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Monvia Financial At Monvia Financial all of our advisors are CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® practitioners (CFP®), and we wouldn't have it any other

If you own property abroad financed in the local currency, you hold two positions rather than one. There is the property...
10/17/2026

If you own property abroad financed in the local currency, you hold two positions rather than one. There is the property, and there is the debt. US tax treats the debt separately.

Here is what surprises people:
The loan is measured in dollars when you take it on and again when you pay it off or refinance. If the dollar has strengthened against that currency in the interim, retiring the loan takes fewer dollars than it originally represented, and that difference can be a taxable gain. Under Section 988, that kind of gain is generally treated as ordinary income rather than capital gain.

No money arrives. The gain sits on the debt, not on a sale.
The reverse direction does not offset it. Where the currency moves against you on a personal residence, the loss generally is not deductible.

That asymmetry is what catches people, and it can surface on a refinance as readily as on a sale. It is also why a property decision abroad and a currency decision abroad are rarely the separate questions they appear to be.

Congress considered relief for this exact situation earlier this year. The provision came out of the bill before it reached markup, so the rule stands as written.

If you hold a mortgage denominated in a currency other than the dollar and want to understand how this applies, let's have a conversation. Book a consultation through the link in the comments below.

*This post is published by Monvia Financial as educational material. It is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. The considerations described here depend significantly on individual circumstances. A planning conversation is the appropriate place to evaluate whether any of these concepts may apply to your situation.

For years, relief for Americans abroad came from IRS administrative programs rather than from Congress. That shifted thi...
10/13/2026

For years, relief for Americans abroad came from IRS administrative programs rather than from Congress. That shifted this year, partially.

A bipartisan IRS reform bill introduced in February included a section written specifically for Americans abroad. It cleared the Senate Finance Committee on a lopsided vote at the end of July.

Six provisions for Americans abroad were proposed. Three made it through.

What came out included the relief most people were watching for, covering foreign currency gain on a mortgage tied to a principal residence. Also removed was a higher threshold for claiming the Foreign Tax Credit without the full form calculation.
What went in was a new appeals process for international information reporting penalties, with notice before a late filing penalty is issued and a longer window to respond.

It is not law. There is no scheduled floor vote, and it changes nothing about a current filing obligation.

Planning around relief that has not been enacted is its own form of risk.

If you want to talk through where the current rules actually land for your situation, reach out to us ➡️ link in comments below.

*This post is published by Monvia Financial as educational material. It is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. The considerations described here depend significantly on individual circumstances. A planning conversation is the appropriate place to evaluate whether any of these concepts may apply to your situation.

Your paycheck stopped in July. The money didn’t.For a lot of people who left Microsoft this summer, the package has been...
10/10/2026

Your paycheck stopped in July. The money didn’t.

For a lot of people who left Microsoft this summer, the package has been doing the work ever since. The cash came through, coverage carried over, and the portfolio has barely been touched. Three months in, it can feel like little has actually changed.

The part worth planning is the handoff.

At some point the package stops and the portfolio starts, and the early years of drawing on a portfolio can carry particular risk. Withdrawals and market conditions interact differently at the beginning of a transition than they do later on, which is why the year you leave is not a neutral detail. You didn’t choose that year. The offer did.

That part is not controllable. What is within your control is how much the plan can bend: where income comes from in a given year, how much room there is in spending, and whether there is something to draw on that does not have to be sold at an inconvenient moment.

“Risk and Flexibility” is one of five sections in my guide, “What Comes After the Retirement Offer?” It asks what a plan would need in order to bend rather than break.

The guide is complimentary. Link in the comments.

*This post is published by Monvia Financial as educational material. It is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. The considerations described here depend significantly on individual circumstances. A planning conversation is the appropriate place to evaluate whether any of these concepts may apply to your situation.
Monvia Financial is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft Corporation. References to Microsoft’s Voluntary Retirement Program are provided for educational context only.

For expats who extended, one date carries three separate things.➡️The extended return➡️The final FBAR➡️The last day to r...
10/08/2026

For expats who extended, one date carries three separate things.

➡️The extended return
➡️The final FBAR
➡️The last day to request the additional extension to December 15

That third one is discretionary. It is requested by letter, and the IRS decides. Most people only know about the first.

If you have questions about how these apply to your situation, a conversation is the place to get started. Click the link in the comments below to schedule a consultation with our experts.

*This post is published by Monvia Financial as educational material. It is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. The considerations described here depend significantly on individual circumstances. A planning conversation is the appropriate place to evaluate whether any of these concepts may apply to your situation.

Forty hours a week just opened up.Financial questions come first, and they should. What you spend, where income may come...
10/01/2026

Forty hours a week just opened up.

Financial questions come first, and they should. What you spend, where income may come from, and how long resources may realistically last. Those have answers, and the answers matter.

The question that arrives later is quieter and harder to put in a spreadsheet. Work supplied structure for decades, and something has to fill what it left. Not a hobby, necessarily, but purpose, routine, the people you used to see without trying, and the part of your name that came after the comma.

I raise it in planning conversations because it is not separate from the money. What you decide to do with the next few years shapes what those years cost, and a plan holds up better when it is built around something you want rather than an absence.

"Life After Work" is one of five sections in my guide, "What Comes After the Retirement Offer?" It asks what you are moving toward, not only what you left.

