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American Expat Retiree Financials

American - USA citizen, with passport and social security number
Expat - living abroad, or planning extended travel abroad
Retiree - no longer has active income
Financials - Banking, Investments, Residence, Taxes, Social Security, Estate Planning, Payments, Credit

2025 edition

For persons holding less than $1 million.

This book covers only USA-licensed investments, companies and accounts. No foreign investments or income.

This book contains mostly general knowledge and also has some special sections specifically for expats.

• Get on it now, as soon as you stop working. Don’t wait.
• RMD is a scam. Roth Conversion is the magic cure.
• Open three brokerage accounts:
  • taxable
  • tax-deferred IRA
  • tax-free Roth IRA
• Consolidate your assets into these three accounts.
• Maximize Roth Conversions every year, while minimizing taxes, until all of your tax-deferred IRA assets are in your tax-free Roth IRA account.

• If you plan to travel with possible extended stays overseas, get your assets in order before you leave the USA.
• If you reside outside of the USA, even temporarily, there is only one bank that will support you, and it’s not a bank. It’s a credit union:
  • State Department Federal Credit Union (SDFCU).
• If you reside outside of the USA, even temporarily, there is only one independent broker who will support you:
  • Interactive Brokers (IBKR).
• USA-licensed Mutual Funds are not for sale to non-USA residents. Use ETFs instead.
• USA-licensed ETFs are not for sale to residents of most EU countries. Build your own fund instead, starting with the Magnificent Seven stocks: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla.

A born-in-the-USA (naturalized) citizen of the US is a citizen for life. This citizenship cannot be revoked. You cannot be exiled. And when you return to the US they cannot deny entry.

Your social security is gold. You have earned it. Even if you renounce your citizenship, the SSA will still send your check every month.

The IRS considers every US citizen a “US Tax Resident”. That means your income is taxed, no matter where you live or where you work.