Connected Financial Planning

01/10/2026

Yes, you can still vote in U.S. federal elections. But do you know how to actually get your ballot?

For many Americans living overseas, voting from abroad becomes one more administrative task that suddenly works differently after leaving the United States.

Which state do you register in?
Can your ballot be sent electronically?
What happens if you're worried your ballot won't make it back to the U.S. in time?

And one question we hear surprisingly often in the cross-border financial planning world: Does registering to vote from abroad affect your U.S. taxes?

This week's Passport To Wealth® episode tackles the practical side of voting from abroad with Ada Shen, who has spent more than two decades helping overseas Americans navigate voter registration and absentee voting.

A few things Americans abroad should know:

The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) can register you to vote, request your overseas absentee ballot, and update your voter information in one step.

📧 Overseas voters can request to receive federal-election ballots electronically, although the rules for returning completed ballots vary by state.

📮 If you're concerned that a regular ballot being returned by mail won't arrive in time, there is also a federal backup ballot, the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB).

💰 And registering to vote does not, by itself, create a U.S. federal tax filing requirement. State tax residency questions can be more nuanced and depend on the broader facts and the state's rules.

Whether you've lived abroad for six months or 20 years, this is one of those pieces of U.S. expat life that's worth understanding before a deadline is looming.

🎧 Listen to this week's episode: How to Register to Vote From Abroad

https://www.passporttowealth.com/how-to-vote-from-abroad-as-an-american

This episode is nonpartisan and for informational purposes only. It does not endorse any candidate, party, or political position.

Every American abroad can vote in federal elections. Here's the form to register, the deadlines that matter, and a legal backup ballot option.

17/09/2026

Living abroad can make you feel very far away when a parent back home suddenly needs help. And having the right legal documents doesn't necessarily mean accessing their finances will be simple.

In this week's episode of Passport To Wealth®, Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA speaks with financial journalist Beth Pinsker, CFP® about something many Americans abroad will eventually face: managing a parent's finances and care from thousands of miles away.

One of the biggest surprises?

A legally valid power of attorney may still be rejected, or heavily scrutinized, by a bank or financial institution. Beth experienced this herself, going through three separate appointments before her mother's bank finally accepted the document.

Complications don't stop with banking. When family members, beneficiaries, or trustees live in different countries, estate planning, trusts, inheritance taxes, and financial caregiving can become cross-border issues too. Different countries may treat U.S. trusts differently, and where a trustee or beneficiary lives can create additional legal and tax considerations.

For Americans living abroad with aging parents in the U.S., this is an important reminder that cross-border financial planning isn't only about your own retirement, investments, and taxes.

It's also about being prepared for the moment your family may need you.

In the episode, Arielle and Beth discuss:
• Why banks sometimes reject valid power of attorney documents
• What to put in place before a parent becomes incapacitated
• The day-to-day reality of managing someone's financial life
• Why one family member so often becomes "the doer"
• How living abroad can complicate trusts and inheritances
• Why families should test whether their planning actually works before there's a crisis

🎧 Listen to this week's Passport To Wealth® episode: How to Prepare for Long-Distance Financial Caregiving

https://www.passporttowealth.com/why-banks-reject-power-of-attorney-forms

A valid power of attorney doesn't guarantee a bank will accept it. Here's what actually happens, and what to set up before a parent needs care.

14/09/2026

🎉 So many of you have reached out to remind us that Connected Financial Planning is four years old.

Four years ago, I wrote down what we hoped to build and what success might look like. Four years later, we've exceeded all of our goals. So this year we have been rewriting the goals.

We've learned that the future of Connected Financial Planning isn't necessarily about becoming a bigger firm or serving more and more clients.

The deeply personal, complex work we do with clients will always require significant time and attention, and we want to protect that. Instead, we're thinking bigger about our impact.

How can we continue providing exceptional financial planning to the families we serve, while making high-quality, fiduciary cross-border financial guidance more accessible to people beyond our client community?

That question has shaped much of Year 4 and led to one of our biggest projects yet. Arielle Tucker. CFP®, EA turned years of cross-border planning experience into a book. The Expat Money Playbook: Unlocking Your Passport to Wealth (Wiley) comes out October 6, 2026.

The book has been a major focus this past year and represents an important extension of Connected’s mission: helping U.S.-connected expats better understand the financial decisions, opportunities, and potential pitfalls of building a life across borders.

🎙️ We continued investing heavily in education.

The Passport To Wealth® podcast has reached the Top 100 on the U.S. Apple charts multiple times, and our growing YouTube community continues to help us bring cross-border financial education to people worldwide.

🤝 We continued building a community beyond Connected.

We remain intentionally selective about the clients we serve. We want to work with families where our expertise and planning approach can add meaningful value, and we recognize that we cannot serve every person who reaches out to us. Increasingly, when Connected isn't the right fit, or we don't have capacity, we're able to connect people with other fiduciary advisors and trusted professionals.

Connected Financial Planning remains intentionally small. But the impact we're working toward is much bigger.

