. They were coming to me when I was just doing my work experience in car sales back in the day I studied marketing and sales and yeah, so I just thought, hey, there's loads of English people like my parents that I've been helping since I'm a child, essentially that could do with help. I was told it was a bad idea and now, quite a few years later, when I moved back to France, we launched the company. So that's about six, seven years ago and now we've got offices in London, miami, paris and we help thousands of people from all over the world literally all over the world move to France Fantastic.

Speaker 1:

And who are the core clients really that you are helping?

Speaker 2:

So a lot of our clients are from the USA just because they like that package service. I come from, you know blue chip kind of big corporate companies, and I just applied what I'd learned with mainly experience of working with American companies. So most of my life worked for US companies. Most of my life worked for US companies, and as a European, but also as a British person and a European British person that knows America quite well I ended up, I think, creating a service that suits people from the US quite down to a T.

Speaker 1:

Fantastic. I've got to ask, though, what's the HCB stand for?

Speaker 2:

So HCB? Yeah, lots of people ask that that well again. Um, I didn't think the company was going to grow this big, so I always had the idea for french connections, um. But my accountant back in the day said you can't just call it french connections, you're going to have to add something else. And my surname's hammond chambers borny back dates. My great, great, great great grandfather was queen victoria's barrister, uh, or king's queen's council, um, and signed off a triple barrel surname. So very fancy. But I'm the black, black sheep of the family, so didn't become a lawyer or a doctor or anything like that oh, fantastic.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'll tell you what a triple barrel surname goes down. Incredibly well, so you're more so with the us folk.

Speaker 2:

We've been talking about this right, they prefer the. I think in england it can be. Oh, he's just a posh guy that's got a triple bar surname, whereas the americans appreciate the british accent. Ah, fantastic great stuff.

Speaker 1:

So, in summary, you help people worldwide. English speakers move to france. It can be incredibly tricky to do that. Um, obviously it's a very time, uh consuming process that has lots of pitfalls if you don't quite know what you're doing. So let's just kick things off. First of all, why are Americans? Let's look at Americans. Why are Americans moving to France?

Speaker 2:

Well, I think there's a big portion of people that get to a stage of their life where they want something different. And I don't think it's necessarily that, where they want something different and I don't think it's necessarily that France is, you know, a drive, for there are an awful lot of French speakers in America. Actually there's an Alliance Française, which is like a French chapter in pretty much every part of the country where people can just go and speak French or learn French. Of course, a lot of Americans are originally French migrants etc. So they might come back to those countries, the the roots. But also it's a stepping stone for europe. You know, they've maybe got to an early retirement age and want to enjoy more parts of europe and france we mentioned this yesterday with ticks quite a lot of boxes, because it's got the conveniences, I guess, of the english-speaking world.

Speaker 1:

Well, not quite, but but pretty much so, and it's overall very safe and very well connected fantastic let's make that connection between the uk and france then, because yeah, the uk obviously fully english-speaking, america fully english-speaking, france not fully english-speaking. So why is that benefit then france?

Speaker 2:

I think it's the Latin culture that France brings. You know, there's the, of course, food value for money. You know a lot of obviously, our clients are still British and and people move mainly because they can buy a bigger house and be in a better climate. Um, so for Americans, you know, know, if you're living in florida, like kent, is not going to cut it, so it's just genuinely speaking, there's also this kind of climate aspect, um, but paris, you know, nice, bordeaux, these cities that maybe people have never been to, but it's always the same you want what's what you don't have right, and I think in the new world that's very true and it's nice to have that connection as well.

Speaker 2:

I think what americans will benefit from is look, you're moving to france, but if you want to pop along to the uk, I mean it's what an hour and a half, two hours away, you can get so convenient yeah, and, and don't forget, this is a, this is a mixed mash of cultures, and you can see it like here in in in the uae. You can understand why people want this, this, this diversity, right, um, and I think we live in such a fortunate world today where you can go literally in a few hours to completely different spaces. Yeah, you know it's, it's so emotionally different as.

Speaker 1:

Okay, what type of people, then, are moving from America to France? We talked about retirees. What about digital nomads? Are people coming to work there as well? Tell us a little bit about that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we have. Of course, Remote working has brought a whole plethora of options for people, and it's something that's missed. The misconception is you cannot work remotely in france. There's no digital visa. Well, there is. There are conditions to that, which I won't dive in today, but for majority of people that will work. Um, and the french are very welcoming, uh, as long as you follow procedure. I think it's worthwhile noting for anyone that's looking at this video and thinking about moving from the US. It's a lot easier than you think to move to France compared to what you might think of moving to the US. I've recently helped my business partner, danny, move to the USA, and boy, that's not the same thing. It's a lot more complex.

