Across the Pond

In this episode of Across the Pond, we're discussing the Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision, with the aim of providing useful information to British expatriates living in the US. While Social Security is a real political hot potato, it's one that is unlikely to be dropped - so it's worthwhile to understand these concepts fully before making decisions about your retirement. 

Social Security is mor...

We often get asked, "I haven't lived in the UK in years, do I still get a state pension?"

There are a lot of questions that arise when it comes to UK state pension as a non-UK resident, which for our purposes means, as a US resident. 

Do you qualify for it? What's it worth? Is it worth claiming? What about WEP, should I be worried about my Social Security? Is it worth back-paying? What if I'm living abroad bu...

Big picture, the last year was a tough year to be an investor, wasn’t it? The reality of it is, even relatively safe assets did not provide much safety while everybody was getting hammered. Inflation peaked at 9% and then remained stubbornly high, borrowing costs went through the roof, and the word ‘recession’ started getting thrown around a lot. So, what did this all mean for investors?

In this episode of Across The Pond:...

Many US taxpayers who grew up in foreign tax systems, like in the UK, are unaware of some unique features to the US tax code.

For that reason, in Episode 07 of Across the Pond, we're covering two important topics: NT Tax Code (a UK thing) and US Reporting Compliance (a very American thing) which are markedly separate considerations, but both have implications for British expats.

An NT tax code relates to UK...

We're talking about reporting and non-reporting funds for UK taxpayers. You might be wondering why we're doing this since we work with British expats, but the reason is simple: some people go back!

Reporting funds are a subset of “offshore”* collective investments where the fund has applied to HMRC for “reporting fund” status (all US funds & ETFs are by definition offshore funds to HMRC). Once this status is ...

It’s common for expats to own Non-US Investments (PFICs) and it’s usually a problem. 

Many people relocate to the US with existing collective investments, and many acquire them later on. For example, you inherit a GBP investment account and leave it as is because the exchange rate isn’t attractive.

Unless certain steps have been taken, most PFIC distributions will be considered “Excess Distributions” and will suffer punitive tax, int...

In this episode of Across the Pond, Thomas and Richard discuss market trends in Q3 of 2022. From reviewing the quarter-by-numbers to dealing with frightening news stories, and bear markets to the pound vs. the dollar, this recap is packed with information and assessments from the last three months. In these uncertain times, one thing is clear: there's nowhere to hide. Listen and subscribe to learn more.

Plan First Wea...

Welcome back to Across the Pond! In this podcast, we are going to discuss Non-US Pensions For Brits in America.

Many have lived and worked in other countries before arriving in America and, as a result, have pensions (and sometimes other assets) in countries other than the US or the UK (DTAs).

As with UK pensions as a US resident and/or citizen, because there are no ready answers and many complications, these can...

In this podcast, we talk about improving the lives of British Expatriates who are living in the United States.

In this episode, we go over common US retirement accounts for British expatriates. Most ex-pats already find it difficult to navigate the UK's system, it's even more frustrating working with the American one as well.

We made this video to explain these systems to you.

We go over:

Welcome to the first episode of Plan First Wealth's official podcast: Across the Pond!

In this podcast, we will talk about improving the lives of British Expatriates who are living in the United States.

This first episode is on one of the topics we help folks with the most: UK Pensions for US Residents. Check it out, and please subscribe on YouTube and wherever you listen to your podcasts so you can stay up ...