English-speaking financial advice in France

You live in France and need advice in English on pensions or investments held abroad. We start with your family, your current assets and the plans they need to fund, then consider where to hold your savings and how to allocate your wealth.

Our financial advice for expats living in France helps you review the accounts and pensions you already hold, compare the accounts or policies available to you, and plan the income or capital your family will need. Anne Privat is the contact for English-language enquiries. We set out written recommendations, including the options considered, their costs and risks, and the questions that need another professional’s advice.

Your family, current wealth and plans

A review starts with who owns the assets and who needs access to them. We bring together your accounts, investment policies, property and any interests in a business, with the countries involved. Marriage arrangements, wills, gifts already made and policy beneficiaries form part of that picture. Questions requiring an act or a legal opinion go to the relevant professional; the financial plan needs to reflect the arrangements you have already made.

The next step is to put amounts and dates against your plans: a home purchase, education costs, retirement income or capital to pass on. Your adviser considers the currency of each expense, when you will need the money and the loss you could afford at that point. A planned move out of France is part of the calculation, as are existing loans and money that must remain available.

Accounts, policies and the allocation of your wealth

Choosing a platform means choosing the country, the institution and the account or policy through which you invest. We compare the arrangements available to a resident of France, including their access thresholds, currencies, charges and withdrawal conditions. An existing overseas account, a French account and an insurance policy can have different uses; changing the arrangement needs a reason related to your plans and its costs.

The allocation then sets out how the whole of your wealth is divided between types of assets. It includes cash kept for near-term spending, property and existing investments, with their risks and the time needed to sell or withdraw them. The choice of individual investments implements this allocation within the accounts and policies retained, while taking account of exposure to the same company or currency across different institutions.

Pensions and investments held outside France

For a pension, keeping the scheme, paying into it, taking income and transferring it are separate decisions. The guide to UK pensions and SIPPs for residents of France explains the questions to review, while the QROPS guide addresses transfer charges and alternatives. A review must account for the rights and terms of the existing scheme before considering a replacement.

The same approach applies to savings held outside France: what the account permits, how withdrawals would be treated and which expense it is intended to fund. The guides to French assurance-vie and Luxembourg life assurance explain those policies. If you are a US citizen or green-card holder, the guide for US persons addresses constraints specific to your situation. These guides explain mechanisms; a recommendation also needs your family circumstances and the rest of your assets.

From the first conversation to written recommendations

The first conversation establishes your question, the countries involved and whether the proposed mission fits. It commits you to nothing. We generally take on a file from €200,000 of assets to review, and from €100,000 when a move, a business sale or an inheritance is expected to change the picture. The firm’s advice process sets out the steps from that conversation to the written review.

The engagement letter defines the work and remuneration. Our written recommendations explain the options considered and their consequences for your plans, with the costs, risks and points still to confirm. Our advice is non-independent: we may receive commissions from insurers and fund managers as well as a review fee. The fees page separates the cost of the review from the costs of the investments and describes how we are paid.

The French framework for investment advice

In France, a person who gives investment advice as a regular, paid activity without being a bank, an insurer, an investment firm or a portfolio management company must hold the status of conseiller en investissements financiers, or CIF, under Article L. 541-1 of the Code monétaire et financier. The status described on this page is the one held by the firm that publishes this site: Éthique et Patrimoine is registered under no. 24001817 (www.orias.fr) — Financial investment adviser (CIF) no. 18002418, belongs to ANACOFI-CIF, a professional association approved by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and Anacofi-Courtage for its brokerage activity, and provides its investment advice on a non-independent basis.

Our investment advice is recorded in a written suitability report, which explains each proposal, its advantages and risks in the light of your financial situation and objectives. Before advice begins, the information document presents our status and remuneration, and the engagement letter signed by you and by the firm defines the mission. The report also identifies the costs attached to the proposals; these documents give you the scope and terms of our work.

We give advice, but do not manage your portfolio under a discretionary mandate or hold your investment money or securities. The insurer, custodian bank or fund receives and holds the assets under the relevant arrangement, and a separate authorised manager holds any management mandate. Our own remuneration consists of the agreed review fee and, where applicable, commissions disclosed to you.

