Need advise regarding my Financial bank in the USA while living in the Philippines

[Mike J]

Maintaining a checking/savings account does not seem to be any problem.  Many, perhaps most, financial institutions will not host your pension, Roth, 401K, etc account if live overseas.  If you do not have a US mailing address your options to maintain and manage those accounts is limited. 

[Tommy T.]

On 2/17/2021 at 9:37 AM, boyee said:

I'm moving to the Philippines at the end of the year for permanent retirement.  All of my financial's are with brokers in the USA.  Retirement investments.  My understanding is I may not be able to keep my financial Investments with a US company if I move out the Country.  i.e. no longer a US resident.  What do you guys do?  Is there a US Financial firm that will allow me to keep my retirement stuff in the US while I'm living abroad or do I need to transfer everything to a Philippines bank?  What is the best way?  Thank you 

 

On 2/18/2021 at 6:36 AM, Mike J said:

As mentioned in the first reply, the answer is to have a mailing address in the US.  Things went to hell when my financial account manager changed and the new manager found I did not live in the US.   I now have an address in the US and things are fine.  My manager knows that I do spend time each year in the Philippines so I may occasionally have to contact her via skype instead of regular phone.   And I don't get out much so will "most likely" never meet her in person. 

As I and others have mentioned in posts in other threads, simply having a mailing address in USA solves a lot of potential problems and makes things fairly straightforward when dealing with many financial issues, including banks and other financial institutions.

I will not and cannot suggest what may be the best option, but I have had great service from Charles Schwab - both the bank and investment sides. As previously mentioned, ATM withdrawal fees are totally refunded always and the accounts have no fees - at this time and since forever. I have been impressed with their customer service for over 20 years and counting.

I can initiate wire transfers for reasonable fees also. I enjoy the online connection to my accounts. I recently started using a VPN that shows a USA location and that also seems to make thing flow easily. From the listing above, apparently there are other institutions that may offer similar or even superior service... I am just sharing my experience here. As also noted above, Schwab offers some sort of international service but, so far, I have not needed to nor availed of that... It might be worth investigating?

Cheers and good luck!

Edited February 19, 2021 by Tommy T.

[Gator]

Might also consider setting up the US mailing address (and eventually residency) in a state with no state income tax as well. 

[fototek1]

Everyone can use my address in New Hampshire for a fee. I like single malt Scotch....and beer....maybe wine....cough syrup...just no Red Horse  

[Tommy T.]

12 hours ago, Gator said:

Might also consider setting up the US mailing address (and eventually residency) in a state with no state income tax as well. 

Washington State is good for that too...

[OnMyWay]

On 2/17/2021 at 9:37 AM, boyee said:

I'm moving to the Philippines at the end of the year for permanent retirement.  All of my financial's are with brokers in the USA.  Retirement investments.  My understanding is I may not be able to keep my financial Investments with a US company if I move out the Country.  i.e. no longer a US resident.  What do you guys do?  Is there a US Financial firm that will allow me to keep my retirement stuff in the US while I'm living abroad or do I need to transfer everything to a Philippines bank?  What is the best way?  Thank you 

Get a U.S. mailbox.  That is your only good option and I learned the hard way it will cost you more than the mailbox cost if you don't have it.

Don't put a Philippines address on anything in the U.S.  Use the mailbox for everything.  I filed taxes with my Philippines address and that has cost me.

Set the mailbox up in a state income tax free state.  Do it before you move as the easiest was to accomplish the required USPS legal form is at the post office.  Doing it by mail requires a notarization.

Schwab (domestic), Vanguard and Fidelity will shut down your trading ability if you give them a foreign address.  This is mainly due to laws surrounding mutual fund ownership.  Give them the mailbox address.  When you log in to their websites, use a VPN.  Schwab Int'l will allow the foreign address but you don't have access to the domestic mutual funds mentioned.

Most of the U.S. domestic banks don't care much about living overseas, but give them the mailbox address and use a VPN to log in.

Transferring money is a different topic.

My stuff:

Mailbox:  Traveling Mailbox (Florida)

VPN:  Express VPN

Investment Bank/Broker:  Fidelity

Regular Bank:  Chase

Credit Card:  CapitalOne MC

U.S. Phone Number for 2FA:  Google Voice

Thinking about opening HSBC accounts in the U.S. and PH for money transfer purposes.

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by OnMyWay

[StayAtHomeDad]

On 2/19/2021 at 6:25 PM, OnMyWay said:

Don't put a Philippines address on anything in the U.S.  Use the mailbox for everything.  I filed taxes with my Philippines address and that has cost me.

 

Hi. What kind of issues resulted from using your Phils address for taxes? If you don't mind sharing that is.

[OnMyWay]

33 minutes ago, StayAtHomeDad said:

Hi. What kind of issues resulted from using your Phils address for taxes? If you don't mind sharing that is.

Sometimes the IRS needs to mail something with snail mail.  In my case it is an identity theft pin, every year.

The Philippines mail system is the worst.  Once something hits the Philpost system, you have about 50% chance of receiving it.  I received a letter today from FVA (Federal Voting Assistance).  It arrived Philippines on June 8 and I just received it in Subic Bay today, July 21.

[StayAtHomeDad]

2 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Sometimes the IRS needs to mail something with snail mail.  In my case it is an identity theft pin, every year.

The Philippines mail system is the worst.  Once something hits the Philpost system, you have about 50% chance of receiving it.  I received a letter today from FVA (Federal Voting Assistance).  It arrived Philippines on June 8 and I just received it in Subic Bay today, July 21.

 

I got ya beat. About 2 or 3 years ago, I received a print version of a newsletter that was mailed to me in 2007. Real story. Even the postal carrier had a good laugh with that one. He just smiled and said only in the Philippines.

[Possum]

I use a mail forwarding service in Florida because I used to live there and as a side benefit there is no state income tax. I've used them for many years and have never had a problem, they even helped out with a DHL issue with Philippines customs when I received the free Covid kit the US sent to every citizen. I use the Florida address for banking and tax returns. I faithfully file my taxes via DHL so they know I am filing from the Philippines but it's never been an issue. [I had an issue with the IRS many years ago and NEVER want to do even the slightest thing wrong again.] Like many others I have a USAA, Penfed and Schwab accounts and never had a problem. However, in a phone conversation with Schwab I mentioned I was living in the Philippines and the guy told me "No, you can't be living there or you couldn't have a normal Schwab account so let me assume you live where you receive your mail." Fair enough