Liam Fraboulet: U.S. Expat Wealth Management

16/10/2026

Americans in Germany: what’s the money question you still haven’t found a clear answer to?

The same few come up again and again in my conversations. Whether to join the company pension. Whether you can buy German ETFs. What to do with the 401(k) you left behind.

Leave yours in the comments or send me a message. I’ll answer the most common ones in a post next month, in general terms and without names.

13/10/2026

If you’re an American working in Germany, you’ve probably been offered the company pension at some point.

I was talking with someone recently who just got the offer. Part of her salary goes in before tax, her employer puts some money in too, and pretty much everyone on her team signed up. So she was about to sign as well.

For her German colleagues it’s usually an easy decision. For her it’s a bit more complicated, because the U.S. has its own view on it.

Germany doesn’t tax that money going in. The U.S. might. It depends on the type of plan and whether the tax treaty covers it.

I’m not saying don’t do it. The employer money is real, and a lot of the time it still makes sense. But it’s worth checking how it shows up on your U.S. return before you sign, not after.

Americans in Germany, were you offered one? Did anyone bring up the U.S. side?

09/10/2026

I left the U.S. last year. I still have my American phone number.

I don't use it for calls.

I keep it because my American bank will only send a login code to a U.S. number, and so will most of the other things I still log into. If I lose the number, I'm locked out from the other side of the Atlantic.

Most Americans I speak to in Europe have done the same.

It's a small thing. But it's the clearest sign I know that you never fully leave the first country.

Do you still have your U.S. number? What's it for?

06/10/2026

At 28, I thought my career had started. I'd spent ten years in the U.S.

I went for tennis and a degree, stayed for a job in financial services, and worked hard to build a client base and a network.

Then we moved to France, and none of it came with me. The clients stayed. The network stayed. I was back in the country I grew up in, trying to reinvent myself, with no idea what direction my career was going to take.

The first six months were awful. A lot of self-doubt, and a lot of wondering whether moving had been a mistake.

People assume that moving home means going back to something. I was starting from the beginning, with a French passport and an American CV.

I wouldn't change the move now. But for six months, I wasn't sure.

If you've moved back after years away, did your career come with you?

04/10/2026

📈🇺🇸 You Have Company Stock or RSUs, and Then You Move Abroad

You worked for a U.S. company.

Part of your compensation came through company stock, RSUs or stock options.

Then you move abroad.

The shares may still be held in the U.S.

Your employer may still be American.

But you aren't living there anymore.

And that can change the planning around them.

1️⃣ Where were you living when the compensation was earned?

With equity compensation, where you worked while an award was earned and where you live when it vests or is exercised can matter.

If that happens across multiple countries, the tax picture can become much more complicated.

2️⃣ How much of your wealth depends on one company?

Your salary comes from the company.

Your bonus may depend on it.

And after years of RSUs, a significant portion of your investments might be company stock too.

That's a lot riding on one employer.

3️⃣ What happens when you sell?

If you received shares in the U.S., continued vesting after moving to Europe and eventually sell them years later, there may be tax considerations in more than one country.

That's something worth understanding before the sale, not afterwards.

🌍 Moving abroad doesn't necessarily mean you need to change your company stock.
But it does mean asking whether the strategy you had in the U.S. still fits the life you're building abroad.

💬 Did you move countries while holding company stock or RSUs? Was it something you planned around beforehand?

02/10/2026

🌍 Issue #2 sparked more replies than the first, especially the piece on mixed-nationality estates. Clearly that gap is more common than I expected.

📌 Cross-Border Connections is a monthly briefing for professionals serving Americans living abroad: immigration attorneys, tax advisers, estate planners, relocation consultants, and financial advisers like me.

Issue #3 is out now:
✅ Swiss Pillar 3a: the Swiss tax break that can become a U.S. filing headache
✅ FBAR season: the $10,000 threshold, the Oct 15 deadline, and the accounts clients forget to count
🤝 Partner Spotlight: Julian Thalmeir of Kanzlei Thalmeir, a German tax advisor focused on Americans in Germany
📈 What the Fed's first rate hike in three years means for cross-border currency moves
If you work with U.S. expats, or know someone who does, take a look.

📩 Read Issue #3 and subscribe: https://liams-newsletter-84d58a.beehiiv.com/p/cross-border-connections-issue-3-pillar-3a-fbar-season-and-what-the-fed-s-hike-means-abroad

👋 If we're not connected yet, I'd be happy to connect.

A monthly briefing for immigration attorneys, tax advisers, and wealth professionals serving Americans living abroad.

30/09/2026

I moved back to France after ten years in the U.S.

I thought the hard part would be the logistics. Instead I got culture shock in my own country.

It started on the first Sunday. Everything shut, the streets quiet, nothing to do but sit with it. I grew up with those Sundays. After ten years away, my first reaction was to wonder what I was supposed to do all day.

Then the admin. And heres the thing: the French system is genuinely good. Once you're in it, it works. Getting into it is another matter. Were coming up on a year of trying to get my wife her carte vitale, and were still not done.

Food has been the bigger surprise. Ten years in the U.S. changed how we eat more than I realized. We grab things. We take food away. We eat at odd hours. Thats not really how its done here, and I notice it every time.

