An Exclusive Interview by IMGlobalWealth.com
IMGlobalWealth.com Editor-in-Chief Ray de Bono speaks with Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna, Managing Partner of Henley & Partners Switzerland AG and Head of Europe at Henley & Partners, ahead of the Safe Haven Forum in Zurich about why geopolitical fragmentation is changing the meaning of a safe haven, why wealthy families are beginning to diversify jurisdictions much as they diversify financial assets, and why the future may belong not to one Plan B, but to a portfolio of places in which to live, invest, educate and build a future.
For generations, the idea of a safe haven in private wealth was largely financial. Capital moved towards currencies, banks and jurisdictions considered capable of preserving value when conditions elsewhere deteriorated.
That definition is becoming considerably more personal.
“You’ve got to build your assets. You’ve got to spread them globally so you don’t expose yourself too much to any place or to any currency… and on the second hand build your private situation just along these ideas.”
Wars and geopolitical tensions, shifting tax regimes, tighter scrutiny of capital, political uncertainty and changing mobility rights are confronting internationally mobile families with a different question. Diversifying a portfolio may protect wealth, but what happens when the risk is the country in which the family itself lives?
It is a question that sits at the heart of Henley & Partners’ Safe Haven Forum, being held at The Dolder Grand in Zurich on 8 September 2026. The private, invitation-only gathering will bring together wealthy individuals and families, single-family offices, governments and international experts to examine country risk, mobility, asset diversification and cross-border resilience.
Henley & Partners is a global advisory firm specialising in residence and citizenship planning. Its origins date back more than 45 years, while the firm in its present form was established in 1997. Today it operates through more than 70 offices worldwide, advising both private clients and governments on cross-border residence, citizenship and investment-migration strategy.
For Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna, the answer begins by borrowing a principle that wealth managers have advocated for decades: diversification.
The distinction is important. Dobrauz-Saldapenna is not describing the traditional acquisition of a second residence or passport merely as an insurance policy. He envisages something broader: families gradually assembling combinations of residence and citizenship rights across different regions, creating what amounts to a personal geographical portfolio.
The result may be a fundamental change in what the words safe haven actually means.
“I think in the future it will not be one safe haven, it will be a number of safe havens that together then create that feeling for people.”
The Interview
Question 1: The concept of a safe haven was once associated primarily with protecting wealth and favourable taxation. In an increasingly fragmented world, has that definition fundamentally changed? What are wealthy individuals and families really looking for today?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: The definition has definitely become wider. It is no longer just about tax and wealth preservation. It is increasingly about where you can expect to live safely, where your family can feel secure, where your children can be educated, where you can build businesses and where you have meaningful connections.
We are living in a changing world, and circumstances that once appeared very stable can change quickly.
I therefore think that in future it will not necessarily be about finding one safe haven. It will increasingly be about having a number of safe havens that together create that security.
You may have one or two places that you genuinely consider home and do not want to leave, but alongside those you may have other residences or citizenships that provide different forms of access and optionality.
So the concept has become much wider and much more multifaceted.
Question 2: Are you therefore envisaging a world in which internationally mobile families increasingly have multiple bases, with different jurisdictions serving different purposes?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: Yes, because that is increasingly how life itself is developing.
Look at younger generations. My son is considering studying in places I would never have contemplated when I was his age: the UK, Italy, the US, Asia. We were much more local. The next generation is thinking globally almost naturally.
Education might take somebody to Singapore, business might take them somewhere else, and they may eventually meet somebody and establish a family in another country entirely.
Business has changed in the same way. International businesses existed in the past, of course, but relationships and communications took years to build. Today everything moves much faster.
All of these factors increasingly determine what somebody considers a safe haven. It is no longer simply taxation or the protection of wealth.
“To step out of this 19th century idea of passports and into what I would consider a 21st century idea, which basically says go where you feel safe, go where you want to build your business and go where your heart takes you.”
