International Investment Management
Investing for American Expats
Customized Portfolios for Expat Clients
As a U.S. expat, managing your investments while living abroad can be extremely challenging. From navigating complex cross-border tax issues to incorporating expat-specific investing considerations like currency risk, we’ll help you design a portfolio that suits your financial goals and meets U.S. tax compliance requirements.
4 Pillars of Expat Investing
- Diversification
- Strategic Rebalancing
- Low Expenses
- Tax Optimization
How We Select Investments
We believe your investment portfolio should be allocated in such a manner that balances your long-term growth needs with enough stability and security for the short term so that you can prosper in any market condition.
We don’t believe in market timing. We don’t believe in allocating portfolios just according to risk or age. At Creative Planning International, we work with Americans abroad and cross-border families to create a financial plan that’s based on your needs and goals as a U.S. expat. We deliver a customized portfolio built around your specific expat investment strategy, helping you maximize your wealth.
Take a Closer Look
4 Pillars of International Investing for Expats
At Creative Planning International, all our clients have customized portfolios. We personalize portfolios based on your needs and goals, as well as what’s appropriate for you. But all portfolios are designed with four key tenets of international investing in mind.
Diversification
Proper diversification can substantially mitigate losses incurred during a severe market downturn and help sustain portfolio stability. All investors, wherever they live, usually benefit from investing in a broad array of assets, including:
- U.S. stocks
- International stocks
- Bonds
- Emerging markets
- Real estate and other alternative investments
We help expats manage all these dimensions while making sure to manage currency risk within their portfolios and avoid common expat investment mistakes, such as holding foreign mutual funds.
Strategic Rebalancing
To stay true to your target asset allocation, we take profits on investments that have done well then allocate that money to some of the positions in your portfolio that have underperformed—and we do so in the most tax-efficient manner possible.
It’s not a time-determined process; it’s dynamic and market driven. Our trading team monitors global markets on a regular basis to act on opportunities as they arise.
Low Expenses
While individual portfolios will vary based on your needs and goals, we seek to keep the average cost of your holdings as low as possible so that your total return isn’t eroded by annual fees and expenses.
We seek to invest in lower-fee products so that you can make the most of your money.
Tax Optimization
In addition to managing tax-efficient trades, we help ensure expats are investing in the right accounts for tax-optimized outcomes. We guide clients on how to employ IRAs and Roth IRAs in parallel to retirement accounts in their country of residence while seeking to ensure all accounts meet tax compliance requirements.
At Creative Planning International, we design your portfolio and financial plan with a tax strategy that takes advantage of the tax treaties that apply to your country (or countries) or residence.
