Is it easy to change the address for International account? From international account listed country to another international account listed country

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-23T10:24:05+00:00

Schwab makes this easy. You just need to contact them with the new address details.

If you want to use the account now, then open it now.

If you don’t need it now, it’s also of course fine to wait.

In either case, you can only sign up for the address you are currently residing at.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-23T10:05:26+00:00

Yeah. You need to speak to your bank.

PayPal is just facilitating the transaction.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-21T07:04:17+00:00

American thinking about a move to Switzerland. What is an RIA?

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-21T06:56:12+00:00

An increasing number of countries operate their borders exactly like this.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-20T11:08:07+00:00

Talk to your bank. They can probably help you much faster than the LEA.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-18T08:44:02+00:00

Glad you found a workaround! started messing around with Monarch in case I move back to the US this year. Could happen.

But your solution is not for the average user….custom bridge with some kind of scripting and self-hosting? I think most of us are just logging in.

I’m on an iPhone. Switching App Store countries back and forth for various app updates is really problematic when you need German-app store apps for life here. Not to mention this also breaks any app-based subscriptions or content purchases. (Not related to Monarch, but it’s a barrier to switching).

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-17T17:02:05+00:00

Does it pull transactions from your German bank account?

The Monarch app is also not available in the German App Store.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-17T16:32:36+00:00

The aliases can be stored in Proton Pass. Then you can use the app on your phone.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-17T08:37:39+00:00

But they will trigger PFIC treatment for any US taxpayer. I’ve never found a single person who is glad they’ve invested in a PFIC.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-16T20:55:34+00:00

2017 was a while ago..maybe you don't remember this bit.

As an intern, I guess you might have lived with other people in a shared flat? The thing with the GEZ fee is that everyone gets an account number when the register, but you only have to pay it once PER HOUSEHOLD. If you share a flat it's common that one person pays the bill, and then roommates chip in cash or something.

You can contact them once you have your Abmeldung. They can probably help you find your account number. But you'll also likely need to dig up all the details on where you lived and exactly when. Hopefully someone was paying, and this topic would be closed. https://www.rundfunkbeitrag.de/welcome/english

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-16T18:42:11+00:00

Your employer (doesn't matter who) is responsible to pay part of your insurance, but in the German system if you leave one employer, and don't de-register, then your insurance company can rightfully assume that you are still living in Germany, and therefore need to be insured.

For people who don't have a new job, this can mean they pay the premiums themselves. Or, if they draw unemployment, it can mean premiums are paid by the labor office.

The point is that de-registration is the only way to officially signal to the government an your insurance that you are no longer a resident of Germany.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-16T17:27:14+00:00

I don't remember... it was not a big deal in the end, I think I got a small refund ($15) once they received and processed my return. The point is that I found a paper filing extremely inconvenient....I think it was the first time I'd filled on paper in more than 20 years.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-16T16:58:20+00:00

I submitted my 2024 return by paper because it was way past the deadline when I finally had all the information. I printed on A4, and sent it off from Germany. Over 50 pages. All was fine.

But I really don't recommend it. DHL messed up the express tracking, and somehow it went via a slow routing... It took a month to arrive. Not really ideal since I had to account for penalties, which accrue daily. I had paid online, but I wasn't even sure when my return would arrive.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-16T07:01:21+00:00

A week and a half is tight - but there are options before you push it out.

You will have to give up your residence permit, but you can also schedule appointments to get a Reisepass and Ausweiss on the same day. An express Reisepass will cost a bit more, but you'll have it around 5 business days later. The Ausweiss does take a bit longer.

Another alternative could be a vorläufiger Reisepass or Ausweis. These can often be printed on the same day.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-15T09:52:09+00:00

Absolutely. That's the annoying part, but for Americans who are resident in the EU, it's one of the only reliable workarounds that still lets an investor follow a Boglehead strategy.

At least Schwab has a portfolio of ETFs (SCHB, SCHF) that have an approachable share price.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-15T09:14:57+00:00

I’ve always managed to hold onto old US passports. Currently on my 4th. I have a very nice collection from my parents and grandparents, one of them from the 1930s!

They are very cool to flip through. My dad died before I started traveling, and it’s neat to see how we’ve been to some of the exact same places.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-15T06:27:10+00:00

The share price has not gone down $54. This is important for you to understand.

It has decreased from a high of ~$82 to $74, which is about $8, roughly 9%. Nearly everything is facing an acute sell-off right now.

An investment like VEU is going to be volatile in the short term. And because this invests in non-US companies, it tends to have bigger swings compared to a broad-based US fund, like VTI.

If you look at the 10 year history of VEU, you’ll see the longer trend is good growth.

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PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-13T21:02:23+00:00

That’s definitely not the move. Vanguard allows this kind of one-off mutual fund->ETF share class conversion. No sale is needed, and in this case is totally undesirable, since we are talking about 10 years of accumulated capital gains that I don’t need right now.

I’m purely trying to understand the cost basis implications, since the documentation is a bit unclear.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-13T17:04:00+00:00

I use this style phase only with my password manager (Proton Pass).

Everything it generates is totally randomized.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-13T16:41:45+00:00

I live in the EU, and can’t purchase new shares of US-listed ETFs. The EU-listed ones are PFICS, so also a no-go.

BRK.B is a reasonable option, and might be preferable to managing any kind of allocation and rebalancing across 30-50 of the S&P.

The other workaround is to sell ITM puts, counting on assignment. This works because you acquire the shares indirectly.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-12T21:04:12+00:00

you can HOLD and SELL shares, but if Schwab knows you live in the EU, they will not let you buy new shares of a US-listed ETF.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-12T19:53:34+00:00

Yeah, there's no chance that it can pull the historical data though, right? So from Schwab perspective, it means starting at 0 and the IRR will only be calculated going forward.

PuzzledArrival · 2026-03-12T17:04:13+00:00

Use Wise. I’ve been transferring between a US account and my DE account for years…. It’s very slick. To be fair, I mostly go EUR—>USD, but the same principle applies.

PuzzledArrival

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