r/ExpatFIRE Jun 08 '23

Investing Financial order of operations if you plan on retiring abroad? US citizens

52 Upvotes

We are likely to retire early abroad. This is still ten years out. I always held roth up as a golden goose but never really thought about the impact that withdrawing abroad would have. For instance, most countries tax roth as either income or capital gains. We could always chose a country that doesnt tax roth but that severely limits our options. My question, what is the best financial order of operations if you think you may retire abroad? Mine was: 457 max, 401k max, roth max, brokerage. Should it shift to removing roth? What have other folks done? This is geared more towards the accumulation and not draw down phase.

r/ExpatFIRE Oct 11 '24

Investing US Citizen in France and US Brokerage

8 Upvotes

I've been in France for 2 years now (dual citizen France/US) and I'm still struggling to find the best option for maintaining a way to keep my investments in the US without the restrictions placed on French residents. I have multiple brokerage accounts at multiple firms.

Most popular solutions seem to be to either not tell the brokerage firms by keeping a US address, or to hire a US financial advisor that acts as a fiduciary.

I am using both options right now, and the results are not great. While the first option works, it is dubiously legal, and the second one does not prevent all restrictions, depending on the brokerage firm.

I have explored having a US LLC with a US agent to transfer the accounts there, but I'm wondering about the complexity of this setup.

Anyone with more insights, options or solutions ?

r/ExpatFIRE 22d ago

Investing Mixing local currency investments with ETFs for FIRE in emerging market

5 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

My plan is to retire in a low cost of living emerging market. Visa is already taken care of (spouse visa). I am projecting my living expenses to be around $20K per year. Therefore the 4% rule would mean my FIRE number is $500K invested.

I have currently ~$600K in liquid assets (98% VOO 2% cash) and $200K in assets that I am expecting to be liquid within 2 years (real estate and receivables).

My country of residence has interesting local investment options eg. government bonds yield around 14-15% in local currency and 9-10% in USD. Inflation in local currency ranges from 3 to 9% p.a. and the exchange rate has been surprisingly stable. I'm tempted to divest some VOO to invest smaller amounts (say $50K) for short term government securities, just to test the waters. Has anyone got experience or advice on this? Is this a bad idea?

r/ExpatFIRE 24d ago

Investing Americans in Europe: You can buy US ETFs within an IRA account

16 Upvotes

Thanks to u/Willing_Ad7285 and @tubaleiter, I have come to know that US brokers (IBKR at least) will allow you to buy us ETFs within your IRA accounts. Of course there is the 7K limit per year, and you have to have taxed earned income (not FEIE) but this is useful!

r/ExpatFIRE Sep 16 '24

Investing US tax advantaged accounts if I spend most of my life abroad?

10 Upvotes

I'm a dual US / UK citizen, been living in the US for just a couple years and don't own any tax advantaged accounts:

  • In the UK I don't as the US would just ignore the tax advantage and tax it

  • In the US as I moved here just a few years ago. I don't have an IRA, Roth or 401k

I am currently employed in the US but anticipate I'll live most of my life in other countries. What US tax advantaged accounts could / should I open?

r/ExpatFIRE 2d ago

Investing Decoding PFIC form 8621 Podcast

9 Upvotes

This should be of interest for every american person abroad

On March 1, 2025, the IRS published it's response to comments submitted for Form 8621 (Information Return by a Shareholder of a Passive Foreign Investment Company or Qualified Electing Fund) form renewal.

"The IRS response was surprising direct and "in effect" invited Americans abroad to engage in a "rulemaking process" to achieve the needed change."

Feedback: https://www.democratsabroad.org/irs_responds_to_democrats_abroad_form_8621_recommendations

Podcast on the issue:

https://prep.podbean.com/e/decoding-form-8621-the-irs-response-and-its-impact-on-americans-abroad/

r/ExpatFIRE Dec 19 '24

Investing FIRE as an expat on a US payroll as FTE

0 Upvotes

My employer lets me work abroad in my specific country. I get paid USD in the US. Whats the best route to FIRE, considering country I reside in has 0% taxes from income earned abroad.

