u/Kai_Roesch

Something about me:

Born and raised in Brazil, hold German and Italian passports through family. Came from an absolute broke family, first one to go to university, rough start - worked manual jobs to support myself during studies, and I'm still periodically relied on by family back home when things get (even more) difficult financially for them.

No financial education growing up whatsoever. I'm quite risk-averse, partly after seeing my father spent (and still spending) every spare penny on lottery tickets.

Moved to Germany in my early 20s, eventually started a master's degree, and only started earning enough to actually save something starting in 2021. Learned about FIRE during the pandemic. Moved to the US for a job in 2022, came back to Germany in 2024, and have been here since.

From all of that, I've managed to save around €120k total so far.

I am looking for a gut-check from people who've navigated multi-jurisdiction FIRE, because I think I've been paralyzed by complexity for longer than I should've been.

The setup:

• Currently tax resident in Germany (work for an international org).
• End goal: FIRE in Brazil.
• Not planning to keep ties to Europe long-term - once I leave, I want a clean break from German bureaucracy, not another anchor.

Current numbers:

• ~€110k sitting in a US normal savings account at 3%. I'm a non-resident alien there now, which is part of why it's stayed parked instead of invested (opening a proper brokerage account as an NRA felt like a maze - high minimums, estate tax questions, etc.)
• ~€3.5k in a Brazilian fixed-income deposit earning roughly 11.5% net annually in local currency, taxed on a sliding scale that drops the longer you hold it (liquidity/access there is limited too, since I'm not a tax resident in Brazil either)
• Started sending ~€3.5k/month to Brazil recently (roughly half my net salary), building toward the eventual move

Why the US cash sat there this long:

• Rates were meaningfully higher when I first parked it (closer to 5%), so at the time "just leave it in savings" wasn't as obviously wrong as it looks now at 3%.
• I've never been taxed on it - not in the US (non-resident aliens generally aren't taxed on US savings account interest), and not in Germany either, since my main employment income is tax-exempt and my personal allowance effectively absorbs capital income up to a certain threshold each year that I have not reached so far. So there was never an urgent tax reason to move it.
• Mostly, it felt like the safe/liquid option given how mobile my job can be - being able to access it instantly from anywhere felt more valuable than optimizing the return. That calculus has shifted now that rates dropped and I have a clearer target (FIRE in Brazil specifically), so I'm looking for something with better long-term return instead of just parking it.

Where I've landed after a lot of back-and-forth:

Since right now I'm taxed on worldwide capital income in Germany regardless of where the brokerage sits, the plan is to open an Interactive Brokers account now (as a German resident, so it lands under the Irish entity), invest the US cash into a broad accumulating UCITS ETF (thinking VWCE), and treat the account as "portable" - update the residency when I eventually move to Brazil instead of closing and reopening everything.

What I'm second-guessing:

1. Is IBKR actually the smoothest way to handle this, or is there something better suited for someone who's going to relocate outside the EU eventually?
2. Single global ETF (VWCE) vs. something more deliberate given I'll eventually be spending in BRL, not EUR?
3. Anyone actually gone through the "EU resident to moved to Brazil" transition with IBKR or similar and can speak to how painless (or not) the entity switch really was?
4. Am I overthinking the US estate tax angle given the US-Germany treaty, or is that still worth structuring around?

Not asking for a full financial plan, just want to know if this reasoning holds up or if I'm missing something obvious that people who've actually done this cross-border shuffle would catch immediately.

A bit more context, since I know these usually come up:

• My income is largely tax-exempt due to my employer's specific status, which is part of why the savings rate looks high in absolute terms - it's not translating 1:1 from a typical post-tax salary.
• I can only save about half of it because my partner lives abroad (regular overseas travel baked in), plus I support family back home, as mentioned above.

Fiz Relações Internacionais em uma universidade boa no Brasil e, quando era mais novo, sonhava com a carreira internacional. Queria morar fora, trabalhar em organizações internacionais, ter uma vida “global”. E, olhando objetivamente, acho que consegui praticamente tudo que eu queria.

Hoje trabalho em uma agência da ONU, moro na Europa, tenho um salário bom, um currículo forte para a minha área e já tive oportunidades incríveis de viver em diferentes países ao longo dos últimos 15 anos.

Mas, quanto mais o tempo passa, mais sinto falta do Brasil. E não é só saudade pontual. É uma sensação constante.

Sinto falta das pessoas, da espontaneidade, da comida, de falar português no dia a dia sem esforço, dos serviços, do calor humano, da sensação de pertencimento. Recentemente fui a Brasília e fiquei apaixonado pela cidade. Achei muito diferente do estereótipo que eu tinha. Arborizada, organizada, com vantagens de cidade grande, mas também um ritmo que parece mais humano em vários aspectos.

Ao mesmo tempo, minha vida profissional hoje tem um custo alto. O trabalho é extremamente estressante. Entro antes das 8h e normalmente saio perto das 19h. Minha chefe não gosta de trabalho remoto. Existe uma pressão constante por orçamento e cortes, porque as agências da ONU vivem em situação financeira instável. E, além disso, posso ser transferido para praticamente qualquer lugar do mundo a qualquer momento.

Aí vem a questão que não sai da minha cabeça: fiz 38 anos recentemente. E estou pensando seriamente em largar tudo isso para tentar recomeçar no Brasil, talvez estudando para concurso.

A parte financeira não seria um desastre imediato. Tenho um dinheiro guardado que daria para me sustentar por alguns anos enquanto tento me estabelecer, e moradia em Brasília também não seria um problema.

Só que bate um medo enorme. Porque, sendo sincero, apesar da carreira boa, nunca fui aquela pessoa brilhante em prova. E às vezes penso: seria muita loucura abrir mão de tudo que conquistei fora para tentar construir uma vida mais estável e mais próxima do que sinto falta?

Queria ouvir opiniões sinceras de quem já passou por mudanças grandes de vida, especialmente de quem saiu do exterior ou entrou mais tarde no mundo dos concursos.