Episodes

The Expat Money Playbook is officially out today. In this launch week special, Arielle Tucker steps away from the usual guest format to share her own story and read Chapter One aloud. She covers her own path to Switzerland, how she landed in US tax compliance during the exact week FATCA hit Swiss banks, and why she wrote this book collaboratively rather than alone. Then she reads Chapter One: starting with why, the Values First Expat Exercise, and the SMART goals framework. ───────────────────...

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 apathy, but from a form that arrived late, a lost ballot, or simply not knowing a backup option existed. Ada Shen from votefromabroad.org, who has spent over two decades helping Americans overseas register, request, and return a ballot, joins the podcast for a fully nonpartisan, procedural walkthrough of how voting from abroad actually works. ───...

A YouTuber built a channel documenting American life in Germany, then leveraged it into an actual self-employment visa, and eventually German citizenship, without ever going through a traditional employer sponsor. Donnie Ashburn, a dual American-German citizen and content creator, joins the podcast to walk through his path from dependent visa to self-employment to citizenship, and what he'd tell anyone considering the same route. ────────────────────────────────────────── CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS ...

A valid, properly signed power of attorney still isn't a guarantee a bank will honor it. Beth Pinsker found that out the hard way while managing her mother's care and finances from several states away, an experience she turned into "My Mother's Money: A Guide to Financial Caregiving." Beth, a CFP and award-winning journalist, joins the podcast to walk through what financial caregiving actually looks like day to day, why one family member usually ends up doing it whether or not they agreed to, a...

France can tax an American's retirement income at zero. It can also be one of the least forgiving countries in the world to die in. Both are true, and most families only learn the second half after they've already moved. Vincent Berthier de Bortoli, a French tax attorney and STEP member whose clients are now almost entirely American, joins the podcast to explain how the US-France tax treaty actually works, why France has no legal concept of an "estate," and why a US trust can quietly turn a 0 p...

Can a 529 plan actually pay for university outside the United States? Some foreign schools qualify for tax-free withdrawals. Most do not, and most families do not find out which is true for them until they are already trying to spend the money. Kaitlin Krozel, CPA and founder of Krozel Capital, joins the podcast to walk through how 529 plans work for American families abroad, what qualifies as an eligible foreign university, the new K-12 withdrawal rule, and the wealth tax risk a 529 can create...

Americans living in Singapore sit inside one of the most favorable tax environments for Roth conversions anywhere in the world. No capital gains tax, no dividend tax, and the conversion itself isn't taxed locally. Most are not using it, and most of their advisors do not even know it is available. Anne-Marie Regal founder of Avrio Wealth, built one of the first dual-licensed MAS and SEC fiduciary practices for US-connected families in Singapore. She shares what that planning opportunity looks li...

Her mother-in-law's advice was that crying helps babies develop their lungs. The advice from home was the opposite. Sasha Romary was raising her first child in Paris, caught between two cultures that agreed on almost nothing. In this episode, Sasha shares what it was like becoming a mother in France, then Singapore, then Germany, and what pushed her to become a sleep and parenting coach: the isolation of getting contradictory advice in two languages, the shame of a crying baby in a quiet Parisi...

He'd spent years as a certified financial planner telling clients that the numbers matter. Then he moved his own family to Portugal, and found out the numbers were never really the hard part. In this episode, Mark Moberg shares what happened when his wife's company relocated the family to Lisbon: the six rough months his kids went through, the guilt of leaving an aging parent behind, and the concept from his book, The Life Arbitrage, that he now believes matters more than any spreadsheet, givin...

Most people never ask what happens to their estate plan, their prenup, or their inheritance if they move to another country, and that assumption can cost families everything. This episode digs into exactly that gap. International tax attorney Christine Concepción joins Arielle to unpack how residency rules, inheritance tax, prenups, and trust structures behave differently once a US family crosses a border. ────────────────────────────────────────── CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS ─────────────────────────...

A safety incident at her kids' school was the last straw. Within months, one family had traded the US for Medellín, Colombia, and started building a life around a completely different set of values. Alyssa Bolaños grew up between cultures long before she ever considered leaving the US permanently. In this episode, she shares how she and her husband decided where to raise their two boys, why they picked Medellín specifically, what surprised them about safety once they arrived, and how they built...

A Trump Account, officially called a 530A account, is a new federal retirement account for children, funded by a $1,000 seed deposit for every eligible US citizen baby born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028. For US expat families, the eligibility rules and account-opening process raise questions the law doesn't answer yet. Cross-border tax advisor Christie DuChateau, EA, of BNC Tax joins host Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA to break down who actually qualifies for the $1,000 seed deposit, ...