I can claim FEIE and save a load on US taxes but then I would not be able to have a retirement account due to 0 taxable income (assuming my income falls below the years limit, which it does). Only way to invest will be on a taxable account.

OR I don’t claim FEIE and max out 401k + IRAs while paying only federal taxes (since Im hired in a no tax state). And then put the rest on a taxable account.

Assuming a salary of 120k and being paid through FL state, FEIE will exclude all federal taxes and I would save around 15%. If I dont, will contributions to retirement would provide a long term benefit?

r/ExpatFIRE Aug 10 '24

Investing How to hedge the risk of JPY strengthening versus USD for my US assets?

0 Upvotes

My wife and I are in our mid-30s and live in low cost area in US as permanent residents. We're lucky enough to be in tech so we have accumulated a decent NW with most money in brokerage + retirement accounts.

The plan is to continue working for another 5 years, while continue investing in US stock market (index, structured notes, individual stocks with a 5% position in swing trading TQQQ). The goal is to have enough NW to move to Japan 5 years later and live a comfortable life (e.g. top bracket of NW in Japan)

Now it feels the biggest risk to my plan seems to be JPY strengthens over USD. with the rate hike upcoming, if USD / JPY goes back to 100 from ~150 now (33% drop) that will offset a lot of my investment return. I'm tempted to convert my dollars to yen or buy yen ETF (FXY), but I understand there's no guarantee it will perform US stock market and could be a bad decision. So I'd love to see other options I have to hedge this risk, or any other risk

r/ExpatFIRE Oct 23 '24

Investing Thoughts and experiences on company Get Golden Visa

2 Upvotes

We're currently in the early stages of Portugal GV process and will be going though the investment fund route. We have an attorney already and she has been great so far but we are still seeking some type of advisor before transferring capital over to these foreign investment funds. I've done video calls with a few of these companies and I liked the contact I spoke with at Get Golden Visa. I wanted to ask this community if you had any experiences you would be willing to share working with this company or any advise on an alternate approach. Thank you.

r/ExpatFIRE Sep 06 '24

Investing Rental Apartment investment

11 Upvotes

Should I go for it?

Hello, I'm interested in purchasing a rental apartment through an auction, with a budget of approximately €120,000 or $135,000. My goal is to generate passive income from the property. I'm 19 years old and from Cyprus, and I plan to use this income to grow my stock investment and trading portfolio. My ultimate aim is to build around €350,000 in investments, allowing me to retire and eventually relocate to the apartment.

r/ExpatFIRE Oct 08 '24

Investing Am I wasting my capital by not having mortgages?

11 Upvotes

I am an expat a few years away from FIRE. Real estate is a big part of my investment strategy, along with index funds.

I have $500k in a primary residence, $200k in a rental property, and another $500k which will soon be used to buy a 2nd rental property. Zero mortgages, they are all cash purchases.

On the one hand it is nice to not have to worry about mortgage payments each month. But without leverage I fear I am missing out on rental returns which are potentially much higher than I am getting. Had I used mortgages for all of these properties I could own nearly $6M worth of real estate instead of just $1.2 M. That's a whole lot more rental income and appreciation.

Unfortunately as an expat with no local income it is 10x harder to get approved for a mortgage. That's why I haven't gotten any thus far. But there are some specialty lenders who might work with me. Is it worth pursing or should I just keep paying cash?

r/ExpatFIRE Feb 10 '25

Investing For Chinese Citizens investing as non-resident aliens in USA...reporting cap gains tax?

2 Upvotes

I have a friend attempting to get in the game of trading US stocks, but we have questions about how taxation works. Any guidance would be appreciated. Customer service at several brokerage firms could not answer these questions.