Question 3: Is country exposure itself becoming a risk that wealthy families actively manage in much the same way as they diversify financial assets?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: Absolutely. Everything can change anywhere.
I have friends from different countries who, one day, are viewed positively and the next day negatively even though they themselves have not changed. I am not talking about politically exposed persons. I mean ordinary businesspeople who can suddenly find themselves carrying a negative association simply because of their nationality.
Switzerland today is considered an exceptionally stable country, but history reminds us that countries evolve. And if circumstances in Europe changed dramatically tomorrow, perceptions could change again.
What you cannot do is create a plan, assume it is finished and then forget about it. This has to become dynamic because geopolitical changes are happening faster and they are increasingly global.
Question 4: You mentioned Germany. Are you actually seeing increased demand from Europeans looking for alternatives?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: Germany is a very interesting example. Historically it was a relatively quiet market for us. It has now become one of our core markets, with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people looking at alternatives.
There is no single explanation. Geopolitics is one factor, but there are also concerns about taxation, including potential changes to exit taxation and future inheritance-related taxation. Taken together, these factors create uncertainty.
We see similar considerations in France and elsewhere.
For some people, nearby alternatives such as Italy, Greece or Switzerland are attractive because they can remain close enough to continue operating businesses and maintaining existing connections.
Others are thinking much further afield. Some genuinely worry about the possibility of a major war and therefore look at remote jurisdictions, whether in the Pacific, the Caribbean or elsewhere.
We are not saying those fears will materialise. The point is that different people perceive risk differently, and that perception influences their planning.
Question 5: Are residence and citizenship rights therefore evolving from lifestyle choices into strategic instruments for personal security and long-term family planning?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: I think it is a natural development.
For decades, investors have been told to build their assets and then diversify them internationally so that they are not excessively exposed to one country, currency or market.
What we are now talking about is bringing the private side of somebody’s life towards the same level of diversification.
You diversify the assets. Then you ask whether your personal setup should follow the same principle.
I sometimes tell my son that I hope I live long enough to leave him a useful collection of passports and options so that he can decide where in the world he wants or needs to go, whether business takes him there or love takes him there.
It is about moving beyond a 19th-century conception of the passport towards something more appropriate for the 21st century: go where you feel safe, go where you want to build your business and go where your heart takes you.
Question 6: Governments, particularly in Europe, are simultaneously scrutinising capital flows and investment migration more closely. Could this reshape the geography of global mobility and create opportunities for other regions?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: I think people increasingly have to think globally.
If I were constructing such a portfolio personally, I would want continental Europe represented, but I would also consider Latin America, New Zealand or Australia, Canada and other jurisdictions in between.
There are political debates around many of these routes, of course, and one political decision can change an opportunity very quickly.
That is why the objective should not simply be to acquire a passport tomorrow. The better approach is to develop a plan and then, according to that plan, gradually acquire the residences or citizenships that make sense.
Increasingly, people are doing this not simply because circumstances force them to, but because they actively want to build a more international life.
Question 7: How long should a family realistically allow to build this kind of cross-border resilience?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: I normally say think in terms of several years.
Some options take considerably longer than others. Depending on the individual circumstances, certain routes connected with countries such as Austria can take three years or more and require significant preparation.
Australia and New Zealand are selective. Singapore is another example where citizenship is extremely difficult to obtain and families have to decide carefully whether citizenship is actually what they want, or whether residence better serves their objectives.
So if you ask me for a planning horizon, I would say take five years. Develop the strategy and then add the pieces gradually.
One, two, three or more elements can be added over time. This is a process, not an overnight transaction.
“I always say take five years and over those develop the plan with us. And in between, sort of bit by bit by bit, get it, and always be happy to be able to add one, two, three or more pieces to your plan.”
Question 8: Does that also mean there is no universal ‘best’ safe haven?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: Exactly. Every family is different.
