The American Expat Money Guide
The complete handbook: everything that changes about your money when you move abroad, in plain English.
Not a summary and not a listicle. 76 pages and 37 chapters covering banking, investing, retirement, currency, protection, tax in outline, property, work and the long view — written for Americans abroad, and honest about where you need a professional instead.
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- 76-page guide, PDFRead on any device, print if you prefer.
- Word versionThe same guide, if you want to annotate it.
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Every part, and what it does
Part 1 · Before You Go
The sequence that saves the money. Banking: keep, close, open. Your US credit file. Opening an account in your new country.
Part 2 · Investing Abroad
The PFIC trap. The PRIIPs squeeze. Brokerages and what to do if yours exits. Equity compensation across borders. The expensive mistakes, ranked.
Part 3 · Retirement
401(k) and IRA when you leave. Roth contributions from abroad. Social Security abroad. Foreign pensions. Medicare: keep it, drop it or pause it.
Part 4 · Currency
What moving money really costs. Your currency strategy. Exchange-rate risk on a fixed income. Paying US bills from abroad.
Part 5 · Protection
Health cover across the border. Life insurance that survives the move. Travel versus expat cover. The two-country emergency fund.
Part 6 · Tax, in Outline
What you still owe the US. Exclusion or credit. The forms that are not tax bills. State residency and how it follows you.
Part 7 · Property and Work
The US property you leave behind. Buying property abroad. Working for yourself across borders.
Part 8 · The Long View
Estate planning across two legal systems. Moving with children. Organising it all. Your annual review. Coming back. Choosing and paying for advice. Mis-selling and scams. Three worked household examples.
Appendices
A condensed 90-day checklist, a glossary of the acronyms nobody explains, a list of official sources to verify against, and a version log.
Who this is for
A good fit if
- You are moving abroad, or already have, and hold a US passport.
- You want to understand the reasoning, not just follow a checklist.
- You would rather read 76 honest pages than 40 confident forum posts.
Not for you if
- You want country-specific tax advice. This is country-agnostic by design and says so.
- You want someone to tell you what to buy. We sell no financial products and make no recommendations.
Questions people actually ask
Is this financial advice?
No. It is general information and education. It contains no personal recommendation and does not take account of your circumstances. Where you need regulated advice, the guide says so and tells you what to ask.
Which country is it for?
Any. It is written for Americans abroad generally, because the rules that cause the most damage — PFIC, FATCA, citizenship-based taxation, state residency — follow the passport rather than the destination.
How is it different from your free articles?
The articles answer single questions. The guide is one sequenced handbook: what to do in what order, why, and what it interacts with. It also covers ground the articles do not, including tax in outline, property, self-employment, repatriation and choosing advisers.
Will it go out of date?
Parts of it will, which is why it carries a version log and is reviewed periodically. Updates are free through the same download channel.
Get all four for €99
The guide explains, the planner sequences, the dashboard tracks, and the binder protects. Bought together they are one system rather than four files, and the Start Here document tells you which to open first and in what order. Buying the four separately costs €151.
The rest of the catalogue
International Move Financial Planner
The 90-day countdown system for moving your money abroad — from “we’re moving” to fully landed.
Financial Life Dashboard
Your complete financial picture in one spreadsheet — built for life across two countries.