Americans Abroad · 2026 Edition

Your money abroad,
finally explained.

The honest, no-fluff financial guides for Americans living in the top expat destinations. Taxes, visas, banking, property, and healthcare — verified for 2026.

Browse Country Guides See What's Inside
2026-verified figures
Free lifetime updates
No fluff. No generic advice.
🇲🇽 Most Popular Guide
Americans in Mexico
Financial Survival Guide 2026
30
Pages of verified content
24
Clickable resource links
$0
Extra for future updates
2026
Last verified Feb 2026
Get the Mexico Guide — $27
All Destinations

Pick your country. Get the guide.

Each guide covers taxes, visas, banking, property, healthcare, and cost of living — specific to that country's rules for Americans.

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1
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Mexico
The #1 destination for American expats — and the most misunderstood.
RFC, fideicomiso & restricted zone rules
PFIC trap, FBAR & FATCA explained
RESICO regime: as low as 1% on gross income
2026 cost of living: CDMX, Mérida, Oaxaca
$27 · 30 pages · Free updates
Get Guide →
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2
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Portugal
NHR is closed. IFICI is here. Everything changed — the guide didn't miss it.
IFICI (NHR 2.0) fully explained — Jan 15, 2027 deadline
D7 vs D8 visa decision flowchart
NIF, banking & FATCA difficulties for Americans
Lisbon, Porto & Algarve cost of living 2026
$27 · 32 pages · Free updates
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3
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Coming Soon
Canada
Closest border, biggest tax surprises for Americans.
US-Canada tax treaty deep dive
TFSA & RRSP — PFIC traps for Americans
PR vs citizenship vs work permit
TBA
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4
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Coming Soon
Spain
Beckham Law, Autonomo registration & the NIE maze.
Beckham Law tax regime for new residents
Digital Nomad Visa 2026 requirements
Barcelona vs Madrid cost comparison
TBA
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5
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Coming Soon
Germany
Anmeldung, solidarity surcharge & the highest expat tax bills.
Germany's top 45% income tax + surcharge
Anmeldung, Steuer-ID & health insurance
Berlin vs Munich cost breakdown
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6
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United Kingdom
Post-Brexit visas, non-dom status & UK pension traps.
Skilled Worker & Global Talent visa routes
UK ISA accounts & PFIC complications
London vs regional living costs
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7
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Australia
Superannuation traps, franking credits & the 45% headline rate.
Superannuation as PFIC — the hidden trap
Skilled Independent vs employer-sponsored
Sydney vs Melbourne vs Brisbane costs
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8
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Coming Soon
France
Wealth tax, assurance-vie & the ISF trap waiting for you.
French wealth tax (IFI) for Americans
Carte de séjour & long-stay visa routes
Paris vs regional France costs
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9
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Costa Rica
Pensionado visa, territorial taxation & pura vida banking.
Territorial tax system — foreign income exempt
Pensionado & Rentista visa options
San José vs beach towns cost comparison
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10
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Panama
Friendly Nations visa, territorial tax & the Pensionado discount program.
Friendly Nations visa — easiest path
Territorial tax: foreign income tax-free in Panama
Pensionado discounts up to 50% on services
TBA
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Why These Guides

Not another generic expat blog.

Most expat content is repurposed, outdated, and written by people who've never filed a Form 8621 or dealt with a FATCA bank rejection.

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2026-verified numbers
Every income threshold, tax bracket, visa requirement, and cost figure is verified for 2026 — not copy-pasted from a 2022 blog post that still circulates as "current."
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Written for Americans specifically
As a US citizen, your tax situation is fundamentally different from every other expat nationality. FBAR, FATCA, PFIC traps, SE tax — these guides are built around that reality.
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The expensive mistakes section
Every guide opens with the 5 mistakes that cost Americans $10,000 or more. One avoided mistake pays for the guide hundreds of times over.
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Clickable links to every resource
Every official portal, every vetted professional firm, every government form — linked directly in the PDF so you click, not search. No more Googling what SAT or FinCEN mean.
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Free lifetime updates
Tax laws change. Visa thresholds update. New regimes appear. Every guide purchase includes all future updates at no extra cost — automatically delivered to your email.
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Expat-tested, not theoretical
The banking section, the professionals list, the neighbourhood guides — all verified by people actually living there. Not scraped from tripadvisor and repackaged.
⚠️ Costly Mistakes

What this guide prevents.

