I recently gathered the information needed to file my New Zealand taxes. This was a multi-week task that required downloading documents from family financial accounts spanning three different continents. It was as exciting as it sounds, and if it were the only tax experience I had to endure each year, it would be bearable. However, as an expatriate (expat) US citizen, I must also file US taxes annually because the US is one of a handful of countries that taxes its citizens no matter where they live. An additional complication is that the New Zealand and US tax years do not match up. Hence, the information I gather for one regime is not complete for the other. All of this leads me to the conclusion that as an expat US military retiree family, we lead a complicated financial life.

Suppose you’re considering becoming an expat, expat retiree, or expat military retiree (like me). In that case, your financial life need not be as complicated as mine. Don’t get me wrong, if you want to be an expat, you are accepting a significant amount of financial friction in your life. However, I’ve logged below several engaging lessons learned from my complicated financial life that should help you navigate that process more efficiently. Those lessons include the importance of paying for expert tax advice, as well as finding a money tracking program that can access all your accounts in their various currencies. There are several more, all of which are worth considering before making that move. Continue reading →