In the next few years I'll be relocating to Germany and then likely a decade or so later retiring early somewhere else in Europe. For those U.S. Expats, which brokerage do you recommend: Interactive Brokers or Schwab International?

I have some ETFs already for my base, dividend earning portion of the portfolio. So if I have to focus on individual stock while in Europe that will be ok for diversification. I know I'll have to pay "phantom" taxes in Germany on the funds.

handling global tax rules while living away from home brings endless headaches with paperwork and quarterly bills that never seem to match expectations.

paying by the hour for every little question about foreign income reporting or asset compliance gets old fast when a five minute email turns into a massive charge, so i am curious if predictable retainers are worth it or if they just cut you off from real depth when you need it most.

firms like Wardle Partners are starting to offer fixed monthly packages instead of standard billing, which makes me wonder how well flat rates actually work for complicated multi country situations.

Hi there, I am completely new to transfers of this size and am needing some advice. My Mum died last year and her grant of probate has just been issued. I am needing to move a large sum from the executors account to my Australian bank (Bank Australia).

After doing some research I am in the process of opening an Expat account with HSBC (I have a UK passport but am not a resident) and planned to use a forex agent to get it here.

However, I am now reading that I can simply use a forex agent directly and that they can provide UK holding account details to the executors and they transfer it directly from there.

Any advice here? The executors have been truly terrible in competence and communication, so I don't want any hiccups on their side and potentially simply providing them with UK bank details via HSBC is more straightforward than getting them to engage with an agent.

Also, reviews for agents to use are all over the place, I guess everyone has had a bad experience with one of them and then it's on reddit forever - but as someone completely new to this with a life-changing amount of money - it is very nerve wracking! I'm thinking of using OFX as they are registered within the UK & Australia.

Any advice appreciated.