Speaker 1:

Great, okay. So what about some of the cultural lifestyle differences and benefits of someone moving from america to france?

Speaker 2:

well, I've got to say, of course, the food, and I think what I mean by that is it's not like I love a cottage pie and a warm beer, so you know, it's kind of. I'm very british, bizarrely, having been brought up all my life in france, but I think it's the freshness, the quality of ingredients, and I never cease to be amazed here of how fresh and everything feels. But in france, of course, it's just traveled, literally a few yards away from where you live, probably. So a lot of people, uh, are very health conscious getting in there, uh, that stage of their life, you know, and it's the quality of life for that is phenomenal value for money, value for money.

Speaker 1:

I went over to toulouse quite recently to do some filming, um with mike yall, who's one of our financial planners, who's actually based in france. Um which, again, which is why, why you're, why you're choosing to work with us.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, what's the leaders where you studied? This is why you're working with us. That's where I studied.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, where you studied is where you're working with us. We've got financial planners on the ground in France and we help Americans in respect of their financial planning needs, which is a great reason why we partnered. We'll get onto that a little bit later in the podcast the benefits of really getting your financial planning in order.

Speaker 2:

If you are going to be moving right.

Speaker 1:

One. One thing I really loved about Toulouse is and Americans will probably like this as well right, it's a bit like it is over here in Dubai Every corner there's a brand. Right, there's a brand in every corner in Dubai. It's a bit like that in the UK and it's certainly like that in America McDonald's here and here and there and everywhere Walking around Toulouse. None of that it was so quaint and it was so chilled and it was so peaceful and beautiful and there was like little cafes everywhere and little restaurants everywhere and it felt really authentic I didn't feel like there was brown strict rules around eating times though.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so beware yeah, what are these rules?

Speaker 2:

well, it's just midday till that's till 1 30 is max for ordering at lunchtime and sort of 8 pm till 9 30 really max is where you're going to get food that in the evening one of the things that I'm really interested in is like people are moving from america.

Speaker 1:

You talked about retirees, maybe people a little bit in the later stages of their lives. Are they coming over to france and are they renting or are they buying?

Speaker 2:

that's a great question. To be fair, it's a mix that the france has. One only disadvantage, really, from a tax perspective, for for us, uh, residents, or for people from all over the world, is that it does have a wealth tax on real estate value worldwide, which you know, you need to check out.

Speaker 2:

We can help with that. But it's not terrible. But it just means that if you're holding 25 millions worth of real estate in texas or somewhere else even if it's in the trust, you probably don't want to buy property in france you'll stay renting. But equally, there are an awful lot of people that have just chosen to have that simple lifestyle. You know, they sell all their goods, their house, their car, they want to use public transport. But finding a rental can be tough. It can be tough to find a rental.

Speaker 1:

Is that something you actually help with?

Speaker 2:

We do. We even have our own rentals. We've built our own properties to rent. Because there's a shortage of rentals, I mean that's a Western world problem. I would say anywhere in the world with. Airbnb these days because Airbnb has become such a good cash owner for a landlord, so furnished properties are difficult to come by.

Speaker 1:

So you've helped thousands of people move from America to France Just out of interest. What percentage do you actually buy and what percentage rent?

Speaker 2:

I would say it's actually less. So probably 70% of our clients continue renting, yeah, yeah, that's their plan, and they might do that for a period of time until they find the right spot. Because, don't forget, I think you know, france is a big country and it varies from one end to the other quite a lot Geographically. Of course, in terms of weather, that's a big decisive factor, but also just finding your spot. So just go in somewhere. I mean, do you imagine going to America? Where do you want to go and live? You know, like, where would you go? And France, of course, is not as big as the US, but you don't know what you don't know, right. So sometimes renting is a great idea what about cost of living?

Speaker 1:

like, we've just opened an office in miami, so I'm speaking to a lot of people in miami, a lot, and I'm being told like to live comfortably in somewhere like miami, you need like about quarter of a million a year. That's what people are saying to me. So in america what I'm understanding is state by state it's different on the cost of living. So moving from America to France, where the cost of living is pretty probably equal, what is the difference in respect of cost of living? Are people saving money? Is it costing more?