Thank you to our clients for trusting us with your financial lives, to our incredible team for making this work possible, and to the advisors, professionals, collaborators, and broader community who continue to share our belief that people living across borders deserve better financial guidance.

We're proud of what we've built over the last four years, and excited about where we're going next. 🌎💙 Here's to Year 5, and to staying Connected.

09/09/2026

Thinking about retiring in France as an American?

The U.S.-France tax treaty can make France surprisingly attractive for U.S. retirees, but retirement income is only one piece of the cross-border planning puzzle.

In this week’s episode of the Passport To Wealth® podcast, we explore what Americans need to understand before bringing a U.S. retirement and estate plan across the French border.

A few of the topics covered:
-How France treats U.S. pensions, IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and Social Security
-Why Roth IRAs can receive particularly favorable treatment in France
-What happens when a U.S. citizen living in France receives a gift or inheritance from the United States
-The French reporting obligations that can apply even when no French tax is ultimately due
-Why U.S. trusts can create significant tax and reporting complications after a move to France
-Why an estate plan designed entirely around U.S. law should be reviewed before becoming a French resident

The bigger planning lesson?

A favorable tax treaty does not mean you can simply pick up your U.S. financial life and move it overseas unchanged.

Retirement accounts, investments, trusts, estate documents, gifting strategies, and even the timing of your move can interact differently once another country's tax and legal system enters the picture.

For Americans considering France, the best time to identify those conflicts is before the move, when there may still be opportunities to restructure.

🎧 Listen to the latest Passport To Wealth® episode:

https://www.passporttowealth.com/does-france-tax-american-retirement-income

Pensions, IRAs, and Roth accounts can be taxed at zero in France under the US tax treaty. Here's what qualifies, and what changes when you die there.

07/09/2026

If you’ve forgotten why all your favorite U.S. financial institutions are reporting closed offices today, while your favorite U.S. retailers are simultaneously flooding your inbox with sales… It must be Labor Day.

For those of us living abroad, it feels like a completely normal Monday until we try to call a bank, make a trade, or get ahold of someone back in the U.S. But beyond the long weekend and sales, Labor Day actually has some pretty interesting history.

The first Labor Day celebration took place in New York City on September 5, 1882, when thousands of workers marched through the city. Oregon became the first state to officially recognize Labor Day in 1887, and in 1894 it became a federal holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September.

The original idea was pretty simple: recognize the social and economic contributions of American workers.

More than 140 years later, that part is worth remembering.

Of course, if you live in Europe, you may be thinking: Didn't we already do this? Most of Europe celebrates workers on May 1st, International Workers' Day, or May Day. And depending on where you live, you're probably more likely to come across a labor march or protest than a giant mattress sale.

Same general idea. Very different cultural ex*****on.

So, Happy Labor Day to our fellow Americans in the U.S. and around the world.

Join our newsletter for cross-border financial tips, important deadlines, and the occasional reminder about why everyone back home has the day off. 😇

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03/09/2026

Can you use a 529 plan to pay for university abroad?

For American families living overseas, saving for education can quickly become more complicated than simply opening a 529 and making contributions.

In this week’s episode of the Passport To Wealth® Podcast, Arielle Tucker CFP®, EA explores what U.S. expat families should know about using 529 plans while living, and potentially educating their children, abroad.

🎓 Can a 529 pay for a university outside the United States?
🌍 What happens to your 529 when you move abroad?
🏫 Can 529 funds be used for international K–12 tuition?
🔎 How can you determine whether a foreign university qualifies?
💰 Could your country of residence tax your 529 differently than the U.S.?

These are exactly the kinds of questions that demonstrate why financial planning for Americans abroad requires a cross-border perspective.

And we have something else to celebrate this week: Passport To Wealth® reached #85 in the How To podcast category on in the USA! 🎉

Arielle hosts Passport To Wealth® for the current and aspiring U.S. expat community, and for the advisors and professionals who serve them. The goal is simple: make reliable, practical cross-border financial information easier to find and understand.

Seeing the podcast continue to grow means a great deal to us. Thank you to everyone who listens, follows, shares an episode, or sends it to someone preparing for life abroad.

🎧 Listen to this week’s episode: “Can You Use a 529 Plan for a University Abroad?”

Some foreign universities qualify for tax-free 529 withdrawals, and international K-12 tuition now does too. Here is how to check before you assume yours does.

26/08/2026

Singapore can be an incredibly attractive place for Americans to build wealth.

But living in a low-tax jurisdiction does not mean financial planning becomes simpler. In many ways, it creates a different set of planning considerations and opportunities than Americans may be used to in the U.S.

This week on Passport To Wealth®, we explore what financial planning actually looks like for U.S.-connected families living in Singapore.

The episode covers:

→ The Roth conversion opportunity in Singapore, and why time spent in a low-tax jurisdiction can create a valuable planning window, particularly for Americans who may eventually return to the U.S.

→ The Central Provident Fund (CPF) for American taxpayers, including the important distinction between CPF itself and employer-provided CPF-like investment accounts that can create PFIC complications.

