Lifers...how do you plan to retire?

In my planning, I have always assumed CPP and OAS would be zero.

That's a safe bet! The current situation in Canada with throwing money at everyone will definitely effect Canada for generations.

It's sad but Canada may bankrupt itself

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe0Kdg7EaPk

In this clip, Booise reacted to actor Geoffrey Owens going viral after being found working at a local Trader Joe's. Boosie said that he believes Owens didn't have much hustle in him as far as acting goes because he hasn't heard anything about him acting since the Cosby show. He and Vlad also talked about how they're hustling now to avoid having to work at an advanced age.

It's sad but Canada may bankrupt itself

Nah. The gov't is shrewd. Most of the huge land mass is "Crown Land" which does not mean owned by the person wearing the crown, but Ottawa... which means the national gov't has no shortage of funds to milk to pay for whatever: retirement pay, especially if they vote!

I am from Canada, a country that's a successful pyramid scheme. It ain't ending soon (though California water needs and WTO challenges have put it in danger).

You referring to Canada pension of 200 dollars?  Well, that is because a couple of us didn't live and work many years in Canada?  We didn't pay much into the system and had very little residency there.  Obviously, if we lived there for years and paid into it regularly, we would be getting much more.  (You did say you were still paying into your UK pension even now?)

Yes, I was. With the UK state pension you can make voluntary payments when living abroad which I am currently doing.

I'm retiring in nine years. Can't wait. It will be the end
of a 35 year teaching career in Korea. I'm relying on
five things:

1/ Canadian pension - About CAD200.00/month
2/ Korean pension - About KRW1-1.5M/month
3/ Apartment equity - Currently about KRW700,000,000
4/ Inheritance - Not sure, maybe GBP200,000-300,000
5/ I also work at home doing web services for a Korean company.
     I will continue to do that as I enjoy it. - KRW400,000-500,000/month

I'm looking forward to spending summers on Koh Samui playing disc
golf and winters in Korea hot tenting.

How did you go about figuring out your Canadian pension? I assume you are referring to CPP?

Why would you want to spend winters here? lol

I sent CPP a letter and they replied. They took nine months.

I like camping.  But camping in Korea sucks in the summer. The
weather is too hot and rainy. Also the herd mentality of Koreans
means every campsite will be jam packed and overpriced. No thx.

I have friends on Koh Samui. If I go off-season, I can pay 50-75%
less than peak season. I can stay in five star resorts for months at
a time for the same price.

Yes. Americans who have declared residency in foreign countries for 12 months or longer are required to pay a resettlement fee of $5,000.
Do other countries not do the same?

Nope, at least NZ doesn't

For those who have gone the investment route, did you invest in Korea or your home country?
I've been looking to start investing myself - however, all the investment companies, and even banks, within NZ need me to be in NZ or planning to relocate back to NZ in the very near future before they will let me invest. :o

For those who have gone the investment route, did you invest in Korea or your home country?
I've been looking to start investing myself - however, all the investment companies, and even banks, within NZ need me to be in NZ or planning to relocate back to NZ in the very near future before they will let me invest. :o

I'm also curious on how to invest in the US while not residing there. Every online option I've looked into doesn't allow Americans living abroad to make an account. Any suggestions? (My husband is big into investing recently - along with his brother and dad - and wants to teach me the basics, but it'd be better for me to have my own account, rather than giving him the money to put into his, maybe. I'd be a conservative investor.)

I'm also curious on how to invest in the US while not residing there. Every online option I've looked into doesn't allow Americans living abroad to make an account. Any suggestions? (My husband is big into investing recently - along with his brother and dad - and wants to teach me the basics, but it'd be better for me to have my own account, rather than giving him the money to put into his, maybe. I'd be a conservative investor.)

I’ve opened accounts from Korea as long as you have an address in the USA. Etrade, stockpile, webull and robinhood.

*look into a roth ira and keep your money under your name!!

   at 08:40:15 am »
For those who have gone the investment route, did you invest in Korea or your home country?   

I know f all about investing but do people usually decide what country they want to invest in? I just give my money to a company and they decide what to invest in. Some of the stocks are in China, some India etc. I don't really pay attention as long as it's going up

I know f all about investing but do people usually decide what country they want to invest in? I just give my money to a company and they decide what to invest in. Some of the stocks are in China, some India etc. I don't really pay attention as long as it's going up

Yeah if you don’t want to bother with it then having someone else do it is fine. If you have specific stocks you want or markets to enter you can open a brokerage account or an ira account. I have a Roth IRA and a few brokerage accounts. Here is a referral link for webull to get free stocks

 https://act.webull.com/pm/l9SHzkKLB43N/whv/inviteUs/recommend_1546_A_advert

Yeah if you don’t want to bother with it then having someone else do it is fine. If you have specific stocks you want or markets to enter you can open a brokerage account or an ira account. I have a Roth IRA and a few brokerage accounts. Here is a referral link for webull to get free stocks

 https://act.webull.com/pm/l9SHzkKLB43N/whv/inviteUs/recommend_1546_A_advert

Can I do this with no western country address?