Speaker 2:

The only thing that's more expensive in France than in the US is the cost of gas fuel. Okay, everything else insurance products, healthcare, of course course massively cheaper. So you're going to be saving around 23 to 30 percent on just your everyday kind of lifestyle stuff. Um, you know, sure, if you go and live in the center of paris, perhaps nice, um, the cost of bordeaux, potentially the the cost of um rental, might be the cost of Bordeaux. Potentially the cost of rental might be similar to what you would find in any big city, although I think it would still be quite a bit cheaper.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, overall you're going to be saving quite a lot of money. So, richard, people use your services to move from somewhere like America, right 90? Your clients, yeah, they're american, they're moving from america. They're using your services because there are challenges, probably from moving to america, from america to france. Okay, so let's just look at some of those, those challenges that they might might have. What are the what's the what's the most standout challenge an american might have if they're moving, from moving from America to France?

Speaker 2:

Well, the first one, sam, is the choice of the visa, because there are several options out there. It's an evolving subject because it can be subject to political change it's also just due to legislation, and small changes can arise. Change it's also just due to legislation, and small changes can arise. The french government want you to be able to live there in the right manner, and I think that the biggest thing is is french administration gets you know an awful lot of bad reputation. But the one thing is with france is the system is very fair and it works very well. So it's a good system, it works well, but it is quite difficult to navigate, and so the visa is the key sticking point, I would say.

Speaker 1:

Okay, great, let's dig into that then. So what visa requirements do they actually need to meet?

Speaker 2:

So there's three pillars to the application. I would always say and this doesn't matter if you're applying for a business type of visa or a non-working visa A non-working can include remote working under certain circumstances, but essentially and I think they're pretty, you know it's a very reasonable amount of requests they want you to make sure that you've got a private medical policy that will repatri, want you to make sure that you've got a private medical policy that will repatriate you to your home country or cover your medical fees. They want you to have somewhere safe to live, somewhere to register yourself to, and they want to have enough financial means, which is, I mean, only very small amounts, you know. So this is just a basic requirement that they want any person that's living in France to have.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so it's like proof of income there then. So how much proof of income do they need? What does that look like?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, in theory it's 1,389 euros. That's the minimum wage in France. That's a net figure, right. That can be subject to evolution and, of course, the cost of minimum wage in France. That's a net figure, right, and that can be subject to evolution, and, of course, the cost of minimum wage. If that goes up, then this figure will go up. And if you've got children important figure to take into consideration you've got to put 20% extra per child.

Speaker 2:

That figure can be held in a monthly income and any kind of income could be considered. So drawing down on your 401 and if you can prove that you've got that income coming in, monthly rental income, it could be private pension income, it could be W-2, so pay stubs, you know anything that that works. It could also just be savings, but with savings I'd be mindful of how you present that. So if you just dump a million pounds or million dollars in this case in your account, they might ask questions like are you going to buy a house with this, etc. So just got to show consistency. I would always um compare it to applying for a mortgage. You need to show your best financial kind of outcome and show that you've got money coming in every month and you're not spending more than you earn.

Speaker 1:

Okay, great French Connections pretty much guarantee visa acceptance, would you?

Speaker 2:

say so, yes, we've got, I guess, a unique point and this has been a very important part of our development. So French Connections is part of essentially a consortium these days of partners, because in terms of legislation, I'm not a lawyer but essentially, or an accountant, but we work with companies that provide that service and I've negotiated, as a businessman, the best deals possible for my clients. So we administer everything through our technology, through our client relation, because that's what I get, but ultimately Our lawyers, if you like, will administer your files, but I guarantee the outcome. So I guarantee the fact that if you don't, if you're not successful for any reason, we will reapply with no extra charge and it's a fixed price.

Speaker 2:

I've always been scared myself of lawyers or of builders because they never tell you how much it's going to cost Right. Myself of lawyers or of builders because they never tell you how much it's going to cost right. So the day you hire an attorney, they're like, well, it's a ten thousand dollar deposit, um or retainer, and you know it might be up to twenty thousand dollars. And I'm like, well, hang on a second, what's it going to cost? So it's very important for me to have, like, an amazon-like product. And when we launched um and that's evolved over the years and we've got tiers of service. But essentially we guarantee the outcome of any procedure france has notoriously difficult bureaucracy notoriously but,

Speaker 2:

it's got bad press again. Okay, I mention it because it works well. So, compared to countries like Italy and Portugal, which we've dabbled in when we were expanding, france is very fair. The processes work, but they are very long and potentially, you know, quite strict. But the good thing about France and this is what people usually also love about france you can still talk to somebody you know. If the computer says no, you can still call someone, and and that would help if that person that's calling on your behalf is french, of course, it's very stressful, though, having to deal with multiple people during a process such as moving home.

