Giancarlo Bonsel

Entrepreneurs rarely decide about their business in isolation. Where you live, how you own your company, whether and when you sell, how you pay yourself, what you do with what you've built and how it passes on to the next generation are usually one conversation, even when the questions end up with different advisers.

In my experience the expensive mistakes rarely come from complicated rules. They come from deciding too early, or from advisers working from different assumptions.

Your accountants, lawyers and tax advisers each answer their part. I help you work out what you want, which options are worth looking at, and which questions they need to answer first.

Commercial judgement, from both sides of the table. I've carried decisions as an owner and as a co-founder, working with fellow founders and investors, where advice comes from every direction but the final call rests with the entrepreneur. I know the Dutch–Portuguese side in particular: the BV, emigrating, and setting up here.

Alongside my career, I manage my own assets, built up from savings and investments, and from an inheritance. That last one works both ways: receiving it brought its own decisions, and it made me plan how my own assets will one day pass on. I've structured all of this with tax and legal advisers, so I know these decisions from the owner's side: how to hold what you've built, how where you live changes what makes sense, how to plan for the next generation, and how to weigh a specialist's recommendation against your own plans.

I've also planned my own future in Portugal: the real cost of living here, what investments realistically return after tax, and what that means for when and how I can step back.

I've been a client of tax advisers and lawyers for years, which is exactly why I don't present myself as either. I don't give legal, tax, investment or other regulated financial advice, and I don't sell financial products. When a question needs a specialist, I help you find the right one, brief them, and make sure their answer fits the rest of your plan.