r/ExpatFinance

Background: I am currently in US and moving out of US by end of this year. Not a US citizen and will not have an address or phone number from US. I have stocks (including ETFs) currently in Robinhood brokerage.

Questions:
(1) Does Schwab have a brokerage account that can be accessed internationally? Can I move my stocks to Schwab US account and then change to reflect my new international location once I am there?
(2) Does Schwab offer any type of checking account where I can transfer my $ savings and use a debit card internationally to withdraw money from it?

[supprimé]

I’m from the uk and recently opened an international trading account. Il be splitting my investments between different brokers and they offer a debit card that you can link to your account and withdraw cash from atm’s abroad, any atm charges get refunded by Charles Schwab. This is part of the reason I chose to open an account as Il be travelling around Asia next year. I haven’t requested the debit card yet, does anyone on here have this card and if so what do you think?

Just got burned at a Bancolombia ATM in Medellín (SUC_CRA70_3) and I’m pissed.

I went to withdraw what should’ve been around $100. Instead I got charged $505.21 because I accidentally accepted their currency conversion.

They used a garbage exchange rate (1 USD = 3,028 COP) with a 9.5% markup on top of a 29,900 COP fee. The real rate that day was around 3,350+ COP per dollar. I overpaid about $50 just because these scammers pushed their predatory Dynamic Currency Conversion.

The receipt literally says they “offered a choice,” which I guess is how they cover their ass while still ripping people off.

Warning to anyone in Colombia:

Always decline the currency conversion bullshit at Bancolombia ATMs. These machines are predatory as hell with this DCC scam. Choose to withdraw in COP and let your own bank handle the conversion.

Don’t be the next person they fuck over.

am a US citizen and I have a friend in Mexico who is a citizen there. What is the best way to send them money. Is remitly any good?

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Hi all,

I still have my bank account at ENDB, do I need to come back to UAE to change it to a savings account?

Hello, I'm looking to send EUR to AUD asap. It will be around $25k EUR. I know about Wise but I'm worried that funds may be locked until we proof funds are legit. Dad's savings are going to help with a home deposit in AUD.

I don't want the money to sit in the black hole with a bank transfer. Also don't want to go the crypto route as my dad might not understand wallet addresses too well.

Do you have any suggestions and/or good experiences with Wise? I have a EUR account setup in my Australian account. Would the transfer from my dads Wise account be near instant?

I realized on my last solo trip that I’m pretty careful with some parts of money, but weirdly casual with others. I’ll compare hostels, flights, trains, food prices, all that. But once I’m actually there, I just tap my card and move on. Later the banking app shows the final amount, and I don’t really question whether the rate was good.

It matters more when traveling solo because there’s no one to share the blame for mistakes. If I pick the wrong ATM, wrong card, or the wrong currency option at the terminal, that’s just on me. Do you actually check the rates your card gives you, or do you just use one travel card and assume it’s fine?

Also, have you ever been caught by the “pay in your own currency” option, or is local currency just automatic for you now?

For those of you with US/USD based incomes — passive or earned — how much are you using credit cards for regular expenses while living abroad?

I’m two months out from my move and thinking of a thousand tiny things. Should I transfer the whole of my monthly budget, and primarily live off my local (€) accounts? Or continue to use my Chase/Citi/etc cards and pay them off with dollars I “left behind”?

Hey all,

This may have been discussed to death before but I couldn’t quite grasp some of the answers I saw. I’m a US expat living in the UK and I’ve been interested in dipping my toe into investing. I was all set to start investing in VOO because it seemed simple enough but I soon encountered the roadblock of my US citizenship.

This all looks very complicated and I am an utter beginner. I don’t have a lot of money, I was just going to add bits here and there as I found myself with extra, so hiring a financial advisor seems out of the question.

What’s the best option for someone just starting out? I have a pension fund ofc but I wanted to put back extra on my own. The best two brokerage accounts seem to be Schwab or Interactive Brokers but I can’t tell which is better or if ether of them would suit my situation at all.

