Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on April 26th, 2017
By Chad Creveling, CFA, and Peggy Creveling, CFA
How much will you need to retire overseas, and how should you invest to achieve that goal? For many of us, a retirement portfolio worth the equivalent of USD 1 million might seem to be more than enough—almost like winning the lottery. Unfortunately, USD 1 million doesn’t go as far as it used to. Depending on your overseas lifestyle, this amount may provide only a reasonable, not generous, retirement, especially if that retirement lasts 30 years or more. In this article, we’ll explain how to judge if the equivalent of USD 1 million will be enough for you in retirement, as well as how best to invest to ensure you don’t run out of money or have to curtail your lifestyle.
Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on April 19th, 2017
By Peggy Creveling, CFA, and Chad Creveling, CFA
Creveling & Creveling protects its clients' privacy. The following case study outlines a fictitious example designed to demonstrate the type of financial decision-making required to achieve financial security. It does not refer to any specific case.
Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on March 29th, 2017
By Chad Creveling, CFA, and Peggy Creveling, CFA
If you’re an expat who has been abroad for any length of time, you’re no doubt familiar with the various insurance-linked investment schemes (or unit-linked life assurance plans) peddled relentlessly in the offshore markets. We’ve been analyzing these products for years and have written about their pitfalls. The products have evolved over time, however, and unfortunately expats continue to get caught up in their aggressive marketing.
Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on March 13th, 2017
By Peggy Creveling, CFA, and Chad Creveling, CFA
This article is for general information purposes only and is not intended as specific tax advice. Please consult your tax advisor for advice relevant to your situation.
As 1099 forms from U.S. banks and brokerages start to roll in, many Americans living overseas are collecting the various documents needed to file their 2016 U.S. taxes. Since there's a number of sometimes obscure U.S. tax forms that U.S. citizens living overseas are required to file, we've provided an updated checklist below to help you keep track of them. Please note that U.S. citizens and green card holders cannot "opt out" of filing or paying U.S. federal income tax even if they're legally residents in another country. This list should be used as a starting point only. More detail on expat filing requirements as well as the details of each form can be found on the IRS website: www.irs.gov.
Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on February 23rd, 2017
By Chad Creveling, CFA, & Peggy Creveling, CFA
If you have lived in Asia for a while, chances are good that either you or someone you know has been offered the chance to purchase a life insurance savings scheme. Sold by independent financial advisors, armies of commissioned insurance agents, bank branches, and other financial institutions, insurance-linked savings and investment schemes seem like the Herbalife of finance. Many local insurance products are heavily marketed by “agents” of varying degrees of training and professionalism who, attracted by limited employment qualifications and lucrative commissions, pitch their friends and acquaintances in ways that mirror multilevel marketing schemes.
Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on February 14th, 2017
By Peggy Creveling, CFA & Chad Creveling, CFA
This article originally appeared in the February 2017 International Investment magazine under the title “Taxes Your American Clients Need to Know About Before Investing Offshore” and has been shared with permission.
With the advent of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), most offshore financial intermediaries and expat Americans at last realise, if they didn’t before, that trying to avoid US tax by investing offshore doesn’t work. These days, American citizens and Green Card holders are well known around the world for being subject to US tax on their global income, even when they live outside of the US.
Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on January 25th, 2017
By Chad Creveling, CFA, & Peggy Creveling, CFA
Does it make sense for expatriates to prepay a mortgage loan? With very low mortgage rates in many parts of the world, along with plenty of opportunities for refinancing, this may seem like a strange question. For expats, however, the answer depends on the circumstances.
Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on January 16th, 2017
By Chad Creveling, CFA, & Peggy Creveling, CFA
One of the more confusing issues for many expats residing overseas is managing their currency exposure. If you're an American working in Vietnam and plan to retire in Thailand, should you be investing in the U.S. dollar (USD), the Vietnamese dong (VND), or the Thai baht (THB), or does it matter? Compounding the problem, many expats don't know what their actual currency exposure really is. Is it the currency stated on your brokerage statement, the currency your investments are reported in, or something else?
Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on December 26th, 2016
By Chad Creveling, CFA, and Peggy Creveling, CFA
Many of us expats look forward to a new year with a renewed desire to make positive changes in our lives. From a financial standpoint, improving our circumstances largely requires instilling good habits, being consistent, getting started early, and possessing a basic understanding of finance and investing concepts. To help you enjoy a more prosperous new year, here are 12 financial New Year's resolutions. Start at the beginning and aim to knock off at least one each month. By the end of the year, you'll be on much firmer financial footing.
Submitted by Creveling & Creveling Private Wealth Advisory on December 20th, 2016
By Chad Creveling, CFA, and Peggy Creveling, CFA
Someone once said that nothing in life is free, and that definitely applies to investment advice. You may not realize it, and it may not be transparent, but when expats receive third-party investment advice they pay for it in one way or the other. Unfortunately, a bewildering array of packaging and clever marketing efforts can disguise the issue and make it difficult to tell just how much and exactly what the true costs are. To help you make the best choice, below we run through the main options for managing your investments, outlining what you get, what you pay, and who is best suited for each model.