Speaker 1:

I mean, it was massively difficult for me to move from Bristol in the UK, just around the corner, to Somerset. So using someone like you dealing with solicitors- dealing with accountants dealing with home buying, especially when maybe your French isn't up to par. This obviously improves the process, increases the chances of not having any setbacks or any knockbacks and hopefully creating a very smooth process when you're moving from somewhere like America all the way to France. It's a big deal right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think what we've done is we've taken over that, we've looked for the best service providers, but we still provide the service for them in a way, all them in a way. So we are administering the service around the service, because that is one thing about france that you'll you love and hate, is that the there is a lack of service, just generally speaking. Uh, all the notions of service are different to probably what we experience in a, in a very fortunate english-speaking world. You know, and I include, you know, the uae in that it's an english-speaking world to a certain extent, and it's, it's something that there's such great service here, right, you, you kind of get used to it. And then you go to france and somebody just doesn't answer the phone or an email and you're like what? But that's just how it is. So, through, well, we try to bring that normalize.

Speaker 2:

It's very difficult for me, because I've had to recruit French people, because we've tried to do this, we've tried to have purely bilingual or trilingual people, but if they were making a phone call to a French embassy or bureaucratic system, the hint of an accent, a hint, and it's not that they don't take you seriously, it's just like, oh, you're not french, you're not going to quite understand, right.

Speaker 2:

So they're very polite, but you just don't get things done. So but the challenge is the french people that I've employed. Over the years I've had to educate them to what we expect in the english-speaking world and also the emotional imbalance that that creates, because in french language there is, for people that you don't know, you use a third person of plural. We don't have that in the english-speaking language, which means we're a lot closer to one another. That's why I believe that it works in business, so you're very close straight away with people and in french you don't. So it's weird for my um, my, my, my new french recruits sometimes, because people become very personal with them and there's a consequence to that right that you've got a responsibility to look after someone, which you don't really get in French language, and that's why sometimes people can think that French people are rude. I think it's not that they're rude, it's just that they they're kind of talking to you in the third person, right, yeah, they don't know you, so they don't owe you to be that emotionally attached.

Speaker 1:

Which is why I, which is why we refer American clients of ours to you for the service. Really it's that concierge service.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we kind of are.

Speaker 1:

It's hand-hugging you know, it's making sure that communication is correct. I mean, I've heard your French, you were just speaking a second ago.

Speaker 1:

It's spot on. So having somebody in your corner who understands the bureaucracy, understands the legal system, everything about france, but also can converse with somebody in french, is just only going to increase the chances of actually getting in and obviously decrease the time it takes, because it can take a hell of a long time if you're doing this on your own right the problem is also you get into a loop that you can't kind of get back out of.

Speaker 2:

So you do something wrong. It's not the end of the world. We panic a lot in the english-speaking world. We panic that we've done something wrong. The french don't care quite as much. You know that's the reality and they'll always find a solution for you eventually. But the worst case scenario is you've got to go back to your own country and start the whole process again, and I think that's where people stress you know that's that's the worst case scenario and it happens unfortunately on the subject of language, do you think it's advisable that an american should start to learn french before they go?

Speaker 2:

most definitely. I think there's a, there's an element. Well, I you know I can't predict the future, but I think if there's anything that's going to change in immigration rules and laws, probably a small amount of language will be required for application. It is starting as of 2026. We've seen a small increase for certain types of application requests, not for the visa initial visa but for the renewal of such um, and I think that's fair enough.

Speaker 2:

You know, you've been in the country for a little while. They want you to speak basic things, um, but yeah, just to be emotionally connected to the land, to the country, uh, english isn't wildly spoken and that's why I can't complain. We created multimillion-pound business out of it, right, but it's not as wildly spoken. So I think, at the very least, and making an effort in the country, it goes a long way. Yesterday I was at the barbers here and I was asking them you know how do you say please, thank you, and just making sure that my Arabic, that I might know from countries like Morocco, algeria, that I've visited, and you know there's kind of just knowing those things and you can tell straight away that person cares a little bit more about you. Yeah, because you're making an effort, which is, I think, normal, and that's it's very dangerous as an English speaker. Yeah, we just just carry on speaking English, don't we?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think about some of the things as well, like challenges that people would come up against you know, transatlantic relocation, and one of them would be the things that we love so dearly, which would be our pets. What happens in that situation?

Speaker 2:

Big one. So I've got a lovely dog that features quite often in my videos or in my zoom calls with clients. Um, but um, yeah, as a pet owner myself, it's a big deal and so it's pretty flexible in terms of that. There are there's a list of type of breeds that might not be allowed on french soil, so you can check that with your veterinarian service in the US, and it's quite easy to find online. But essentially there's a process.