I’ve opened accounts from Korea as long as you have an address in the USA. Etrade, stockpile, webull and robinhood.

*look into a roth ira and keep your money under your name!!

I messed around a bit with Robinhood but haven't put any money in it for a while. Been considering starting to invest in a few stocks each month or something.

How does webull stack up vs robinhood?

I messed around a bit with Robinhood but haven't put any money in it for a while. Been considering starting to invest in a few stocks each month or something.

How does webull stack up vs robinhood?

Similar but webull has more analytics. I joined for the free stock but will add to the portfolio as i go.

I’ve opened accounts from Korea as long as you have an address in the USA. Etrade, stockpile, webull and robinhood.

*look into a roth ira and keep your money under your name!!

The couple places I've tried have rejected me because of my foreign residency. Do all of those places let Americans with residency abroad invest?

As for those websites - do they send lots of physical mail to the address? The only address I have in the US is my mother's, and she's already overwhelmed by all the mailings she gets from places I've signed up for (and my siblings). I've tried contacting the banks etc. to stop the mailings, but that hasn't done much. She's also thinking about moving soon.

I do have a bank account in the US as well, if that makes any difference.

The couple places I've tried have rejected me because of my foreign residency. Do all of those places let Americans with residency abroad invest?

As for those websites - do they send lots of physical mail to the address? The only address I have in the US is my mother's, and she's already overwhelmed by all the mailings she gets from places I've signed up for (and my siblings). I've tried contacting the banks etc. to stop the mailings, but that hasn't done much. She's also thinking about moving soon.

I do have a bank account in the US as well, if that makes any difference.

Yeah you have to use a us based address to register but some will let you enter a different mailing address. Also look for estatments rather than paper statements. You will have to provide a picture of your passport to prove your identity also.

https://www.stockbrokers.com/compare/robinhood-vs-webull

I have a Roth IRA and a few brokerage accounts.

Sorry for asking so many questions, but I looked into the Roth, and it says that you can't contribute if you don't make more money than the FEIE (foreign earned income tax exclusion).  I'm pretty sure I don't make more than that, since I've never had to pay any US taxes while here (though I've filed). So do you have to make a lot of money to contribute?

That's a safe bet! The current situation in Canada with throwing money at everyone will definitely effect Canada for generations.

It's sad but Canada may bankrupt itself

Trudeau may be a hack.  But I thought the CPP was independantly managed and at arms length from his free spending government.  The CPP was in fine shape, though if it starts making bad investments or the amount paid out is raised without extra premiums or investments to pay for it, that could be.  However, the Old Age Pension (OAP) which is not a contribution pension could be reduced if Canada experiences a debt crises 10 to 15 years from now.  Perhaps the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) with prescription drug coverage, which is attached to OAP could be vulnerable too.   

But, the CPP, which is individually contributed to, would probably be fine, even with an incompetent free spending borrowing PM.  My guess is the OAP and GIS would get cut back or reduced if not eliminated completely.  So, we will all get something.  No politician would gut it entirely.  They would have to cut other things in the future though to make up for all the free wheeling spending today. 

This said, it may be better for me to get Korean Pension too.  The public would revolt against their political leaders here if they tried to get rid of it.  That said, we will need to work longer or get some other income or investments to add onto these.

Sorry for asking so many questions, but I looked into the Roth, and it says that you can't contribute if you don't make more money than the FEIE (foreign earned income tax exclusion).  I'm pretty sure I don't make more than that, since I've never had to pay any US taxes while here (though I've filed). So do you have to make a lot of money to contribute?

Ah right sorry I forgot that part. I claim my income here and get a refund from the child tax credits. If you use the feie then you can’t contribute to a roth.

Just looked at the Webull application - I've applied before, and was rejected. They don't say why, so no idea there.

Btw, they want a "Resident Registration Number" (when you have "Country of Current Residence" as South Korea).  Is that my Korean alien card number, my SSN, or what? I couldn't find any clarification when I Googled it. Maybe it was that number being wrong that tripped me up.