49. Beyond "Where Are You From?": Building Trust With Foreign-Born Clients with Jane Mepham Artwork

Planning & Beyond® - Where financial planning meets human understanding

Planning & Beyond® is for financial advisors who want to go beyond the numbers and build deeper, more trusted client relationships.

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Planning & Beyond® - Where financial planning meets human understanding

49. Beyond "Where Are You From?": Building Trust With Foreign-Born Clients with Jane Mepham

May 07, 2026 • Ashley Quamme

0:00 | 54:17

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A young couple, dressed up for their first real financial planning meeting, sat across from an advisor who asked about retirement, income, and savings. He never asked why they were spending money on travel. He never asked about their immigration status, their mixed marriage, or the fact that two people had just built a life in a country that wasn't theirs by birth. Two weeks later, they came back for their plan and were told they were going to fail. They walked out feeling like failures in a country they had worked incredibly hard to call home. It would be five to six years before they approached another advisor.

That couple was Jane Mepham and her husband. And that experience shaped the firm she now runs.

In this conversation, Jane shares what advisors need to understand about serving foreign-born clients, mixed-marriage couples, and anyone whose cultural context shapes their relationship with money. She's a CFP®, founder of Elgon Financial Advisors, and co-host of the International Money Cafe podcast. She also has a specific answer for the advisor who wants to be curious but worries about saying the wrong thing.

You'll hear why "tell me how you grew up" opens doors that "where are you from" closes. Why a color-coded spreadsheet of "Visit Family Back Home" belongs in the plan before anyone gets scolded for it. How to build a spending plan that assumes remittance, a retirement plan that respects education-first cultures, and an exit plan for clients whose visa status could change overnight. And why the clients Jane serves often say working with her feels like therapy. (Good news for advisors. You don't have to become a therapist to do this well. You just have to get curious.)

You'll also hear how Jane helps clients who want to pull everything from the market when the world feels unstable, and why giving them numbers isn't the answer.

Whether you serve one foreign-born client or one hundred, this conversation will change how you open your next discovery meeting.

RESOURCES AND GUEST INFORMATION

About Jane Mepham, CFP®

Jane Mepham is the founder of Elgon Financial Advisors, a firm registered in Texas and California that specializes in serving foreign-born nationals with holistic wealth management. Based in Austin, Jane brings a unique perspective shaped by her own immigrant journey and years of working with clients navigating visas, mixed marriages, cross-border financial questions, and cultural transitions. She is also co-host of the International Money Cafe podcast.

Connect with Jane Mepham