A US living trust built to avoid probate can trigger a 31% French tax bill the moment you revoke it as a resident. In this episode, French tax attorney, Thomas Dubanchet, explains why trust structures built to simplify a US estate plan often need a fresh review once France enters…
In a real client case, a mother's will named her son as the intended recipient of a family property in India. But because the property was jointly owned with the father, who was still living, the will became legally irrelevant, ownership passed entirely to the surviving joint owner instead. It's…
Amol Desai had been investing in Indian mutual funds for years when the emails started arriving, funds telling him they could no longer accept US-based investors. He had no idea why until he traced it back to FATCA: if a foreign mutual fund company doesn't comply with FATCA reporting requirements,…
A US step-up in cost basis at inheritance can erase capital gains tax entirely, which usually makes waiting the obvious choice. But in a real client case involving Indian property, Amol Desai ran the full comparison, including the rupee's historically consistent 4-5% annual depreciation against the dollar, and found gifting…
India's central bank requires non-resident Indians to convert their regular domestic savings accounts into NRE or NRO status. NRE (Non-Resident External) holds money earned outside India, NRO (Non-Resident Ordinary) holds money generated within India, like rental income or the sale of property. It's not optional, and Amol Desai says many…
A US citizen inherits a family property in India. A mutual fund he's held for years suddenly won't accept him as an investor anymore. His old Indian bank account becomes illegal to keep in its original form. None of this is a scam or a mistake, it's what happens when…
Time-bound doesn't mean rigid. Even a loose window, "sometime in the next two years," forces prioritization in a way "eventually" never does. It's the last letter in SMART, and often the one that turns a plan from a someday idea into something actually underway. Buy the book: passporttowealth.com/expat-money-playbook #expatfinance #financialplanning…
Not realistic: moving to a small town in Tuscany and living like a local immediately, without speaking the language, easily frustrated by inefficiency. Realistic: moving to Florence instead, where an established expat community softens the first year. Same dream, very different odds of it sticking. Buy the book: passporttowealth.com/expat-money-playbook #expatfinance…
Achievable asks whether a goal is realistic given your actual constraints, income, visa eligibility, family situation, health. It's the easiest of the five SMART letters to satisfy, and also the easiest to mistake for being enough on its own. Buy the book: passporttowealth.com/expat-money-playbook #expatfinance #financialplanning #passporttowealth #expatmoneyplaybook #smartgoals
Measurable means concrete steps, not vague intentions: a relocation fund with an actual dollar figure, a language requirement with an actual proficiency level, not just "save enough" or "learn some of the language." Chapter One of The Expat Money Playbook walks through how to turn each part of a move…
A specific goal names the actual destination, the visa pathway, and the real purpose behind the move, not a vague feeling. Chapter One of The Expat Money Playbook walks through exactly how to get from "somewhere in Europe, maybe" to an actual, nameable plan. Buy the book: passporttowealth.com/expat-money-playbook #expatfinance #financialplanning…
Moving abroad, or already living abroad, and have money questions? Join Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA, author of The Expat Money Playbook (Wiley, out Oct 6), and a panel of cross-border professionals for a free live Q&A. We'll answer your questions on US taxes after you move, keeping US bank and…
In this launch week special, Arielle Tucker steps away from the usual format to share her own story, and read Chapter One of The Expat Money Playbook (Wiley) aloud. She opens up about her own expat journey as a bored 24-year-old trailing spouse who ended up in Switzerland with no…
Ada Shen shares an example from her work: a voter's childhood home was long gone, torn down and replaced with a parking lot, but her voting eligibility in that state hadn't changed at all. Overseas voter eligibility ties to the last U.S. address where someone actually lived, not whether that…
There is no election department at the White House, and no federal agency runs U.S. elections, not even the federal ones. It's built into the Constitution's separation of powers: states administer elections. That structural fact also shapes voter eligibility for Americans who've never lived in the U.S., their right to…
It's called a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, or backup ballot, and Ada Shen describes it as a "second bite of the apple." If you're required to return your ballot by mail, you can also fill out and send this backup ballot. Only one gets counted, whichever one actually arrives, so…
It's called the FPCA, the Federal Post Card Application, a name Ada Shen calls one of the worst acronyms in government because it gives no hint of what the form actually does. In practice, it's the single form that handles voter registration, ballot request, and information updates for Americans abroad.…
Every American living abroad has the right to vote in federal elections, yet every cycle, a meaningful number of ballots never make it home, not from a lack of interest, but because a form arrived late, a ballot got lost in the mail, or nobody mentioned that a backup option…
Donnie Ashburn (@PassportTwo) pursued German citizenship the same way he'd approach an investment strategy: don't put everything in one basket. Beyond the personal milestone, dual citizenship gave his family a genuine backup plan, and gave his kids broader options for where they can live, work, and stay long-term, in the…
Donnie Ashburn's (@PassportTwo) wife held an EU Blue Card, a fast-track visa for highly specialized workers that also offers a quicker path to permanent residency. When she adjusted her hours and dropped below the card's income threshold, they had to give it up entirely, first switching to a standard work…
Donnie Ashburn (@PassportTwo) emailed his local Foreigners Office with a hypothetical question about backup options. The reply laid out Germany's self-employment visa route: register a business, prove roughly 400 euros per adult in the household plus rent and health insurance, pay a modest application fee. A question he expected to…
A YouTuber built a channel documenting American life in Germany, then leveraged it into an actual self-employment visa, and eventually German citizenship, all without ever going through a traditional employer sponsor. Donnie Ashburn (@PassportTwo) a dual American-German citizen and content creator, joins the podcast to walk through his path: a…
If a trustee or beneficiary lives in a country with different inheritance tax rules than the estate itself, that mismatch can drag the whole estate into foreign court proceedings to sort out. Not every country recognizes U.S. trust law the same way, and the fix is proactive planning, not a…
Once Beth Pinsker's mother was hospitalized long-term, she found out just how much of daily life requires proof of legal authority: canceling a newspaper subscription, canceling Netflix, even rebooting a cable box. Financial power of attorney touches far more than most families expect, and it only works if it's already…
