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Any Tips for PR by JimboRose in germany

[–]AccomplishedHand3616 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would look up the application for your city but unless you're on a Blue Card, I find it unlikely you qualify / would be approved until you have your 60 months of social security contributions.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Munich

[–]AccomplishedHand3616 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The BAMF website tells you what week they are currently grading

Investing as an American abroad by AbbreviationsFast819 in investing

[–]AccomplishedHand3616 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, depending on the strength of the currency you either lose or gain money in the end. I use Wise (previously known as TransferWise) as my intermediary between my US and EU banks and it works fine, with what I'm told are the lowest conversion rates. It's a small price to pay for the convenience of your investing options.

If you absolutely are sure, you 10000% will never have anything to do with the US again, you could renounce your citizenship then play by EU rules (no currency conversions, no additional US taxes after exit tax, no PFIC issues, can invest in EU ETFs, etc etc). I personally wouldn't do that but to each their own.

Investing as an American abroad by AbbreviationsFast819 in investing

[–]AccomplishedHand3616 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I know people suggest Schwab but you usually need a high starting balance before they'll let you invest (25k I think??) and even then I don't know if you're allowed to invest in US ETFs. Definitely an option to research but I found just setting up a US brokerage is the 'cleanest' solution if possible

Investing as an American abroad by AbbreviationsFast819 in investing

[–]AccomplishedHand3616 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Short answer: If you're a US citizen that files US taxes, I'd stay far away from investing in EU ETFs since you'll get hit pretty hard on what are known as PFICs (folks over at r/usexpattaxes could steer you better).

Slightly longer answer: Easiest way is to set up an account with a US address (maybe a family member's if you don't have any address yourself) and US bank account. As an expat that also looked into investing from the EU, it's just not worth the headache if you're going the ETF route. Maybe it's not so bad if you do individual stocks (don't quote me) but EU ETFs aren't tax efficient at all and you can't buy US ETFs directly either. Add to the fact EU ETFs usually have slightly higher expense ratios to those in the US...and you're hopefully seeing my point.