→ What happens when a two-year assignment becomes six, and families realize they have spent years accumulating cash rather than building an investment strategy around their life abroad.

→ Singapore's tax payment system, and why failing to maintain a tax reserve can create an unwelcome surprise when leaving the country.

→ Investment products sold through Singapore banks, and why Americans need to understand both the local product and its U.S. tax treatment before investing.

→ Why advisor licensing matters, particularly when a U.S.-connected family needs advice that works within both the U.S. and Singapore regulatory systems.

→ Visa and residency considerations, because financial planning abroad doesn't happen separately from the question of whether you can actually stay in the country long term.

This is what we mean when we talk about cross-border financial planning.

It isn't taking a U.S. financial plan and changing the client's address.

It is understanding how taxes, investments, retirement systems, residency, regulation, and the client's next move all interact, especially when you're living in a country with a very different tax system.

Listen to the full episode of Passport To Wealth® now: https://www.passporttowealth.com/cross-border-financial-planning-singapore

Retirement, healthcare, and residency all work differently in Singapore. A cross-border CFP explains the financial mistakes Americans make most often.

18/08/2026

For Americans abroad, what doesn’t make it into a tax bill matters more than what does.

The Senate Finance Committee’s latest work on the Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act is a good example.

Earlier versions of the legislation included several provisions aimed specifically at reducing the compliance burden for Americans living overseas, an acknowledgment of something those of us working with cross-border families see every day: the U.S. tax system was largely designed around people living in the U.S., yet American citizens remain subject to it wherever they live.

As Virginia La Torre Jeker, J.D. highlights in her most recent Forbes piece, key relief for Americans abroad was dropped during the Senate Finance Committee markup.

That’s disappointing for all Americans abroad. Living abroad creates layers of complexity that extend well beyond filing a U.S. tax return. Banking, investing, retirement accounts, foreign pensions, business ownership, estate planning, and financial reporting can all be affected simply because your financial life crosses borders.

And this is why we continue to tell Americans abroad:

Don’t build your financial plan around the assumption that the rules will eventually become simpler. Over the years, there have been encouraging proposals to reduce the burden on Americans overseas. Some move forward. Others stall or disappear as legislation works its way through Congress.

Until the law actually changes, the planning has to be based on the rules we have today.

You need to understand the U.S. consequences before opening a foreign investment account, buying a fund, starting a business, moving retirement assets, changing residency, or making another financial decision that might be completely ordinary in your country of residence but complicated from a U.S. perspective.

The Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act is still part of an evolving legislative process, so this is not the end of the story. We’ll be watching closely to see what survives in the final legislation.

For Americans abroad, meaningful simplification is long overdue.

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/virginialatorrejeker/2026/08/18/americans-abroad-lose-key-tax-relief-in-senate-finance-committee-markup/

Senate Finance Committee removes most tax relief for Americans abroad, including foreign currency reforms, while advancing other international filing and penalty changes.

13/08/2026

Most conversations about moving abroad start with the practical questions:

What visa can we get?
What happens to our taxes?
Can we keep our U.S. investment accounts?
How much will the move cost?

Those questions matter.

But this week on Passport To Wealth®, Arielle Tucker started somewhere else:

Why do you actually want to go?

For families considering an international move, the decision is rarely purely financial. There may be a career opportunity, a desire for a different pace of life, an adventure you've talked about for years, or simply the feeling that you're ready for something different.

And then there are the people around you.
Parents who don't want you to leave.
Friends who don't understand the decision.
A spouse who may be more, or less, enthusiastic than you are.
Children whose lives will change alongside yours.

Those dynamics can influence financial decisions, from whether you move at all, to gifting, estate planning, housing, and how much financial security you feel you need before taking the leap.

This week's conversation explores what it really means to move a family abroad, using one family's move from Florida to Portugal as a jumping-off point.

Understanding that distinction is an important part of good planning.

🎙️ Listen to the full episode:

An international move tests more than your finances. A financial planner who relocated to Portugal explains what actually determines whether a family thrives.

22/07/2026

Can U.S. expat families receive the new $1,000 Trump Account contribution for their children?

That is one of the questions we have been hearing repeatedly from American parents living abroad.

In this week’s episode of Passport To Wealth®, host Arielle Tucker covers what Trump Accounts are and what internationally mobile families should consider before opening one.

The episode covers:
→ Which children may qualify for the $1,000 federal contribution
→ How to open an account from outside the United States
→ Potential challenges involving foreign addresses and U.S. bank accounts
→ How Trump Accounts compare with 529 plans, custodial accounts, and Roth IRAs
→ Why contributing beyond the initial $1,000 may require country-specific tax planning

For eligible families, the federal contribution may be relatively straightforward. The more complicated question is how the account will be treated in the family’s country of residence and how it fits into the broader cross-border financial plan.

Listen to the full episode here:

https://www.passporttowealth.com/trump-accounts-for-us-expat-families

A $1,000 Trump Account just launched for U.S. citizens. Here's who actually qualifies from abroad, and where the process breaks down for expat families.