There are broad patterns. Clients from Asia or the Americas may want European access. Europeans may want exposure to Asia, Latin America, North America or the Middle East. Then there are smaller jurisdictions in the Caribbean or Pacific that may fulfil completely different objectives.
You might combine important international financial and business hubs with smaller places where you simply enjoy living or where you would feel comfortable retreating if circumstances elsewhere deteriorated.
There are countless combinations. What constitutes the right collection of safe havens is therefore different for almost every client.
That developing concept is precisely what we want to explore at the Safe Haven Forum.
Question 9: What, then, defines the ultimate safe haven? Is it the institutional depth of old Europe, the dynamism of the Gulf, opportunities in Latin America or the distance and relative isolation of places such as New Zealand and the Pacific?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: It is a combination of all of those things.
What ultimately works for a particular family depends upon its history, its businesses, its circumstances and its expectations for the future.
You have to look globally. You consider history and recent developments, but you also try to anticipate what the future might look like for your children.
The important point is that the strategy itself will continue to develop. You establish the broad foundations and then add smaller pieces as circumstances and opportunities change.
Eventually, you have a collection of safe havens, plural, that allows you to operate globally in a changing world.
Question 10: How important is education within that calculation for families with children?
Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna: Very important.
Families are certainly not looking only for the most tax-efficient jurisdiction. They are thinking from the first years of schooling onwards about whether their children will receive the education that can eventually take them into the universities or other institutions they are considering.
Education is therefore becoming an increasingly important component of the decision.
But that illustrates the wider point: it is one of many factors.
Taxation matters. Security matters. Mobility matters. Business matters. Education matters. Lifestyle matters. And different families will place different weight on each of them.
Editor’s Note: From Diversification of Wealth to Diversification of Life
There is an intriguing inversion taking place in private wealth.
For decades, diversification meant spreading capital. A wealthy family concentrated in one company, one asset class, one currency or one country was advised to reduce that exposure. Globalisation turned geographical diversification into orthodox portfolio management.
Dobrauz-Saldapenna’s argument extends precisely the same reasoning to the family itself.
If capital should not depend excessively upon one jurisdiction, why should mobility, residence, education, business access and personal security?
This does not mean the wealthy are preparing en masse to abandon their home countries. Indeed, Dobrauz-Saldapenna repeatedly makes the opposite point: the primary home may remain exactly where it is.
What changes is the number of credible alternatives surrounding it.
That distinction separates the emerging model from the traditional notion of a Plan B. A second passport stored in a safe may provide optionality. A deliberately constructed network of residence rights, citizenships, homes, educational opportunities, business connections and geographically diversified assets provides something broader: resilience.
The implications for investment migration are considerable. Jurisdictions will increasingly compete not merely on visa-free access or tax treatment, but on institutional credibility, schools, healthcare, security, infrastructure, connectivity, political predictability and whether a family could genuinely imagine living there.
The ultimate safe haven may therefore cease to be a place at all.
It may be a portfolio.
Conclusion: The Rise of the Personal Geography Portfolio
The most revealing word in Dobrauz-Saldapenna’s argument is the plural: safe havens.
The traditional search for one perfect jurisdiction assumes that somewhere there exists an optimal combination of low risk, favourable taxation, mobility, security and lifestyle. The emerging reality is more complicated because different countries offer different advantages and the risks themselves continually change.
The response is therefore increasingly portfolio-like.
One jurisdiction may provide institutional stability. Another may offer commercial opportunity. A third provides educational access. Another offers geographical distance from geopolitical fault lines. Some will be places in which a family genuinely lives; others may remain options that are rarely exercised.
That makes international mobility less transactional and more strategic.
It also explains why the Safe Haven Forum comes at a particularly pertinent moment. Its underlying question is no longer simply where is safe? It is how globally mobile families construct resilience when no jurisdiction can be assumed to remain permanently insulated from political, economic or geopolitical change.
For the next generation of global families, Plan B may consequently be an increasingly obsolete expression.
The alphabet is getting longer.
About Dr Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna
