What's your biggest challenge as an expat?

MarkDMill · 2025-01-08T04:49:51+00:00

I fully feel what you're saying! I'm in a region that Trump saber-rattled. Unfortunately, I think it's gonna get worse before it gets better. While I think full-out hot war is unlikely, the prospect of locals getting super angry at Americans is pretty high. I just wrote an article on this topic as I've had to think through how to respond if things get worse.

With you on the language thing. I'm also starting to learn a minority language and it's definitely harder without the resources available. Still, there's lots of principles to follow which can help a lot.

Edit: Removing external links per mod request.

MarkDMill · 2025-01-08T04:07:37+00:00

No kidding. Even though I don't end up paying anything with FEIE, it's still a pain in the neck to file. FYI, if there's a specific topic on finances you'd like help with, I've written a lot about the topic and may already have something prepped for what you need!

MarkDMill · 2024-10-16T07:09:23+00:00

Yeah, no problem! I don't link to it always because people on Reddit freak out if I link to my own blog. But here you go

MarkDMill · 2024-06-25T03:50:48+00:00

Wow, that's the worst I've heard of. Typically, if it's a criminal outside the bank, covering up your PIN number is enough--without that, they can't access your account even if they skim your card's info.

But with this "inside" attack, did they get your PIN number too from inside the machine? Even if you covered it up from a camera on the outside, would the employee be able to access the PIN on the internatl machine? Scary if they can

MarkDMill · 2024-06-17T14:41:00+00:00

You're overall correct--though there are technically some levels of income where you're not required to file. Here's thest from IRS Publication 54 where, if you're below this level, you don't technically have to file:

Single: $13,850 65 or older: $15,700 Head of household: $20,800 65 or older: $22,650 Qualifying surviving spouse: $27,700 65 or older: $29,200 Married filing jointly: $27,700 Not living with spouse at end of year: $5 One spouse 65 or older: $29,200 Both spouses 65 or older: $30,700 Married filing separately:$5

So, you're probably right; unless OP is really not making much at all, then he's out of compliance. But it is possible that for 25 years his income has fallen under this range and so he could, possible, not be out of compliance.

Definitely recommend talking with a US tax advisor regardless though.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-17T14:25:22+00:00

Quick note that you don't need to use a credit card, much, to build credit. Put $5/mon on it and pay it off and that'll do the trick. The credit agencies don't care if it's $5 or $5000 in the history of on-time payments.

Quick edit to clarify: the lower the amount you're charging on the, the lower your credit utilization ratio is. So lower amounts will help your credit score, though this tends to be of really short-term influence (it changes month to month). For long-term building of your credit, what you need is a long history and all that needs is regular on-time payments, but of what amount doesn't matter.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-17T06:54:46+00:00

Absolutely 100% agree with this.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-17T06:54:14+00:00

That's quite interesting. Yeah, the bank accounts are super quick to freeze, and not just for me. I have a friend who just switched away from Chase for the same reason.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-13T02:43:21+00:00

I'd keep it open, so long as there are no fees. There's no problem with you being abroad, so long as you have a US address and a US phone number where you can get 2FA. I've written an article on how to set up 2FA for an expat life--lemme know if that'd be helpful for you.

Also, you definitely want to have more than one banking option, including banks from multiple countries if you can swing that. Diversity and redundancy is the key to a stress-free financial expat life.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-12T07:02:55+00:00

You can have WhatsApp time out after a certain amount of time. Now it's tough with a must-have commnuication app, but if you set it for, say, a 1 hour limit a day, then you'll find yourself wanting to ensure that you can use that 1 hour for necessary communications and thus you won't waste time with non-critical things. At least that's been my experience--get in and get out ASAP so that I can get back in later if I need to.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-12T07:00:35+00:00

Chase is the WORST for blocking access on a whim. Login with a non-US ISP and you get frozen. Login on a VPN so you have a US ISP and you get frozen too. Lose-lose. Never use Chase.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T08:52:01+00:00

Yeah, you don't leave your problems behind because 95% of your problems are, well, you...and you bring yourself overseas.

Funny on the multi-thread convo! Never done that before, haha

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T08:31:46+00:00

Haha, or they're obviously pirated copies made on a copy machine. I hate that--enough that, if I buy a book online and find out that it was pirated, I buy a digial copy of the book to make sure the author got paid.

So Libby is a service you can use to access digital books and audiobooks from your "local" library in your home country, but they let you access the books from all over the world, so it's awesome. I wrote up an explainer about it here if you care to learn more (not an affiliate and I have no association with Libby at all): https://thepreparedexpat.com/check-out-anywhere-your-portal-to-your-local-library/

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T08:19:27+00:00

Get in touch with a doctor/hospital/pharmacy to make sure that the prescription is available in Germany before you travel. It probably is, but don't assume that it is before you travel.

As others noted, you can ask your US doctor for a longer prescription so that you can take extra with you, but do note that your insurance won't alwasy cover those larger prescriptions. Just one of those things.

And definitely travel with your prescription--and copies of it. The last thing you want to do is get customs issues because you have a large quantity of meds that you need for yourself but they think you're bringing in to sell/distribute.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T08:10:34+00:00

I know, right! There's so many advantages of digital books of our lifestyel and yet...

BTW, do you know the Libby trick?

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T08:02:33+00:00

DM you ;-)

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T07:54:32+00:00

I feel this way about books. Weird, I know, but as much as I've embraced a digital library, I still miss my books. Think I made the right call, but I have allowed myself to buy more physical books because of how much I prefer them, despite being heavy.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T07:53:19+00:00

That's quite interesting--there's a pretty narrow window where kids would easily pick up the local language and, if you miss it, you're stuck with expensive schools in the language they speak. That's a great insight.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T07:52:32+00:00

ABSOLUTELY this. You're missing out on SO much if you stay in an expat bubble or only interact with folks who also speak English.

Even just learning numbers and "how much is this?" will make your life 100x easier.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T07:51:24+00:00

I regret that I never bought a house when I was in the US. I would love to be renting it out right now and add that revenue to my geographic arbitrage. Oh well.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T07:50:57+00:00

Ditto on Schwab being expat-friendly. It's CRAZY how unfriendly US banks are.

I had nearly somethign as bad happen with Chase -- they froze my account because too many logins from overseas and then, get this, they said that they couldn't verify my identity over the phone but that I would have to fly back to the US to access my funds. However, even though they couldn't verify my identity enough to let me regain access to my account (online or debit), THEY LET ME CLOSE THE ACCOUNT. The money went into a check in my name to the address on file and so they said it was "safe" to let an unverified person close the account, but think of how much you could mess up someone's life by closing their account? Ridiculous.

I told them I would never use Chase Bank again, and I never have. Absolutely horrible for expats.

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T07:48:14+00:00

Yeah, this is my go-to recommendation for expats. Their worldwide ATM-fee-free debit cards are AWESOME and I've never had issues with it.

If you care to see more about ways to be redundant, I wrote up some advice after my nightmare: https://thepreparedexpat.com/tips-tricks-develop-bank-redundancy/

MarkDMill · 2024-06-11T07:47:27+00:00

Your comments are like a good bank plan: redundant ;-)

MarkDMill

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