We do not prepare or file French tax returns. You file your own return or appoint an expert-comptable or a tax lawyer for that work. Legal documents, such as a will or a marriage contract, need the relevant legal professional. For a question governed by another country’s law, we work with the adviser you have there; our financial recommendation must take account of the answer before a change is made.

Documents to gather for a first review

The information document and the engagement letter of any adviser you already work with, in France or abroad, so that we can read what they cover. Statements for the accounts, pensions and insurance policies you hold in each country, with the name of the institution holding them. Your most recent tax return in France and in your previous country of residence. Your marriage contract or civil partnership agreement and any existing will. The date you became resident in France and any move you are planning. For a first enquiry, describe your situation without sending identity documents; detailed papers are shared later through the channel agreed in the engagement letter.

This page describes the French rules governing investment advice as they stood on 4 October 2026, read on Légifrance, on the website of the Autorité des marchés financiers and on orias.fr. It describes our own status as declared in our regulatory documents and as shown on the ORIAS register on that date. It is not legal advice, and it does not describe the rules applying to banks, portfolio managers or advisers established in another country. All investment carries a risk of capital loss, and the suitability of any arrangement depends on your personal situation, which we assess in writing before making a recommendation.

References cited

Code monétaire et financier, articles L. 541-1 à L. 541-9-1 — conseillers en investissements financiers (Légifrance) · Code monétaire et financier, article L. 541-8-1 — règles de bonne conduite (Légifrance) · Règlement général de l’AMF, article 325-5 — document remis à l’entrée en relation (version en vigueur depuis le 1er janvier 2023) · Règlement général de l’AMF, article 325-6 — lettre de mission (version en vigueur depuis le 8 juin 2018) · AMF — S’informer sur les conseillers en investissements financiers (CIF), guide pédagogique, juin 2019 · AMF — Financial investment advisor status (FIA) · ORIAS — registre unique des intermédiaires en assurance, banque et finance

Frequently asked questions

Can I get financial advice in English while living in France?

Yes. Our firm advises in English, with Anne Privat as the contact for English-language enquiries. The review brings together your family arrangements, current assets and the plans they need to fund, including pensions and investments held abroad. The agreed mission is recorded in the engagement letter, and the written recommendations explain the options considered, their costs and risks, and the questions that remain to be confirmed.

Do I need to move my investments to France?

Not automatically. Keeping an existing account or policy remains an option. Your adviser compares what your provider allows for a resident of France, the French treatment of the arrangement, its costs and how it fits your spending plans. Closing or transferring it needs a reason based on that comparison; the review considers the whole of your wealth.

Does financial advice include filing my French tax return?

No. We do not prepare or file French tax returns. The financial review considers the French consequences of the accounts, pensions and policies involved; filing your return is your responsibility or the work of the professional you appoint for it. The financial review and the work of the professional filing your return have separate scopes, with our own mission recorded in the engagement letter.

Is there English-speaking wealth management in France?

Yes. Our firm advises in English, and Anne Privat is the contact for English-language enquiries. Under French law, however, a CIF gives investment advice and passes on your subscription, but does not manage your portfolio under a mandate; discretionary management is reserved to banks and portfolio management companies licensed by the AMF or the ACPR. When a mandate is the right tool, we help you choose the manager and read its terms, and the manager, not the adviser, holds the mandate.

How is your firm paid for financial advice?

We charge a review fee agreed before the work starts and may receive commissions from insurers or fund managers. Our investment advice is non-independent, and the information document and engagement letter explain our remuneration. Investment costs are separate from the review fee and include the charges of the insurer, custodian and investments used; the written proposal identifies those costs.

ÉTHIQUE ET PATRIMOINE, a French simplified joint-stock company (SAS), registered office at 41 rue Saint-Ferdinand, 75017 Paris, France, Paris Trade Register no. 803 414 796, VAT no. FR 40 803 414 796, registered with ORIAS under number no. 24001817 (www.orias.fr) — Financial investment adviser (CIF) no. 18002418, member of ANACOFI-CIF, a professional association approved by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and Anacofi-Courtage for its brokerage activity. Presence: Paris, Montpellier, London, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai and Dubai.

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