I was born & bred in the picturesque Black Forest region in the very South of Germany, close to the Swiss & French borders.At 22, wet behind my ears & hungry to make it in the world, I joined PwC in Zurich & had 4 eventful years there. An unexpected job offer by Allianz Insurance (too good to refuse!) made me leave Switzerland for the City of London in 2003, pretty much overnight. I never looked back: To this day, my professional life has been centred around the City. I love the Square Mile.After 5 years at Allianz & almost a decade into working for big corporations, I bid farewell to that world for good & set up my own advisory firm in the City. Thanks to my new-found freedom I was able to spend the next 10 years living in the US, Malta & Ireland, working remotely from wherever I was based, long before it became fashionable.Today, the core of my advisory practise is devising cross border tax strategies for businesses & individuals involving multiple jurisdictions. I mainly focus on the DACH countries, the US, the UK, Ireland & Malta. And to a lesser extent on Spain, Portugal, & offshore jurisdictions.I provide high level, strategic advice, collaborating with local law firms & tax advisors for detailed guidance pertaining to a particular jurisdiction.Naturally, a strong focus of my work are German speaking clients with international business interests.Some of the issues we deal with on a daily basis include:- Controlled foreign corporation (CFC) rules- Non domiciled status & other exempt statuses (eg Beckham Law in Spain)- Exit tax- Base erosion & profit shifting- EU Anti Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD)- Holding structures- Brexit tax issuesRecently, we have seen a huge increase in clients looking to expand & relocate to the US. So in 2018 we branched out our US market entry consulting practise into a new firm called Mount Bonnell Advisors.Our capital markets advisory practise developed quite organically on the side: More & more clients asked us for help raising funds by leveraging our extensive network of high net worth individual contacts. Today we provide these services through Swordblade & Co.I have a lifelong passion for farming. My family used to own ranches in Texas & New Mexico & I continue have a keen interest in regenerative farming practises. This led me to found Austin based Ashfount Investments that is invested in several local food start ups in the US.Documentary film making is another passion of mine. Recently I co-founded Alamo Pictures, a film company that makes factual programs about the US.