I exclusively invest my assets in the US securities and will continue this manner after My wife and I move to Colombia. I just want to stay with what I am familiar with, especially after we retire. I want to maintain my US financial accounts (e.g. Investment, Bank and Credit Cards) while living abroad. I know that many ex-pats face the same issue and would like to have your experience/opinion about this.
1. Investment Accounts
Charles Schwab allows foreign residents to maintain investment accounts. This should apply to US citizens who live outside US. To transfer fund from the Schwab account to another bank is $25 per wire transaction. I prefer to set up an ACH for this.
2. Bank/Credit Card Accounts
Charles Schwab offers a checking account with an investment account for US residents but does not allow foreign residents to open/maintain the checking account. All the banks and credit card companies probably require a US address. If I cannot have a US bank account, I need to wire my fund from my investment account to a local bank in Colombia. This would not work well for me. So I am thinking of renting a mailbox (e.g. UPS, PostaAnnex, etc.) and use it as my mailing address for my current bank and credit card accounts. The bottle-neck of this option is that ATM/credit cards are sent to this US address.
1. Investment Accounts
Charles Schwab allows foreign residents to maintain investment accounts. This should apply to US citizens who live outside US. To transfer fund from the Schwab account to another bank is $25 per wire transaction. I prefer to set up an ACH for this.
2. Bank/Credit Card Accounts
Charles Schwab offers a checking account with an investment account for US residents but does not allow foreign residents to open/maintain the checking account. All the banks and credit card companies probably require a US address. If I cannot have a US bank account, I need to wire my fund from my investment account to a local bank in Colombia. This would not work well for me. So I am thinking of renting a mailbox (e.g. UPS, PostaAnnex, etc.) and use it as my mailing address for my current bank and credit card accounts. The bottle-neck of this option is that ATM/credit cards are sent to this US address.
