Episodes

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 ...