Speaker 2:

The inconvenience is there's a document that you need to apply for a month before you leave the country, and one of the biggest stresses is often transport. You leave the country and one of the biggest stresses is often transport. So, as extravagant as it may sound, we work with a company that will actually charter a jet with other dog owners, for instance for large dogs, so that you can fly with your animal and it's not excessively expensive. It's not what you might think, because you're sharing the jet with, with quite a few people. You can actually get a reasonable price. If it's a full term relocation, you know, I kind of I'd pay that eight thousand dollars or so to get my dog, you know, not put him in the cage or sedate him and stuff like that. But once you arrive in france it's actually fairly straightforward. You just need to register with a vet. But we help with all of those things. Clearly, you know a lot of people that are moving have got pets. So yeah, we do that.

Speaker 1:

We have pets and we also have lots of things we might have some really nice you know nice classic car that we want to take with us. We might have some really beautiful furniture that we want to bring with us as well. How, how do we, how do we sort that out? Is that something you do as?

Speaker 2:

well, well, yes, yes, we help with that. Of course, bizarrely classic cars. My father used to restore them. That's why this business exists, because, from the age of eight years old, I was helping him import cars. Turns out that importing cars is actually harder than human beings nearly, and the process itself is similar. So I created this kind of technology around the process that didn't really exist and to this day, we're we're the leading kind of people on that.

Speaker 2:

But, um, cars, if they're classic, it's fine. If they're not classic so classic in france is 30 years old or more they're not classic. They weren't built for the european market, where today, in 2025, everything is possible. But I would highly recommend not bringing a vehicle if it's not a classic car just because it wasn't built for the european market. So there's a whole load of loops that you got to go through and we live in a world where france is very much prone to electric power, so they don't really want bringing you. Bring in your big gas guzzler, yeah, dodge ram with you. But it comes back to financial planning, because you've got a 12 month period of time where you can bring in stuff, whether it be art or cars, import and duty free, right. So you've, if you're permanently moving and you want to bring stuff over, you've got to plan that within that first 12 months. Great stuff, fantastic um, what?

Speaker 1:

What about the healthcare system in France? How comparable is it to the USA?

Speaker 2:

So I've only experienced fortunately not an awful lot of the US healthcare service, but I hear that it's extremely expensive. I can compare it to what I do know in the UK. And in the UK, let's face it, if you can afford it, you pay for private healthcare or you find an employer that will pay for private healthcare. It's much the same in the US as, of what I understand, in France. It's equality for everyone, right? So whether you have a lot of money or not, you're entitled essentially to the same supposedly the same level of health care, which I do say that it's pretty much the same. You can, of course, have private policies, but they cost you eighty dollars, a hundred dollars a month. Usually your employer would pay for that and that would put you on the full private sort platinum level.

Speaker 2:

So the cost of health care compared to the us is is crazy, like it's and and for me, my experience having two kids born, both born in france it was exceptional. When we hear what are friends from around the world have experienced whilst having children, it was absolutely exceptional. So the care is great and actually, don't be fooled, you don't have to be around a big city. I think that's the biggest thing that people say, oh yeah, we want to be close to big city for great health care. Well, actually, hospitals in rural areas are wonderful and there's less people there. Don't get me wrong. I think all of the Western world today suffers with an ageing population and a lack of medical staff, just generally speaking, because it's a hard job. So there are areas where you'll get better medical service than others, I think, but overall it is phenomenal.

Speaker 1:

So there's lots of benefits to moving to France and what I want to know really, from your perspective and what you're seeing, is there a decent financial benefit for moving from America to France?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, of course. Well, I always advise that that's the first thing that you should consider. The reason I actually reached out to you, sam, in the first place, now years back, was that we just now years back was that we just we've always had an issue with the ability to provide financial planning worldwide, because literally I have clients coming from all over the world, and so we've worked with individual people and we still potentially do. But the reason being is that if you get your finances wrong, there can be consequences that are not great. Um, and it's it's all about the franco us relationship and treaty is good. On average, it's pretty good, I would say.

Speaker 2:

France is a great place to retire. Um, starting a business up there is a lot more complex and you'll have to get an awful lot more help there, but overall, it's a very good treaty that there are a few nuances and, especially in terms of investments, things that could not be taxable in the US can be taxable in France. So you need to work that out and, especially if you've got planning, trusts and stuff can still work, but they won't work under the French rules and regulations and France has different inheritance tax rules for property, for instance, that's located in France or if you're buying in France. So all of this is like we discussed this yesterday. It is like there's nearly four segments to your financial planning, and tax treaty is not one that you should really worry about, because the relationship is good is good.

Speaker 2:

Quite frankly, I think, uh, france owes too much money to the us since world war ii to to become a bad one, even uh with uh with trump elections we touched on it before but around properties.

