UK Junior ISA (Account Options)

This is a really quick one for completeness. A Junior ISA won’t be part of your own retirement/FIRE planning, but maybe something you consider for your kids. They come in both cash and Stocks & Shares (S&S) flavors – the rules are almost the same as adult ISAs. I’ve only called out the handful of

Alternative Minimum Tax & Americans Overseas

I just finished my 2020 US taxes, and while reviewing them noticed that I had a chunk of Alternative Minimum Tax, over $600! Fortunately, it was offset by my child tax credits (thanks girls!), so I didn’t actually owe any tax, but it got me to thinking. My kids are growing up fast, and there

US Health Savings Account (HSA) (Account Options)

Here’s another account that you might bring over from the US. Unfortunately, while in the US this is the “ultimate retirement account“, in the UK it loses its shine and basically becomes a taxable brokerage account. That doesn’t make it bad, just not nearly as good. Synopsis You may already have an HSA from the

US and UK Taxes – Which are higher?

The UK, right? Lots of people make the assumption that the UK is a high tax country, with a generous social safety net funded from those high taxes (some people I know would disagree with how generous – more than the US in a lot of cases, at least, but no Norway!). I wanted to

UK & US Savings Accounts (Account Options)

I’m lumping these together because there’s no practical difference, aside from the currency. These aren’t really investment accounts, but just to cover the rest of the universe of accounts that Americans in the UK might have. Synopsis Short term savings or emergency fund only – low interest rates, often below inflation. There might be some

US 529 College Savings Account (Bad Account Options)

Bad might sound dramatic, but this one is a bit of a conundrum – I really don’t see any positives, but plenty of headaches. Short answer – if you’re in the UK or thinking of moving sometime and you don’t already have a 529 for your kids, don’t open one. If you’ve already got one,

US Employer Pensions (401(k), etc.) (Account Options)

This is a big one – it might be limited in your ability to contribute moving forward, but for many Americans who move to the UK after starting their career in the US, you’ve got one or more employer pension accounts, possibly with substantial balances. For our purposes, the rules are pretty much the same

My Asset Allocation (Part 2)

14Apr21: I edited my approach to where to put bonds, based on my post on Required Minimum Distributions. In Part 1, we discussed the first three of my six steps for asset allocation: Why are you investing? What are the goals? What broad asset categories do you want to invest in? Stocks vs bonds, US,

My Asset Allocation (Part 1)

Many of you will already be familiar with the idea of asset allocation – I don’t need to repeat the excellent explanations already out there (here’s a great primer from Bogleheads), but I did want to explore how I arrived at my own asset allocation and how you might go about thinking of yours. I

US Traditional IRA (Account Options)

This is an option with a big question mark, even if the question is answered favorably, it’s still relatively limited, but I wanted to include it in the list of account options to be comprehensive. I’d be interested in your thoughts about how you use it as an American in the UK, if you do.