These are the real mistakes Americans make abroad — not hypotheticals. The penalties are real. The guides cover every one of them.

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Investing in foreign mutual funds or ETFs without knowing about PFIC rules
Effective tax rate: 50%+
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Missing FBAR filings for 3+ years because "I don't have much abroad"
Penalty: $16,994+ per year unfiled
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Buying beach property in Mexico without a fideicomiso bank trust
Result: Legally void purchase
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Paying a local accountant with zero US expat experience to file your taxes
Common cost: $10,000–15,000 in errors
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Missing IFICI (NHR 2.0) application deadline in Portugal — January 15, 2027
Cost: Lifetime 48% tax rate vs 20%
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Assuming you stopped being a US taxpayer when you moved abroad
Reality: The US taxes citizens forever
Reader Reviews

From readers who've been there.

Real feedback from Americans who bought the guide before making expensive decisions.

★★★★★
"The PFIC section alone saved me from putting $40,000 into a Portuguese fund. My bank literally recommended it. I had no idea. This guide paid for itself about 800 times over."
MK
Michael K.
American in Lisbon · Portugal Guide
★★★★★
"I'd been in Mexico for two years on tourist visas before reading this. Got my RFC, opened a real bank account, and actually understand my tax situation for the first time. Should have bought this day one."
SR
Sarah R.
American in CDMX · Mexico Guide
★★★★★
"The recommended contador in the Mexico guide already found two years of filing errors my previous accountant made. Correcting them will save me more than $8,000. The guide cost $27."
JT
James T.
Freelancer in Oaxaca · Mexico Guide
About the Guides

Built because the right information didn't exist.

Every guide started as personal research — trying to understand the FBAR threshold, figure out whether a local investment account would create a PFIC problem, or work out which Portuguese accountant actually understood US expat tax law.

What didn't exist was a single, current, US-specific resource that covered all of it without being either hopelessly generic or buried in a $3,000 attorney consultation.

2026
All figures verified this year
10+
Country guides planned
$0
Cost of future updates
∞
Value of avoiding a PFIC

Every guide includes

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    Full tax system breakdown specific to Americans
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    FBAR, FATCA & PFIC sections in plain English
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    Visa options with 2026-verified income thresholds
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    Banking — which banks actually accept Americans
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    Realistic cost of living with neighbourhood breakdowns
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    Private healthcare costs & recommended providers
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    Vetted US expat CPAs & local accountants
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    Ready-to-send email templates (bank, accountant)
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    Annual tax calendar: US + local deadlines
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    First month checklist with week-by-week actions
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    Free lifetime updates as laws change
FAQ

Common questions.

No — and any guide that claims to give you personal financial advice should be a red flag. These guides provide detailed, verified information so you can have an informed conversation with qualified professionals. Every guide includes a vetted professionals list because the goal is to get you to the right advisor, not to replace one.
Every figure — tax brackets, visa income thresholds, cost of living numbers, healthcare costs — was verified in February 2026. When laws or thresholds change, the guide is updated and all previous purchasers receive the new version automatically via Gumroad at no cost.
Absolutely. Many readers buy the guide 6–18 months before moving to understand what they're getting into financially before committing. The "before you go" section specifically covers what to set up while you're still on US soil — accounts, credit cards, and financial housekeeping that's much harder to do once you've moved.
A professionally designed PDF, 30–35 pages depending on the country, with clickable hyperlinks to every official portal, resource, and recommended professional. Delivered instantly via Gumroad on purchase. Works on any device.
A Passive Foreign Investment Company is essentially any non-US investment fund — including perfectly normal local bank products that your new country's banker will recommend without hesitation. The IRS taxes gains from PFICs at the highest ordinary income rate for each year you held the investment, plus compound interest. Effective rates above 50% are common. Every guide dedicates a full section to this because it's the single most expensive mistake Americans make abroad.
Yes — 30-day no-questions refund via Gumroad if the guide doesn't deliver value. Given the PFIC section alone routinely saves readers thousands of dollars, refund requests are rare, but the option is always there.

Stop guessing. Start knowing.

Pick your country. Get the 2026-verified guide. One avoided mistake pays for it hundreds of times over.

Browse All Guides 🇲🇽 Mexico Guide — $27