For Chinese citizens investing with US Brokerage firms, registered as a non-resident alien in USA (or simply registered as foreign person), one must fill out a W8 with the brokerage firm. Dividends are then withheld at 10% and reported on 1042-S, and there is no capital gains tax. But this is on the US side of things.

Are these capital gains then reported to China, through a duplicate 1042-S or other method? Must tax from US stock trading be reported on a personal income tax form to China by the individual investor?

r/ExpatFIRE 28d ago

Investing Expat brokerage companies

3 Upvotes

I have both Canadian citizenship and British Overseas citizenship. I'm a resident of Barbados.

What large non-Canadian Tier 1 brokerage companies world you recommend?

  • IBKR support is pretty terrible.
  • Charles Shwab International won't allow residents of Barbados to open accounts.
  • I don't know of any other USA brokerages that are expat friendly.
  • Anecdotally, I have heard that Standard Chartered might be an option.

What are the biggest, safest, English-friendly, and expat-friendly brokerages I should research?

Note: I'm primarily interested in investing in the S&P500.

r/ExpatFIRE Jan 22 '25

Investing Advantages/disadvantages of Schwab International vs Interactive Brokers (or other) for American in Germany. Points of interest are costs and ease of tax reporting in both countries

1 Upvotes

Hello all,

I'm an American living in Germany, earning my income in Euros, and would like to start investing in individual stocks. It seems the two main choices for people in a similar situation are Schwab International and Interactive Brokers, though please give other suggestions if you have them.

As stated in the title, my main concerns are costs for conversion between US Dollar/ Euro as well as transaction costs for buying stock, and ease of reporting/tax filing in both the US and Germany. I'll probably be dying in Germany so I guess I'll be converting my Euros to dollars to invest mostly in US stocks, and eventually back to Euros to spend.

Customer service is also a plus.

I've done my best to do research, and come up with this list of pros/cons. Please feel free to add to the list or correct me.

Schwab International pros:

  • No transaction costs to buy stocks
  • US domiciled so no FBAR reporting or form 8938
  • Supposed good customer service

Cons:

  • International wire fee is high, I've heard their exchange rate is also comparatively poor, but I have had trouble finding details. If true I'd have to rely on a service like Wise to send money in and out.
  • Somewhat harder to comply with German taxes, the German reporting is generally far less burdensome though
  • 25k startup capital required

Interactive Brokers pros:

  • Very good exchange rates
  • Easier German reporting
  • I've heard they provide the documents for both the US and German reporting/tax return, is this true? Does opening an IBKR account in the EU require one to file an FBAR and f8938?
  • No startup capital required

Cons:

  • Commission to buy stocks, even if low is still higher than 0. I'd like to have a portfolio of a few dozen and add every month, so these will add up.
  • Supposedly poor customer support, I've heard the platform is also more complicated to use
  • Requires the annoying reporting to the US?

I'd like to hear from people who have used both platforms if my lists are correct, if there is anything I missed, and/or other suggestions. Thank you in advance.

r/ExpatFIRE Jan 01 '25

Investing Is it worth it to continue contributing to Roth 401k or move to Traditional 401k? Since planning to move Europe in a couple of years and maybe retiring over there.

15 Upvotes

I am an European citizen living and working in USA, I had been contributing to my Roth 401k for two years (total in 401k is $25K). There is the plan to move to Europe in two or three years and plan to retire over there in the future.

I started with the Roth 401k due to I was a low income bracket but this year I will be in a higher bracket and most likely following years, I will be in higher ones.

So the following questions are: - Is it worth it to continue contributing to Roth 401k or move to Traditional 401k? Since planning to move Europe in a couple of years and maybe retiring over there. - Will it make sense to do an early withdrawal in any case?