Speaker 1:

So if someone's selling a property in the us and they're hoping to buy in france, you know, I visited, visited mike yule, just outside to lose. He's got a fantastic, beautiful property in the countryside and when I asked him how much he paid for it, it was considerably less than what I thought. So what's the view when it comes to buying a property in France? Are the Americans going to get bang for their buck?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, although a majority of my American clients prefer living in smaller towns be more involved in the community. That's the difference. You can see that michael is british at his heart. Biggest thing that we can buy, right, I did exactly the same, so this I can't. There's no excuse. Um, maybe watching too much dick and angel on tv or something like that.

Speaker 2:

For those american viewers, dick and angel that you might not know is escape to the chateau, which was a uk tv show. Um, but the point being is that, yes, you do get an awful lot of value for money. Of course, there are a few areas like paris city center might not quite be the same, although probably compared to la or new york, it's still better. But the main thing is that the buying process is very protective of the buyer and of the seller, but mainly the buyer, so people mustn't worry about oh, am I going to get ripped off? There's a very thorough process and understanding the US real estate process very well. I think the only challenge you'll find as an American buying in France is there's not what you guys would call an MLS system, so a multi-listing system. You don't find every property online, doesn't exist, so you've got to deal with individual people advertising multiple platforms.

Speaker 1:

That's the only complexity is maybe finding the right place how far, would you say, your money actually goes in france, though, is it?

Speaker 2:

well, I think we have a, again a quite a varied range, but if you go up to a million euros you're buying a chate. Be careful of that, because it's not because it's great value for money that there's not running costs that go with it. That's the biggest mistake people make, I think, is assuming that because it's cheap or good value, then it's going to be easy to maintain and run. But you know we have that that use a full range of service. In fact, if I want them to plug our youtube channel, you can check out client interviews, testimonials there.

Speaker 2:

But one of my clients I was really humbled by, she spent as much money on our service range to relocate nearly as what she spent on her house, um, and her house purchase was 23 000 euros. But her choice was buying literally a trailer in the us or buying that and doing it up by herself. What did that buy her out of interest? Well, it bought, bought a free bedroom, livable house in a very rural area, and so those still exist. You know people talk about Italy with the one euro houses. I mean, I was able to launch this company because I bought property in my rural area and started renting those properties out and doing them up and renting them.

Speaker 2:

But I was buying properties for in town because it's funny, in in medieval towns and villages, which americans tend to love, right, you're close to the cafe, the boulangerie, etc. You can still buy stuff for 40, 50 000 euros that needs work and that's another challenge to get work done. But those bargains still exist. But so there's a real range. But I think for two, three, three, two to five hundred thousand euros, I think in that nice segment you'll buy an awful lot. There's, in fact, there's too much choice, and then you've got to make sure that you get the right area that suits your, your needs fantastic.

Speaker 1:

On the subject of financials, then you've got the France's social. They've got the social tax charge in France. Can you say a little bit about that and how that might impact somebody say who's got an income?

Speaker 2:

So my business partner and colleague, gero, who's our French chartered accountant, will be able to explain more in detail about that for those that want, and we've got loads of videos again on that and those topics. Really, the only thing that I would always look out for is if you're remote working. So if you're remote working and you're not paying social charge on your salary, it could be applicable on a yearly basis because you basically have access to the French health system. Social is not just health right, it's also infrastructure safety etc. So what we would pay on our PYE in the UK or on your W2 in the US, that goes automatically out of your salary into the government's pockets, is not happening.

Speaker 2:

So there is a social charge that's applicable really if you're not retired. If you're retired, there's something called Puma, which is like an international reciprocity, a bit of a tax treaty if you like. That will work with your Medicare's and so on. So again, a really strong relationship with the US there. So all of these agreements are in place, but after 90 days anyone that arrives in france is entitled to apply for french health care and a social security number. So if it's similar to what happens when you arrive in the us, but except in france, there is always a hundred percent guarantee that something will be covered for free on the healthcare system.

Speaker 1:

One of the biggest struggles we found, obviously, with our American clients, being an international financial planning business with licenses in the USA, europe, you know we deal with lots of Americans that move to Europe is what to do with their 401k pension, because once they leave the US they really have to do something with it. Because the us advisor can't do anything. They're not able to give advice in the country, such as france right, and as a company hoxton wealth we are multi-jurisdiction. We've got licenses across the world so our clients can move here, there and everywhere and we can continue to actually look after them.

