Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys, and other professionals. Welcome to the tenth edition of our “Dreidel” newsletter about planning and investment issues of US citizens living overseas. This month Mike Reed talks about the impact of rising rates on your clients’ investment portfolios. Over the last few years, the rise in interest rates in the US has been painful for new borrowers. This has increased the cost of items such as homes and cars.  There is a flip side to higher rates. For savers it has been a good thing as they are able to earn...

Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys, and other professionals. Welcome to the ninth edition of our “Dreidel” newsletter about planning and investment issues of US citizens living overseas. This month Mike Reed talks about keeping up with the proper beneficiary designations. Beneficiaries - they are an important part of financial accounts that can often be overlooked or neglected.  Many times, people forget to even add them, and if they do they then forget to check them periodically to make sure they are up to date. Here is a quick refresher...

Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys, and other professionals. Welcome to the eighth edition of our “Dreidel” newsletter about planning and investment issues of US citizens living overseas. This month Mike Reed focuses on the Social Security Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP. WEP is something that we are asked about often by people who are eligible for both Social Security and a pension from a job that did not pay into Social Security.  Many are concerned that the WEP will wipe out all their Social Security benefits, and that they should...

Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys, and other professionals. Welcome to the seventh edition of our “Dreidel” newsletter about planning and investment issues of US citizens living overseas. This month Mike Reed focuses on Required Minimum Distributions. Before the first Cares Act was passed in 2020 the rules for RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions) on inherited IRAs were straightforward, but that has changed. Below is a summary of the new rules for RMDs on Inherited IRAs. If you inherited an IRA before Jan 1 2020, then there are no changes...

Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys, and other professionals. Welcome to the sixth edition of our “Dreidel” newsletter about planning and investment issues of US citizens living overseas. This month Mike Reed focuses on custodial account closure issues for US expats in Israel. We have written before about US expats living overseas who are suddenly notified by their financial institution that they will no longer be able to hold their account, or if they keep their account, the only transactions allowed are liquidating ones. Often, the institution...

Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys, and other professionals. Welcome to the fifth edition of our “Dreidel” newsletter about planning and investment issues of US citizens living overseas. This month Mike Reed focuses on Social Security taxation issues for US expats in Israel. Social Security, for a person retiring in the US, can provide a large part of his or her retirement income and play a large part in their retirement plan.  As a quick refresher, Social Security can be claimed as early as 62 with a reduced benefit, at Full Retirement...

Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys, and other professionals. Welcome to the fourth edition of our “Dreidel” newsletter about planning and investment issues of US citizens living overseas. While we mostly focus on Americans living in Israel, we do also have clients in the UK, South Africa, Australia, and the EU. We reckon about 75-80% of expat money matters are related to the US side of the equation. So, while we may often use Israeli examples, they may be relevant to other countries, too. This month we focus this on two key issues and how to...

Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys and other professionals. Happy 2024 - welcome to the third edition of our “Dreidel” newsletter about planning and investment issues of US citizens living overseas. We will publish a new “spin” every month! While we mostly focus on Americans living in Israel, we do also have clients in the UK, South Africa, Australia and the EU. We reckon about 75-80% of expat money matters are related to the US side of the equation. So, while we may often use Israeli examples, they may be relevant to other countries, too. This...

Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys and other professionals. Welcome to the second edition of our “Dreidel” newsletter about the planning and investment issues of US citizens living overseas. We will publish a new “spin” every month! We focus this month’s newsletter on year-end tax loss harvesting, with comments once again from my colleague Mike Reed. Tax loss harvesting – a look inside the portfolio Well, it is time to take care of all those year-end items, such as finishing Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) and doing any tax loss harvesting...

Dear fellow practitioners, CPAs, attorneys and other professionals. Welcome to the first edition of our "Dreidel" newsletter about planning and investment issues for US expatriates, i.e. US citizens living overseas. We will publish a new "spin" every month! While we mostly focus on Americans living in Israel, we do also have clients in the UK, South Africa, Australia and the EU. We reckon about 75-80% of expat money matters are related to the US side of the equation. So, while we may more often than not use Israeli examples, they may be relevant to other...