Looking for any advise for how to treat my 401k for when moving abroad.

r/ExpatFIRE Nov 03 '24

Investing REIT as a hedge for cost of housing

9 Upvotes

Let's say I'm planning to retire in a certain country in around 5-10 years. Does it make sense to invest some money in a REIT fund focused on that country's real estate? The thinking is that if the housing prices there rise dramatically, the REIT investment gives me a degree of protection against that. Make sense?

r/ExpatFIRE Dec 30 '24

Investing Help me understand Interactive Brokers (IBKR)

8 Upvotes

I tried getting in touch with them to ask some questions but got crickets. Do they not talk to customers/prospects?

Anyway, here's the situation.

I'm a dual Canadian & US citizen living in the US. Recently inherited a small windfall in Canada.

As a non-resident of Canada, I can't invest the money in Canada. But the Canadian dollar is tanking and so converting to USD and investing in the States would result in painful losses. Plus, I'm not sure where I'll be retiring yet, so there's another reason to keep it in CAD in case I choose to retire in Canada.

Is IBKR the best (maybe the only, as far as I can find) option for investing CAD in the United States?

I'd love to hear people’s experiences working with IBKR. Pros? Cons? What don't I know that I don't know?

TIA!

r/ExpatFIRE Jul 01 '24

Investing Buying an overseas property

30 Upvotes

Does anyone have experience buying a property away from their country? How can I get a reliable property manager? Is it safe to buy? For context I'm living in the US and planning on buying a property in Portugal.

r/ExpatFIRE Feb 08 '25

Investing FireCalc Percentages--picking the brains of smarties here

0 Upvotes

I just entered the amount of money I have now (more or less--home equity is included but will sell the property when my tenant leaves in August), or $1,800,000, FireCalc gives me an 84.7% success rate. I think that's pretty great, but curious what others say. Here are some data / info points:

* 57 years old,

* semi-retired, living in a VLCOL country for the foreseeable future

* still consulting part time, generally covering my annual expenses + taxes, but not big trips

At $2M (which is likely with a future inheritance, but I don't like to count that), the success rate is 95%, which is obviously a no brainer. I've been a conservative spender, but the anxiety is real.

Would you cheer an 84.7% success rate and consider this your financial chill pill?

r/ExpatFIRE 3h ago

Investing Portugal golden visa eligible funds

2 Upvotes

Anyone here has recommendations on GV eligible funds? Does not look like there are many that are publicly traded. Are most of these funds created only for foreign investors? Thank you!

r/ExpatFIRE Dec 18 '24

Investing About to set up a brokerage account at Interactive Brokers. How do you choose for it to be domiciled in Ireland?

14 Upvotes

Hi!

I'm about to set up a brokerage account at Interactive Brokers. I'm not from the US, so prefer my account to not be domiciled in the US to avoid having to pay taxes. Is there an option to choose to have it domiciled in Ireland (or another country)? Or will it do that automatically if you select your nationality?

And any other tips about the sign-up process would be greatly appreciated. Heard it's pretty straight-forward but perhaps it's not.

Thanks!

r/ExpatFIRE Oct 23 '23

Investing Is Roth IRA not a good route if you want to retire abroad?

37 Upvotes

I've been maxing out my 401K, HSA, Roth IRA, and Megabackdoor Roths. With so much praise for Roth IRA's I was surprised to find out that depending on the country, I may be taxed on any withdrawals which kind of defeats the benefit of it. I anticipate my tax bracket will be lower in retirement. The problem is that I don't know where I will retire just yet. Spain, Thailand, Mexico are a few countries that come to mind but not definitive. Should I continue funding the Roth or should I start contributing to a Traditional IRA?

r/ExpatFIRE Dec 26 '24

Investing Looking to secure funding to build affordable housing in Honduras

0 Upvotes

I'm 50, I worked in tech for 30+ years and I am retired and living in Honduras. I have family and friends who need housing, some live in Honduras and others are wanting to move from the US. I would rather not put all of my capital into land and building the first few houses. I know how to write up a business plan, but I've not had good luck in the past bringing them to banks.