Speaker 1:

Um, when should you? You know from your experience and our experience, when is the right time for an American considering to move to France, europe? When do you think is the right time they should actually sit down with us, for instance, and what part of the process do we come in? Just let people know that so they understand the importance, I guess, of the right time to actually look at your pension, the right time to look at your financial planning when you are moving to France yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think it's probably the first thing to do and it might be that you're not going to apply for a certain type of visa because we we've mentioned this, I think yesterday, sam, together but it's worth sharing with our audience here. You know, I break things down because I'm I'm a, I'm a simple guy. I'm not a lawyer, I'm not chartered the canteen, I'm not a financial advisor, um, but I do run a business and I'm the guy that's got to, you know, be subject to the consequences of giving the wrong advice potentially to a client. So I take it extremely seriously because I've worked very hard to get where we got today and I care genuinely, um, both from my staff and from, of course, the clients.

Speaker 2:

Um and financial planning is linked to visas. It's linked to taxation in the country. It's linked to potentially social charges. So you've got four kind of aspects to the the move. Choosing the right visa is linked to your financial plan. Um, often, an international law firm that you might hire won't give you or won't be interested in giving you that wealth planning because you're paying them for one service and they'll just execute right. They might say, oh well, actually you might need to check this, but or might introduce you and get a fee, I guess, from the introduction, but they're maybe not in the same boat as us where we really want to make this work and so making sure that your financial impact, of applying for a visa, for instance, is what happens. If you say you're moving to france permanently, well, you got 12 months to move permanently to france. That's really it.

Speaker 2:

Um, your 401s quite often actually can stay in the us and will stay in the us. Um, they're not taxable in france, um, and so it's more things like IRAs, trusts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. That you've just got to be a bit more cautious with. And quite often it might just be that you keep your assets in the US, but you're aware of the situation and that's where you guys come in with that side of things, and it might be that you there are options in europe that are similar to what you'll find and can be transferred, and there are wider questions to be asked. Do you need to get finance in france and, in which case, how are you going to prove to a french bank that you've got liquid assets? Um, what's your commitment to the country? Um, but they're all interlinked, those, those four topics, I guess which are wealth advice, essentially um, immigration rules and visas, uh, taxation in the country which then will be dealing with a cpa or a chartered accountant in france. And then four, just understanding are you liable for social charges?

Speaker 1:

okay, cool, which leads me on to banking yes so banking for americans when it comes to france, difficult. It's difficult, is it?

Speaker 2:

we'll just give you some insight into that, then so, unfortunately, um, during the the madoff crisis, an awful lot of french banks um were stung, um. So since then, there's huge scrutiny on american investments of all types, um, and there have been rules, right that have been put in place. Now we're very fortunate to work with france, france's largest bank, and be official partners, being Pépé-Paris-Bas, and they enable us to actually open an account for our clients whilst they're outside of the country. This is extremely rare. Hsbc International, which has now been bought back out in France, was the only other alternative, really, and there are neobanks, right, so Wise, revolut, et cetera, that can allow you to have some form of banking. There are others, but if you want a high street account, the only option is working with BNP. There are rules, there's minimum deposit requirements, et cetera. I can talk about those. There are 15,000 euros to open an account as a regular account and 250,000 euros to open as a private banking account. We can service all of that via our assistance, but you can also then do that in country. So if you want to open up a bank account, essentially whilst you're in the US, it's quite difficult. We've got got that option, very lucky to have that, but just opening a bank account in France is not that easy for a US individual, for anyone that's not French. Actually, often the French high street account and I say high street because I make a difference between a neo and online bank will be a requirement, a loose requirement for rentals, for instance, to prove that you've actually, because if you've got a million dollars in Wells Fargo, a French landlord doesn't know what Wells Fargo is. I mean it could be printed out on a piece of paper for him, whereas if he sees a statement on the French high street account, hey, he feels a bit more reassured, probably.

Speaker 2:

And then mortgages international mortgages are available, but they're difficult to get. I think it's worth mentioning. There is no credit rating in France, there's no Equifax, there's no Experian the French refused the English speaking systems. So there are internal scoring scores within banks and they operate probably like we did in terms of decision-making, maybe something that we had like 30 years ago in the United Kingdom. You could actually go into your bank and you knew your bank manager and he could approve a mortgage. That still exists in France. So there's a good and a bad about that. It means that if you can build a relationship, you can actually talk to somebody, you can make things happen, but there are international banking rules. Now that you know, make that difficult what about currency exchange considerations?

Speaker 2:

wow, yeah it's a big one. I mean banks make their money on that, right? Um? So fx is fx trading in general is something that you're going to have to consider, bearing in mind. You're probably going to make monthly payments, so you're you're probably although you you guys might help manage funds outside of that. Usually those funds will be held for a period of time, so you are always going to be exchanging dollars to euros. Historically, you know there's been a quite good exchange rate, but getting that right is really key. So potentially, especially for house purchase, working with an FX trader is going to be very important. You're going to save yourself literally a lot of money on a big transfer.

