In a new article for International Advisor, David Howell, Director, Guardian Wealth Management, explains in plain language how the untold human suffering to follow in FATCA’s wake will provide boundless opportunities for FATCA-ready wealth advisors. Every cloud indeed has a silver lining, perhaps millions of them…
Americans abroad are a niche market. As a matter of fact, our financial advisor at RBC Dominion called upon the legal counsel available to him to come up with a investment package tailor made for our needs as USP’s, and we appreciate it because we aren’t big potatoes. He did say however, that most of his clients in our position are, to use an IBS term, ‘ostriching’. Maybe we are a test case for him.
Look, even with these strategies we are disadvantaged, whether it’s diversification or the hassle we present. Why else do you have to have an account balance of $1M plus in Switzerland for a bank to give you the time of day?
For a USP, there’s no better investment than a CLN when it comes to long term investing, imho.
The best revenge on this new industry is a CLN. Soon there won’t be any expats for them to make money off of or very few. Certainly very few long term expats. And the short termers won’t build a flourishing new data base.
Let’s not overlook the fact that there are a great many USP’s living abroad who’ve been filing but don’t want to take the hit of the exit tax. There aren’t millions of them though.
@bubblebustin
“For a USP, there’s no better investment than a CLN when it comes to long term investing, imho.”
Yes! Get a CLN, close all USA related accounts and don’t use USA based Internet services. My recipe for any USP abroad wanting to live in peace. Why should any self-respecting person play along with their games?
There are no good financial “solutions” for expats. Not with double taxation, not with phantom gains etc etc. There are only poor compromises if one intends to return to America one day.
And one can just stand by and watch other people accumulate wealth, plan for retirement etc etc while one whiles away the time twiddling thumbs and making a lot less than everybody else.
It just drives me nutz when somebody says “pay your fair share”: There is nothing fair about it!
@Polly, the “fair share” crowd have no idea what they are talking about and sometimes don’t care. I had a lady tell me yesterday on the C.N.N. article that yes, she thinks people who don’t live there should pay for the roads, schools, libraries and other services in the U.S. when they don’t live there! LOL! Yes, because U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!! No amount of logic or reason is going to get through and I was happily reminded of that yesterday. U.S. government doesn’t CARE what they are doing to us and the majority of the people who live there think we are traitors for not living there anyway. Wish I’d known this years ago, I could’ve renounced ages ago and been free of this hell.
Cln is the only reasonable choice . I don’t understand why there are not at least 100000 per year
@AtticusinCanada
Getting a CLN? Not really an option for immigrants. Let’s face it though, for ex-pats it’s only an option if you aren’t covered. If you aren’t a covered ex-pat then your either young or you haven’t done very well.
I am completely happy to own Canadian only investment the reduction of double taxation on dividend income for lower income Canadian is very valuable to me, Even though I think that Obama preference for Saudi Oil (that really fund terrorist) over Canadian oil is sick.
“Getting a CLN? Not really an option for immigrants. Let’s face it though, for ex-pats it’s only an option if you aren’t covered. If you aren’t a covered ex-pat then your either young or you haven’t done very well.”
I am just a Green Carder who last worked in USA 30 years ago. My income is normally not great you may make 3.5% on dividends and 3% on long term bonds. Net worth does not even considered what you would have to pay the Canadian government when you sell your equity and bond on unrealized capital gains (most of my net worth is unrealized capital gains) FBAR is obscene. Why not the value of Government employee pension if you think this is fair. For a retired teacher getting $40,000 pension you would probably need over 1.5 milion in net assets to get that. This does not even consider future inflation increases.
@Neill –
If being a covered expat is a status thing for you, then knock yourself out – feel free to frame your 8854 and show it off to people at parties.
@notamused
i don’t understand why someone would get a CLN to free themselves and then limit their investment options.
@Neil, no I haven’t “done very well” but, that was due to my spouses company crashing and taking all of our savings with it when it did ten years ago and a sixty thousand dollar debt for care for my son who is disabled which didn’t allow me to work. So no, I’m not “covered” and I guess I didn’t “do very well.” I think you could have quantified your comment a little differently so as not to blame low income people in every instance for their circumstance and I’m not trying to be rude but, really?
You might not like this realism but if your not young you should have built up some assets to pay for your retirement. Now the vast majority of Americans haven’t saved anything. They can’t get $1000 together in a couple of months. This is part of the reason that governments around the world are doing all this rubbish is to try and pay for the people who haven’t saved anything.
You can’t rely on the government (any of them) to fund retirement. They can’t be trusted to pay up because they already spent all the money.
I find the idea that there is something wrong with you if you are older, and not a covered expat, insulting. I have given up working over the last 19 years in order to raise children, and be caregiver to THREE elderly family members. Taxpayers save twice…first for not having to provide subsidized care for my various family members, and second for not having to provide me with much in the way of CPP in the future. Aren’t I lucky.
@bubblebustin
Given the opportunities elsewhere, the risk of confiscation, and having suffered under the persecution of the USA as a law-abiding citizen, I don’t understand why someone should invest there. Perhaps you may have valid reasons for doing so. I don’t.
@Neil, we DID save. You aren’t reading what I wrote. My spouses company folded and took every red penny we had invested down with them. We were already 45 by then. We also had medical debt to the tune of over sixty thousand dollars over the years due to my son’s disabilities. We paid off every red cent and DO have some savings just not a lot since we had to play catch up. I also stayed home to care for my son because had I not he would have fallen through the cracks and everybody would be paying for his care or worse. I COULD have taken some public funds for some of his care but, chose not to. Blaming the poor is not an attractive position to take.
@The Mom, yes, your work to raise your children did save society money and in fact will create a better world in the future and was very, very valuable. Perhaps if care taking wasn’t seen as so useless in this world and was valued at its actual worth better to begin with we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I too have taken care of elderly family members, three of them on hospice. Yes, this saved society LOTS of money. I also resent being told that the reason all this mess is happening is because some people don’t have the money others do. I won’t be told I’m to blame for this situation because I’m not wealthy without answering back.
@Neill
Congratulations on your “covered expatriate” status. Well done.
I agree with you that many – but far from all – USPs live far beyond their means and deserve no sympathy. Th blanket assessment which you have made, however, is nothing less than heartless, naive and cynical.
@notamused
To me, it would be the best revenge. To each his own, though.
@AtticusinCanada
No, they dont care. All that is important is the profit. I just saw a youtube clip of Michael Moore who says something along the lines of “Healthcare is run for a profit? You want to honestly tell me that you want to make money off of a sick person?” Thats about as far as decency goes these days. I dont want to write much personal information about myself in public, but I have my CLN. I have lived in Europe since my childhood so that makes about 50 years that I have left America, and both my parents were european born too. I dream in a foreign language. As for @Neill- many people who are covered have expatriated, and many people are not covered because these are very hard times for the west altogether. Fact is, all the fraud on Wall Street might stil make us paupers all.