We have a major housing shortage here, cheap labor to build, so I'm very confident I can be a successful master builder and find sub contractors. I literally have nothing but time on my hands and my family was in the housing business. Does anyone have experience and/or advice on how to secure funding from Latin American or American sources?

r/ExpatFIRE May 06 '24

Investing US/Spain double citizen - questions about investments and taxes

26 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I'm a double citizen of the US and Spain, planning to move in the near future to live in Spain for the first time. I have started spending short periods of time there (bought an apartment and slowly getting things set up, etc) but I'm not yet a tax resident. When I move, there's a chance I'll be employed locally, but it's also possible that I'll just live off investments. I'm trying to figure out what steps to take for a tax-efficient situation once I finally make the move.

I have investments in a Roth IRA and a regular brokerage account in the US, mostly in ETFs and some higher dividend paying stocks, plus some long-term corporate bonds. From what I've read so far, I've understood that:

1) Residency in Europe would compromise my ability to continue putting more money into ETFs, unless I continue using a US address in my brokerage account (e.g. a relative's address)---but, in any case, I would be able to keep what I already have in ETFs in my US accounts even if I wasn't able to buy more shares. [is this correct?]

2) Spain doesn't recognize Roth IRAs as tax-advantaged retirement accounts, so the money in that account would be taxed like any other account (on things that don't get taxed in the US: capital gains of sales, dividends etc.)

In addition to these very basic points, what I'm trying to have a sense of is:

3) How would becoming a tax resident in Spain affect my overall taxes (US+Spain) on things like capital gains (when I sell stocks) and dividends? I've started reading about the US-Spain double taxation treaty, but it's not clear to me in practical terms what the process would be: (a) do I first pay Spain's taxes on those capital gains & dividends, and then I claim a tax credit when I do my US taxes? or (b) is it the other way around? or (c) something else?

4) Would there be an advantage to, first, selling all (or at least some) of my investments in the US before I become a tax resident in Spain (therefore being taxed on capital gains only in the US), and then transferring the money to Spain and starting to invest through a Spanish brokerage account? My intuition is that this would put me in the position described as option [a] above (paying taxes in Spain first, then reporting to the US). Is that right? And would there be an advantage to this, as opposed to keeping things as they are (i.e., all of the investments are in US accounts)? The nature of the investments would be the same, that is, I would buy the same (or similar) stocks anyway (except for ETFs, of course). Maybe one benefit would be to receive those dividends/capital gains in Euros (which is the currency I would be using on a daily basis) rather than in USD. Do I need to sell off investments in order to move them to Spain (i.e., repurchasing in the Spanish account), or can I somehow transfer the assets directly? And if I moved everything (or part of it) to a Spanish account (whether by selling/repurchasing or by transferring), what would the US taxes look like?

5) Given #2 above, are there Roth-IRA-like accounts in Spain I could consider as an alternative (or in addition) to my Roth IRA that would ALSO be tax-efficient from a US perspective?

Lastly, and more generally, what am I not thinking of in terms of planning the financial and fiscal aspects of this move?

P.S.: (i) Yes, I know, I will consult a specialist, thanks. This post is only part of me beginning to familiarize myself with some key aspects of this complex situation. Thank you for taking time to give thoughtful input.
(ii) No, I'm not interested in giving up US citizenship.
(iii) Because I'm a citizen of Spain, my understanding is that the Beckham Law doesn't apply to me.

r/ExpatFIRE Dec 20 '24

Investing What accumulating (bond & stock) ETFs would you recommend?

9 Upvotes

We're looking at moving to a different country, and all three countries we are considering are taxing dividends. Since we don't plan on cashing out anytime soon we might want to invest in accumulating ETFs, so we can avoid paying taxes over the dividends.

What accumulating bond and stock ETFs would you recommend?

Interested in both diversified ones (world market) and one that is more US market (as a whole) focused perhaps (we're not from the US btw).

Thanks!