I’m very confused on what I can do. Any advice would be appreciated 🙏

I know plenty of people use USDT to save or move money but would you actually use it for everyday purchases if it were easy to do or do you still prefer using a regular bank card?

has anyone here started using stablecoins for day to day spending or are they still mainly for savings and transfers?

It's a bit of a nerdy project, but it changed how I budget. I'm the type that obsesses over the big stuff, returns, allocation, MP2 vs stocks, but I never paid attention to the small recurring leaks. So for a year I tracked every recurring small cost, and, gosh, the total was worse than I expected.

Some of it was the usual, subscriptions I forgot about, bank charges, convenience fees that look tiny per transaction. But the one that got me was remittance fees.

Here is the example. I send around $300 twice a month to my family in the PH. They're building a small business back home and a chunk of what I send goes into it, so for me it's basically working capital, not just spending. I used Western Union for years out of habit. Tracked a year of it: ~₱22-23k gone to fees and the rate markup combined. Money that never reached the business, never compounded, just evaporated into the air.

That reframed it for me. ₱22k a year that should've been landing as capital, instead leaking every month.

So I just fixed it. Compared a few options, moved to Boss Money for the US to PH leg, first few transfers free, and cash pickup near them, fee way under WU's. Plus killed two dead subscriptions, YNAB that I'd stopped opening months ago lol the irony here is worthless and Strava premium I haven't used since January. None of these were big on their own.

Add the three up and it stacks up fast. Call it around ₱40k a year+ leaking out on things too small per month to notice.

Curious what your biggest surprise was if you're tracking such expenses

genuinely impressive how long i've managed to avoid looking at my super. like olympic-level avoidance

Moved to germany in 2019, did the whole "yeah I'll sort the aus stuff out next month" thing, and here we are. Three jobs later, two countries, one very confused me staring at a login screen I couldn't remember the password for

Ended up down a rabbit hole at 1am googling whether you can even access super while living overseas, then somehow wound up reading about retirement planning strategies for expats, then found myself on some aus financial advice site reading about super restructuring. no idea how I got there honestly, the algorithm just kind of fed it to me after the fifth search

Turns out yes you can actually restructure super from abroad, which i genuinely did not know. small win. still have to deal with the german pension side but that's a future me problem

anyway the whole exercise made me realise I've been treating my retirement money like a forgotten houseplant. it's probably fine. probably..

We’ve all heard about the famous expat destinations. I’m more interested in places that completely exceeded your expectations but rarely get mentioned online. Where was it, and what made it special?

I hold both European and us citizenship while living in Europe and I’m having trouble finding an online bank that allows me to trade stocks or even have an account as a us person. Bunq for example allows me to have an account but won’t let me trade. Any suggestions?

Hi :)
After 15 years in Belgium it is time for me to go back home, in the Americas.

I have managed to save quite some money and I am now searching for the best way to transfer all my money into saving and investment accounts over there (nothing has been created yet).

People recommend me Wise for that, however I am wondering if there's a better way to do that. Has anyone experience with it?

In addition, as I leaving for good, I want to take my accumulated retirement fonds as well, I'm wondering if anyone here has applied for early retirement due to a residence change (removal).

I'll appreciate any help :)

Hi everyone, I have dual Thai-German nationality and will be visiting Germany soon. My mum has a friend there who wants to send her 6,000 euros in cash, and my mum has asked me to bring it back to Thailand for her.

My questions:

• Is this legal to do?
• Do I need to declare it at Thai customs on arrival?
• How risky is it to not declare it? (I have an appointment right after landing so ideally I don't want to spend extra time at customs)
• Is it safer to keep it in my checked luggage or carry-on?
• I'm not comfortable carrying that much cash in my purse — what do people recommend?

Any experience or advice appreciated!

I land 22:45 at Suvarnabhumi, and am staying that night at a hotel close to there. The next day I’m moving in to stay at the ibis riverside hotel, my question is this: I’m bringing 1500 USD for the entire trip. Should I exchange just 500 at the airport and the rest at a bank, and is 500 enough to last until Monday in a big city like Bangkok? I am bringing this much as I am gettin my advanced open water certification and the dive shop wants cash, and I am going to get a couple tattoos and the artist wants cash.