Speaker 1:

So loads of things we've covered today that give people a bit of an insight into moving to France, especially if they live currently in America. Let's just dive into the actual service that you provide. Ok, so if someone's listening to this now, hopefully to the end, and they're thinking right, richard obviously knows his stuff. Hoxton Wealth they know their financial planning. Obvious why they're working together. But let's break down your service, okay what should somebody expect when they pick that phone up and book a meeting with you, richard?

Speaker 2:

well, first and foremost, don't take my word for it. Go and you know, watch our youtube and listen to clients that have used our service and trust index, etc. Because it's a big thing for me. Um, you know, we've worked so hard to to maintain this level of service. It's truly difficult. Um the um.

Speaker 2:

The reality is is what we try to provide is a service around the service. So one I will look veto. My colleagues also veto the service providers that we work with. And we've really built around our technology, our use of technology and then an ability to probably bring the standard up to what you would expect or you need when you're relocating. So it really encompasses all the way from legal, paralegal company creation, concierge-like services, helping you buy a vehicle, having it delivered to the airport to save you money. This is really key. It's like saving you time and money, because if you break down everything that we do, we have to be great value, otherwise I wouldn't be sat here. I wouldn't be sat here. We wouldn't still be here after years of business. Um, clients have to see value in this day and age. If, if you're not bringing value and eventually breaks down to getting things done right, that's how we're judged.

Speaker 1:

100 so, going back to those fantastic testimonials you've got by the way on youtube, which is where we we connected originally right yeah, you got some fantastic content out there on on youtube, as do we, and it was, um, it was wonderful to see, because there was such a synergy between us as as businesses. How many people have you actually helped, though? That's what I, you know if I'm gonna go, oh yeah, the, the can is.

Speaker 2:

Well, we're looking at around. We have about five full relocations sign up every week. And when I say full relocation to talk of that suite of service, it usually looks like visa, visa validation, entering the French healthcare system, getting a tax code, doing your first tax returns, applying for residency, helping you buy a car, getting a mobile phone, opening a French bank account, helping you with utilities. It will be potentially helping you buy a house all of the legal bits around that and then helping you with some planning as well. We kind of join all of those dots between financial planner, lawyer, chartered accountant, any business that we work around. But we make sure that there's great value in that.

Speaker 2:

So the idea is you don't, you don't pay more necessarily. You actually get a better deal because we bring the volume to these guys and and we've built the technology don't forget to deal with these thousands and thousands of people. But clearly, um, even a big law firm will not deal with as many people that we deal with at the level that we've created and we don't. We've done that. I mean, I'll be honest, I've just worked for huge corporates and all of the tech that I saw working. I was like, okay, we can implement this into our what was back then a startup. And yeah, we're very for a small business because we still are a small business. We're very tech advanced fantastic.

Speaker 1:

So I'm in america, perhaps I've listened to this podcast and I'm now thinking you know what I want to. To move to france, right. When should they engage with someone like yourself?

Speaker 2:

well, we offer online consultations, um, and so you can book a consultation, which then will lead if, uh, it's, it's a suit and match to you know, a relocation plan. I would say no later than six months before you plan to leave. We need to onboard as a client because things take time just to data collect, just to do all of those kind of fun, enjoyable things. Look, good news is, if you're really in a rush, some people do contact us. You know, within a month you can probably go if you really need to. But six months is a very minimum, I say, to have a full idea of relocating, and 12 months is, I guess, the the maximum beforehand where we can start helping. A lot of it is a link, though, sam, to where you're going to end up. That's the biggest thing. So, if you want one of our properties, um, which I've cheated, i've've got an American couple that helped me finalize the product, so that it is, you know, to the standard that an American would want.

Speaker 2:

Shout out to Gordon and Deb. Thank you guys, but they actually started off as clients. It's a funny story. I've always got clients that actually inspire me to do more service. That's often the case, but in context it's do you want to reserve a place? Do you want to have a house to live in? Do you want to start looking at an area? Do you want to go on a scouting trip and want assistance doing that? That's the biggest challenge quite often for people is where are you going to live?

Speaker 1:

rich Richard, thanks so much for sharing everything about French Connections today, the service that you're providing, how you are helping move Americans and other English-speaking people to France without any stress, without even any hassle.

Speaker 2:

Hey, I can't guarantee the no stress part, but what we can guarantee is that we will. We will do our very best to be able to reduce that and and genuinely care and look after you on that journey fantastic.

Speaker 1:

Anyone listening today that wants to actually book an appointment. Check the link, you know, in the comments. Yes, put that directly in uh with richard and his team and they will speak to you. Um, and get the ball rolling to france 100.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, sam cheers.