The guide is complimentary. Link in the comments.

*This post is published by Monvia Financial as educational material. It is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. The considerations described here depend significantly on individual circumstances. A planning conversation is the appropriate place to evaluate whether any of these concepts may apply to your situation.

The FBAR is not part of your tax return and does not follow it.Three things that surprise people every year:➡️ It is fil...
09/28/2026

The FBAR is not part of your tax return and does not follow it.

Three things that surprise people every year:
➡️ It is filed with FinCEN, not the IRS, through a separate system
➡️ It runs on its own April to October calendar, with the extension applied automatically and no request needed
➡️ Filing your return does not satisfy it, and a return extension request does not touch it

The reporting threshold is an aggregate across all foreign accounts, measured at the highest point during the year rather than at year-end. Accounts you barely use count. So do accounts a spouse added you to, and pension accounts you may have stopped thinking about.

It is an information filing, not a tax. That is exactly why it gets forgotten.

Worth a look if you are not certain everything is captured ➡️ visit our website to book a consultation

*This post is published by Monvia Financial as educational material. It is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. The considerations described here depend significantly on individual circumstances. A planning conversation is the appropriate place to evaluate whether any of these concepts may apply to your situation.

The decision had a deadline. Everything after it does not.That is the part most people underestimate. The election windo...
09/26/2026

The decision had a deadline. Everything after it does not.

That is the part most people underestimate. The election window, the notification, the separation date, all of it was scheduled by someone else. Then the last date passes, the structure goes with it, and what is left is a set of decisions with no calendar attached and no obvious place to start.

Our new guide is written for that stretch.
Five sections, three questions each: the financial foundation, risk and flexibility, healthcare and protection, life after work, and a final check on whether the plan you are building feels grounded rather than rushed. It closes with five patterns that tend to surface after the fact, from the gap in coverage to taxes in the year a package lands.
It is complimentary, and it is built to be read in one sitting rather than filed away.

Link in the comments.
*This post is published by Monvia Financial as educational material. It is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. The considerations described here depend significantly on individual circumstances. A planning conversation is the appropriate place to evaluate whether any of these concepts may apply to your situation.

Most expats treat the exclusion and the credit as an annual decision➡️ Pick whichever looks better, revisit next spring....
09/24/2026

Most expats treat the exclusion and the credit as an annual decision➡️ Pick whichever looks better, revisit next spring.

❗️That is not how the election works.

Under Section 911, the choice to exclude foreign earned income applies to the year it is made and to every year after, unless it is revoked. Once revoked, another election generally cannot be made until the sixth taxable year following the revocation, absent IRS consent, which is requested through a private letter ruling.

It can also be revoked without anyone deciding to revoke it. Claiming a foreign tax credit on income that was excluded, or could have been excluded, may be treated as revoking the election.

The return filed on an extended deadline is not just paperwork. It records elections that can govern several years of cross-border tax treatment.

If that interaction has never been mapped against your next few years abroad, it may be worth a conversation.

*This post is published by Monvia Financial as educational material. It is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. The considerations described here depend significantly on individual circumstances. A planning conversation is the appropriate place to evaluate whether any of these concepts may apply to your situation.

Your last day had a date on it. Nothing since then has.That is the thing people who left Microsoft this summer tend to d...
09/17/2026

Your last day had a date on it. Nothing since then has.

That is the thing people who left Microsoft this summer tend to describe first, and it catches them off guard. For months the calendar did the deciding: the election window, the notification, the separation date. Then the last date passes, the structure goes with it, and what is left is a pile of decisions that all feel urgent and none of which are scheduled.
So people start wherever the worry is loudest, which is almost always healthcare, because it is the one piece that still has a deadline attached to it.

That instinct is understandable, and it is also why the guide is sequenced the way it is:
• The Financial Foundation. What you spend, where income may come from, and how long resources may realistically last.
• Risk and Flexibility. Why the first few years can carry particular risk, and why a plan that can bend is often stronger.
• Healthcare and Protection. The bridge between employer coverage ending and Medicare eligibility beginning.
• Life After Work. What you are moving toward, not only what you left.
• The Confidence Test. Whether the plan you are building feels grounded rather than rushed.

Healthcare sits third on purpose. What you pay for coverage can depend on your income for the year, and what your income looks like depends on what the first two sections turn up. Answering it first usually means answering it twice.

"What Comes After the Retirement Offer?" is complimentary and can be found linked in the comments.

Monvia Financial is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Microsoft Corporation. References to Microsoft's Voluntary Retirement Program are provided for educational context only.

Retire at 58 and Medicare is seven years away.Employer coverage ends on a date you can look up, and Medicare eligibility...
09/15/2026

Retire at 58 and Medicare is seven years away.

Employer coverage ends on a date you can look up, and Medicare eligibility begins on a date you can also look up. You have to bridge the gap, and the bridge has a price that was never printed on the offer.

What makes it easy to underestimate is that the price is not fixed. What you pay, and what assistance may be available to you, can depend on household income for the year, which means a choice about when to take a payout or whether to convert retirement assets may also be a choice about what coverage costs.

Two decisions that feel unrelated often aren't, and that is worth knowing before you make either one.

Healthcare and Protection is one of five sections in my guide, "What Comes After the Retirement Offer?". Each section holds three questions worth sitting with.

Download it by clicking the link in the comments below.

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