I'm a U.S. citizen living in Hong Kong and I'm looking for a CPA who specializes in U.S. expat tax returns, preferably someone with extensive experience handling PFICs (Form 8621).

TurboTax's Enrolled Agent recently performed a detailed review of my 2022-2025 tax situation and determined that my case is outside the scope of TurboTax Live because of foreign mutual funds and the complexity of the required amendments.

The work I need includes:

Amend my 2023 return to restore approximately $11,000 of missed Hong Kong rental expenses, add the missing rental depreciation, and file the omitted Forms 8938 and eight Forms 8621.
Amend my 2024 return to add the missing rental depreciation and the omitted Forms 8938/8621.
Prepare my 2025 return, including the final disposition of the eight foreign mutual funds (PFICs), Schedule E for my Hong Kong rental property, and the related international reporting requirements.
File the required FBAR for the proceeds currently held in my Hong Kong HSBC account.

I'm looking for recommendations based on personal experience. If you've worked with a CPA who is genuinely knowledgeable about U.S. expat taxation, PFICs, and amended returns, I'd appreciate hearing who you used, roughly what they charged, and whether you'd hire them again.

I'm not looking for a general tax preparer. I need someone who deals with international returns every day and is comfortable cleaning up prior-year filings.

​Hello everyone,

​I am a French tax resident under a J1 = non-resident (French contract, not American one)

I'll switch to a local contract and an E-2 soon (expected start date in October).

I am planning a future FIRE trajectory that involves working in the US, building up my portfolio, and eventually moving back to France to coast/retire.

Thing is, I already had some savings in France under French pockets that are quite complicated to declare in the US.

​To avoid the infamous double taxation and compliance nightmare, I’ve mapped out a specific strategy and would love to have the community validate my theories.

​Step 1: Current Pre-Departure Clean-up (France)

​The Situation: I currently hold a French PEA (under 5 years old) and a French Assurance Vie (under 8 ans old) containing European UCITS ETFs.

​My Plan: I am planning to fully liquidate my PEA and the UC (Unités de compte) of my Assurance Vie while I am still a 100% French tax resident. I will pay the flat tax (30% PFU) on the gains to the French government. I want to land in the US with 100% clean cash and zero PFICs to report via Form 8621.

​Theory to validate: Is it correct that since this liquidation happens before my residency start date under the Substantial Presence Test, the IRS has absolutely zero claim or reporting requirements on these June capital gains?

​Step 2: US Accumulation Phase

​My Plan: Once in the US, I will invest heavily in a standard US Brokerage Account (buying US-domiciled ETFs like VOO) and maximize my employer's 401(k) match.

​Step 3: The Exit Strategy (Moving back to France for FIRE or just back to home)

​My Plan for the Brokerage Account: Right before permanently leaving the US and re-establishing French tax residency, I plan to trigger a "Gain Harvesting" event. I will sell 100% of my US brokerage portfolio to realize the capital gains while still a US tax resident, pay the US Long-Term Capital Gains tax rate (15% federal + state tax), and immediately rebuy the positions.

​Theory to validate: According to Article 13 of the France-US Tax Treaty, capital gains are taxed where the seller resides at the time of the sale. By doing this "purge" before setting foot in France, France should see my "Cost Basis" as the new re-bought value, effectively wiping out the French 30% Flat Tax on all the growth accumulated during my US years. Correct?

​My Plan for the 401(k): I plan to leave my 401(k) untouched in the US. According to Article 18 of the treaty, US pension distributions to a French resident are exempt from French income tax (though they impact the tax bracket via taux effectif). I will only withdraw after age 59.5. Correct?

​Does this pipeline sound bulletproof? Am I missing any blind spots, specific exit traps, or state-level nuances (NY/NYC taxes on the final harvest)?

​Thank you so much for your insights!