Can you keep buying US ETFs after you move to Europe? Austin Davidson found out the answer is more complicated than it should be. Most Americans moving to Europe don't realize that a regulation called MiFID II can quietly cut off direct access to the ETFs they've always used. In this episode, Austin Davidson, an American investor living in Germany, shares exactly what happened when his brokerage account stopped working the way he expected, and Blair Hoover, founder of Choose Your Own Finance, b...

Can ChatGPT replace a cross-border financial advisor? Aditi Kapadia, CFA, CFP® says not yet. Most people using AI for a cross-border move are getting confident, plausible answers to the wrong questions. In this episode, Aditi Kapadia, a cross-border financial planner serving US-Canada families and one of the most AI-forward advisors in the industry, joins host Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA to break down how AI is changing financial planning, where it's dangerously incomplete, and how to use it well ...

Season 4 of Passport To Wealth™ is here, and it's picking up right where the conversation matters most: what actually happens to your money, your family, and your identity once your life crosses a border. Host Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA is a certified financial planner, IRS enrolled agent, and fellow US expat living in Switzerland. In this short kickoff episode, she previews everything coming this season. What's ahead in Season 4: US Social Security for expats: what you need to know before ...

Carl Richards is a certified financial planner, the New York Times Sketch Guy, and the author of Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in 101 Simple Sketches. He moved from Utah to New Zealand with his family in a matter of weeks. His wife bought plane tickets ten days after hearing about a friend's available house. Ninety days later, they had moved. This episode covers: How Carl became the New York Times sketch guy (a desperate drawing on a whiteboard) Why showing up and being consistent matters mo...

Christian Gulizzi is a cross-border tax advisor licensed in the United States as a CPA, in Germany as a Steuerberater, and in Italy as a Dottore Commercialista. He was born to an Italian and German parent, grew up navigating cross-border complexity, and built his entire academic and professional career around it. He currently lives and works from the Italian Riviera. This episode covers: The biggest misconception Americans have about taxes when moving to Europe Why leaving money in US accounts...

Daniel Tostado is a naturalized French citizen, a dual-qualified attorney (US and France), and the founder of Tostado Avocats, an immigration law firm dedicated to helping Americans navigate the French legal system. He moved from San Diego to France in 2010, completed a French master's degree, passed the bar on both sides of the Atlantic, and has since built a practice focused exclusively on French visas, residency permits, and citizenship pathways. He also runs a winter homeless shelter for ref...

Hui-chin Chen, CFP®, is the managing partner of Jade & Cowry and has spent her career working with globally mobile families across Asia-Pacific; including her own, as the spouse of a US diplomat who has lived across multiple countries and tax systems. She is one of a small number of practitioners who understands both the technical US tax obligations that reach across borders and the cultural dynamics that make compliance so difficult to achieve. This episode covers the compliance traps that con...

Danielle Shumway moved to Italy in 2015 with her Italian husband, an 18-month-old, and a four-month-old. The original plan was five years: take advantage of Italy's Rientro dei Cervelli tax incentive, let the kids grow up bilingual, stay near family, and return to the US. A decade later, she has four children, Italian citizenship, and a family travel business called Ciao Family Travel — and she is still in Italy. In this episode, Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA sits down with Danielle to cover the fin...

US retirement accounts, estate plans, and investment structures do not automatically survive a move to Canada. The two countries share a border and a language but operate under entirely separate financial and tax systems; and the decisions made before you leave determine whether your existing structures are protected or become expensive problems. In this episode, Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA sits down with Brian Wruk, MBA, CFP® (US), CFP® (Canada), TEP, CIM, RFP®, founder of Transition Financial Ad...

US investment accounts do not automatically follow a move abroad. Custodians have their own policies for international clients, and many of them are more restrictive than most people expect. In this episode, Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA sits down with Otto Rivera, EA, CFP®, founder of Mindful Wealth Planning and Emergent Tax Services. Otto spent years at Charles Schwab before becoming both an IRS Enrolled Agent and a CFP®, a combination that gives him a working view of custodial policy, tax law, an...

Jessica Govern and Claire Naughton have both lived in Strasbourg, France for eight years. Both are originally from the Chicago area. Both moved abroad in their early twenties with no financial plan, no visa strategy, and no idea they were staying. This episode is their honest accounting of what that actually cost them, and what they got right. Govern produces the Passport to Wealth podcast and runs a social media management business in France. Naughton works as a fractional CMO and marketing st...

Thinking about moving to Germany? In this episode of Passport to Wealth™, Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA, sits down with fellow cross-border financial planner Jordan Vlastuin, CFP®, to unpack what Americans really need to know before relocating. From choosing the right visa to understanding German tax treaties, federal pensions, and the realities of setting up life abroad, this conversation is packed with insights for expats and future movers alike. Arielle and Jordan discuss the nuances of tax resid...