And I miss an oversized, far too sweet latte from a coffee shop. There's no French equivalent, and Ive stopped pretending there is.

The strangest part has been watching my wife meet France for the first time as an American. She asks me why something works the way it does, and half the time the honest answer is that I have no idea. Its just how its always been.

She's started taking two hours over lunch. Ive started buying coffee to go. We're meeting somewhere in the middle.

28/09/2026

🇺🇸🇪🇺 Your spouse isn't American. Your estate plan may not do what you think.

Many couples I speak with assume that if one of them dies, everything simply goes to the other.

For an American married to a non-American and living in Europe, that assumption deserves a closer look.

Three things tend to come up.

Which country's rules apply?

You might be a U.S. citizen in France, Switzerland or Germany, with a spouse of another nationality and accounts in a few countries.

Does your will hold up where you live now? How are assets abroad handled? Do local forced-heirship rules apply? Those rules surprise a lot of people.

U.S. estate tax works differently when your spouse isn't a citizen.

Between two U.S.-citizen spouses, assets can generally pass free of federal estate tax because of the unlimited marital deduction.

When the surviving spouse isn't a citizen, that deduction doesn't work the same way.

There are tools for this, a qualified domestic trust (QDOT) being the best known, but whether they fit depends on your situation and needs proper cross-border advice.

A lot of your money may not follow your will at all.

401(k)s, IRAs and many brokerage accounts pass by beneficiary designation. European pensions and property can have their own rules.

A will written years ago in the U.S. can quietly fall out of step with the life you've built here.

Not every international couple needs an elaborate structure. But a plan that works in one country might not work the same way across borders.

The question isn't "do we have a will?"

It's "would our plan actually do what we expect?"

If you're married to someone of another nationality, when did you last look at yours?

23/09/2026

🏠 You own a home in Europe. Has your U.S. financial plan caught up?

When Americans here buy a home, it usually feels like a local decision.

You find the place, sort out a mortgage with a local bank, sign the paperwork and move in. Nobody at the table is asking what it means for your IRA.

But it does change things. It's one of the conversations I have most often with clients who have settled in Europe.

1️⃣ The house is probably now your biggest asset.

If a large share of your net worth is in a property priced in euros or francs, ask whether your portfolio should still look exactly like it did before you bought.

Sometimes the answer is yes. Often it deserves a second look.

2️⃣ Currency matters more as a purchase gets closer.

Say you're planning to buy a €700,000 home in five years, and the money for it is in dollar investments.

You're exposed to the markets, and you're also exposed to the exchange rate on the day you convert. The nearer the purchase, the more that matters.

3️⃣ What happens if you leave?

Sell it, keep it as a second home, rent it out, retire in it, pass it to your kids. Each option can bring tax and estate questions in more than one country.

They're much easier to plan for before you're in the middle of them.

Buying the house is a local decision. Planning around it isn't.

If you've bought property since moving abroad, did it change how you think about the rest of your money?

18/09/2026

💵💶🇨🇭 You Earn in Euros or Swiss Francs, But Your Investments Are in Dollars. Is That a Problem?

Imagine this:
🇨🇭 Your salary is paid in Swiss francs.
💶 Some of your expenses are in euros.
💵 Your 401(k), IRA and brokerage account are primarily valued in U.S. dollars.
🏡 You may eventually buy a home in Europe.
🌍 And you're not completely sure where you'll retire.

What currency should your wealth actually be in?

For internationally mobile people, this is an important question.

But the answer isn't necessarily:
“The currency of the country where I live today.”

Here are three things I'd think about.

1️⃣ Where will you eventually spend the money?

Where you live today matters.

But so does where you'll live 10, 20 or 30 years from now.

Someone planning to return permanently to the United States may have very different future currency needs from someone planning to retire in Switzerland or the eurozone.

The problem?

Many internationally mobile people don't know where they'll eventually retire.

And that's okay.

But your financial plan should acknowledge that uncertainty.

2️⃣ Seeing a $ sign doesn't necessarily mean you're only exposed to the dollar

This is an important distinction.

A U.S. brokerage account may display its value in dollars.

But if you own globally diversified investments, the underlying companies may generate revenues and have operations all over the world.

So the currency displayed on your statement doesn't necessarily tell you the whole story about your economic exposure.

3️⃣ Don't try to predict which currency will “win”

It's tempting.

The dollar falls.
The Swiss franc strengthens.
The euro moves.

And suddenly you feel like you need to do something.

But currency planning shouldn't necessarily be about predicting the next move.

A better starting point is:

➡️ What will this money eventually be used for?

A Swiss home purchase in five years?

Retirement expenses in Europe in twenty?

Leaving assets to family in the United States?

Those are very different objectives.

🌍 For internationally mobile families, currency isn't simply an investment question.

It's a life-planning question.

Where you earn.
Where you invest.
Where you own property.
Where you'll eventually retire.
And where you'll ultimately spend your money.

The goal isn't to predict currencies

It's to make sure your financial plan isn't accidentally making a currency bet you never intended to make.

💬 If you live abroad, what currency do you think of your wealth in, dollars, euros, Swiss francs, or a combination?