March Update – Lots going on, but not much to say

It’s been almost two months since I last posted, so rather than leave it any longer, I wanted to say something. But I’ll keep it quick – my attention has been focused elsewhere, although I hope that to change again in the coming months. First off, work has been busy. 80% in a good way,

Interactive Brokers ISA – A New Option?

I saw on Reddit yesterday that Interactive Brokers now offers an ISA. Potentially, this could be exciting news, opening up a new ISA option for Americans in the UK. Why? Because IBKR is both a) generally very low cost and b) friendly to US citizens outside the US. I already have Roth IRAs with IBKR

2021 FBAR Exchange Rate is Available

Quick public service announcement: the official FBAR exchange rate is now available at https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/treasury-reporting-rates-exchange/treasury-reporting-rates-of-exchange Terrible user interface they’ve changed to, but the exchange rate is 0.74 GBP to the USD. Time to cross FBAR off my to-do list today…

S&S ISA Experiment – December 2021

Now that the London market has closed for the year, it’s time for another update on my S&S ISA experiment – no huge changes since September 2021, but good to look back on 2021 and see how it’s gone. Very quick background – because of the PFIC limitations in holding index funds in an ISA,

2021 Year in Review

I always find the end of the year a good time for reflection, on the past year and the upcoming one. It’s a bit of a transition time for many of us – I certainly had a bit of a mad rush to the end of the year at work (which happens every year, and

November Grab Bag

Hi everybody – sorry it’s been a while, life gets in the way! Nothing bad, just been busy with family and work and nothing has really drawn me in for a full post. So I thought I’d post a few thoughts on two topics today, and some thoughts on upcoming posts. Inflation & Investing Most

A Phased Approach to Emergency Funds

In my recent post on my approach to bonds and cash, I mentioned that I don’t have any dedicated emergency fund at all. I know this flies in the face of conventional personal finance wisdom, but I think I’ve got a pretty sound justification. My personal approach is not quite so aggressive as somebody like

My Approach to Bonds (and Cash)

I wrote about my overall asset allocation a while back (Part 1 & Part 2), but have been doing a fair amount of thinking late regarding the bond part, particularly in light of some more substantial cash savings from our remortgage that are eventually planned for home improvements/extensions, but with no clear timeline (at least

S&S ISA Experiment – September 2021

I haven’t provided an update on my S&S ISA experiment since the May 2021 update, but 3 months on I think there might be a few interesting things to note. Very quick reminder – because of the challenges in holding index funds outside of a “pension” for Americans abroad, I’m trying a “pseudo-indexing” approach in

Never Pay US or UK Taxes Again

This is Part 2 of our Retirement Withdrawal Strategies series. Part 1 is here. Or at least, get pretty close to paying nothing – might be hard to completely escape the tax man when you have to work in two systems at once! For a sample £900,000 portfolio at retirement, the difference between a good