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…
Beth Pinsker had a properly signed power of attorney for her mother. The bank refused to accept it anyway, worried about fraud. It took three separate two-hour appointments and multiple calls to the bank's legal department before they finally honored it. Valid paperwork is the starting point, not the guarantee.…
Managing a parent's finances from far away is hard even when "far away" means a couple of states. A valid, properly signed power of attorney still isn't a guarantee a bank will honor it, and the paperwork most families put off touches far more of daily life than anyone expects.…
In the US, your assets pass into an estate that can take years to settle. France works on a principle called "le mort saisit le vif," meaning heirs are entitled to assets the moment someone dies, no settlement period, no estate as a separate legal entity. Taxes are then assessed…
A US revocable trust that just grows, reinvesting its dividends and interest, can often be reported once a year in France with no income tax owed. The moment it distributes money to you for everyday expenses, that changes. France taxes the distribution as ordinary income at a flat 31.4 percent,…
In the US, you can give up to $19,000 a year with no filing required. In France, the filing threshold for a gift or inheritance is one euro, and you get 30 days to report it. It doesn't necessarily mean tax is owed, thanks to exemptions, but the French tax…
France offers one of the most generous tax treaties in the world for Americans, pensions, IRAs, and even Roth accounts can be taxed at zero on the French side. Die there, though, and the same country runs one of the least forgiving inheritance systems for anyone still holding a US-style…
Countries like the Netherlands and Spain apply a wealth tax to assets including U.S. investment accounts, and a 529 is often no exception. That can mean paying tax every year on a balance that was supposed to grow tax-deferred. Some families address this by having a grandparent hold the account…
To use 529 funds tax-free, a school has to be an eligible educational institution that participates in U.S. federal student aid programs. Some foreign universities qualify. Some do not, and a few sit in a genuine gray area called deferment-only status. Check studentaid.gov or savingforcollege.com before you assume your child's…
As of 2026, families can withdraw up to $20,000 a year from a 529 for K-12 education, up from $10,000 the year before. International school tuition often runs $20,000 to $30,000 a year, which makes this a real option worth understanding, not just a technicality. Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.passporttowealth.com/contact…
A 529 is issued state by state, not by the federal government, and the rules on deductions and eligibility vary a lot. Answer these three questions before you open one, especially if there's any chance you'll be living abroad down the road. Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.passporttowealth.com/contact #expatfinance #financialplanning #passporttowealth…
If you're behind on college savings and just got a windfall, you don't have to choose between one lump sum and years of small contributions. Superfunding a 529 lets you use five years of the annual gift tax exclusion at once. There is a gift tax filing required the year…
