As an expat, you don’t need 1,000 personal finance tools.
You need the ones that actually work.
I have spent 50+ hours researching money tools that work for professionals living overseas.
Today in 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn:
- 📊 Multi-currency net worth & expense trackers
- 🏡 US expat tax service & SG property calculator
- 🌱 3 cost-efficient brokerage and investment tools
- 🛫 How to travel visa-free in APAC
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12 financial tools I can’t live without
Here is a list of tools I personally have used or know others who have (includes affiliate links):
Tracking Finances
Kubera
Price:
US$15/mo (DM for $100 off)
What is it:
Holistic tool that auto-tracks your family’s net worth across currencies and accounts, analyzes your portfolio, and plans future scenarios.
Lunch Money
Price:
US$10/mo (Use link for 1 month free)
What is it:
Simplifies expense tracking and budgeting with easy bank integrations across 17 countries, even including crypto accounts. I don’t use this avidly, but know expats who do.
Free Net Worth Tracker
Price:
Free
What is it:
Net worth tracking template designed for expats, like myself who have non-US accounts, multiple currencies and shared partner finances.
Free Net Worth Benchmark Calculator
Price:
Free
What is it:
Benchmarking tool that lets you find out your net worth percentile amongst Money Abroad subscribers in your age group - including expat professionals working at top companies like Meta, Google, Amazon, Stripe, and BCG.
Save & invest
Interactive Brokers
Price:
US$0 account min, 0.08% per trade
What is it:
My go-to international brokerage. Most brokers are tied to a local country, but IB allows you to keep your account open when you move, with very favorable low FX rates.
Stratosphere
Price:
Free (Paid: starts at US$19.99/mo)
What is it:
One-stop shop for all investor research, Stratosphere provides global equity coverage on 40,000 stocks and funds with 35 years of historical financials.
Portfolio Visualizer
Price:
Free (Paid: starts at US$19/mo)
What is it:
Comprehensive suite of portfolio analysis tools that helps you compare and analyze portfolios and investment products. I personally use the backtest asset allocation tool to compare portfolios.
Send money abroad
Wise
Price:
Starts at .43% per send
What is it:
Wise is an online money transfer app with low-fees and 50+ currencies.
Top tip: Use scheduled transfers to automate your cross-border investing.
Travel visa-free
APEC Business Travel Card
Price:
What is it:
My favorite, lesser known life hack for business travellers to save 100’s of hours. The ABTC card (available in 19 countries) enables visa-free travel in APAC for up to 5 years, with designated express lanes at immigration.
Receive mail virtually
Stable
Price:
US$49/mo (Use link for 20% off)
What is it:
My US business mailbox. When you’re on the move, Stable offers a permanent business address for all your company documents and mail, and forwards any physical packages worldwide.
File taxes
Greenback Expat Tax
Price:
Starts at US$485/filing
What is it:
One-stop shop online tax service for American expats. I used Greenback to file my 2020 & 2021 US tax returns with a positive experience.
Buy real estate
Singapore Residential Property Calculator
Price:
Free
What is it:
Created by solopreneur friend Michael Duyvesteijn, this Google sheet helps foreigners like myself research Singapore property. It breaks down P&L & Cashflow projections for 3 scenarios (Don't Buy, Buy & Occupy, Buy & Rent).
🌐 Beyond your borders
🇸🇬 HDB resale market may have peaked, stabilizing now (link)
🇯🇵 Japan is Asia’s most expensive location to send expats: avg of $370k package (link)
🇪🇺 15 European countries with the best healthcare for expats (link)
🇺🇸 Healthcare jobs drove 35% of US job gains in last 3 months (link)
🇺🇸 20% of cheapest US funds had inflows of $394B vs outflows of $734B for the rest (link)
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