Staff Reporter
Peter Dougherty of BISSAN Wealth Management is known as ‘the financial planner for Americans in Spain’. Maybe one day he might be called ‘the Doctor of financial planning’.
Peter doesn’t wear a stethoscope. He’s much more likely to have a financial calculator. Nonetheless, as Mr. Dougherty points out: “both the medical and financial planning professions start with an examination to be able to make a diagnosis. For doctors, that’s reading our x-ray or MRI; for financial planners it’s looking through our financial documents. And selecting a financial planner has similarities to choosing a doctor. We can see this if we replace ‘doctor’ with ‘financial planner’ in these questions:
1. Does the doctor have special training or certifications?
2. Is the doctor part of a registered medical group?
3. Has the doctor kept up to date on the newest medical practices?”
#1. Does the financial planner have special training or certifications?
Spain’s European Financial Planning Association (EFPA España) has certified Peter as both a European Financial Advisor (EFA) and a European Financial Planner (EFP). EFPA España sets the standards for financial advisors and financial planners in all of Spain. Their website has a “Find a certified financial advisor” section that shows every registered financial planner and advisor.
Mr. Dougherty is also certified as a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor® by The College for Financial Planning, as a Foreign Account Tax Compliance (FATCA) specialist by Global Compliance Institute, and as an Investment Adviser Representative by the North American Securities Administrators Association.
#2. Is the financial planner part of a group?
Yes. Peter Dougherty is a financial planner at BISSAN Wealth Management, a trusted financial advisory company in Spain. Founded in 2010, BISSAN is authorized and supervised by Spain’s financial securities regulator, the CNMV (Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores). To see if an advisory firm is registered, you can “search authorized entities” on the CNMV website:
https://www.cnmv.es/Portal/Consultas/BusquedaPorEntidad.aspx?tipo=ESI.
#3. Has the financial planner kept up to date on the newest financial practices?
In 2024, Mr. Dougherty earned a master’s degree in Spanish taxation from Instituto Europeo de Asesoría Fiscal (Institute of Tax Planning). He says: “With this new diploma, I now have more degrees than a thermometer. But it was worth the effort to understand and be able to explain the ins and outs of Spanish taxation in plain English.
“I also wrote and defended a thesis as part of this master’s program. While researching tax policies for the thesis, I uncovered interesting information. So, I compiled it and published ‘La Hoja de Ruta Fiscal y Financiera para los españoles en EE.UU.’ It’s a thin book, not nearly as dense as a medical journal.”
This is the second book Peter has written about financial planning. His first, The Dougherty Code: Secrets of Financial Planning in Spain Revealed, was published in 2023.
“The goal of my books”, says Dougherty, “relates to what Dr. William Mayo, a founder of Mayo Clinic, said: ‘The aim of medicine is to prevent disease and prolong life; the ideal of medicine is to eliminate the need of a physician.’ My aim is to provide useful financial planning assistance to as many expats in Spain as possible. My ideal is that reading my books will eliminate the need to hire a financial planner for many more.”
To schedule a free consultation with Peter Dougherty visit https://financial-planning-in-spain.com
