International US$ Life Insurance for non-US citizens and US expats living abroad

Why I’m interested in International Life Insurance

Why do I love helping people with international 🌏 life insurance?

I have been interested in cultures 🇨🇦 🇨🇭 🇺🇸 and languages since high school when I first started studying Spanish. In college, I minored in Spanish, and studied in Madrid, Spain 🇪🇸 for a semester. I obtained my Master’s from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, which included the first year of studies in Bologna, Italy 🇮🇹 where I learned to speak Italian. When I completed my MA in International Relations, I went to work in Switzerland 🇨🇭 to be with my (now) husband. I worked in Geneva, and spent the days speaking French 🇫🇷 with my clients while working at Credit Suisse. In all honesty, moving from Spanish, to Italian to French was not that difficult – giving they are all romance languages, and I’m lucky to have the elusive ‘language gene’. In any case, you can read more about me here.

Fast forward many years, and I have the amazing 🙏🏼 opportunity to combine my love of languages and cultures with my financial planning 👩🏻‍💻💵🗂expertise. This combination is especially relevant when it comes to working with ex-pat and multinational cross-border families. So my love of languages and cultures AND financial planning and investing combine nicely in the domain of international life insurance. 

Why might someone else be interested in International Life Insurance? 

Many families uncover a potential need for 💵 dollar-based international life insurance to solve for their estate planning and charitable needs. Anyone who owns assets in the US is subject to US estate taxes – regardless of whether they are a US citizen or not. Further, non-US citizens will only receive a $60k estate tax exemption amount, vs. $11.58 million for US citizens in 2020. Let’s go through an example to explain why this is important to consider. 

As an example, let’s say you bought a 🏡 home in Miami 🏖 for family vacations.

  • This home is now worth $2 million.

  • You, the owner, and non-US citizen, will receive a $60k estate tax exemption at your passing.

  • That leaves an estate taxable amount of $1,940,000.

  • At a potential 40% US estate tax rate, your estate may owe as much as $776,000 in taxes.

  • But let’s believe that your family would like to keep the home to continue the family vacation tradition. The estate tax can be paid out of your other assets, if available. OR, if you had the proper planning in place, your estate would use life insurance proceeds to fulfill the estate tax bill, and avoid the need to sell the beloved family vacation home. 

This is just one example of why a non-US person may want to consider international life insurance. If you plan appropriately, often, the use of life insurance as an estate planning tool, can help the family retain hard-earned assets in the family, versus potentially having to liquidate assets in a fire-sale to cover estate taxes. 

Why else might you consider International Life Insurance? 

Another potential reason for considering international life insurance is for US 🇺🇸 citizens who are sent to work abroad 🇨🇦, and are now ex-pats. Sometimes, their existing life insurance (if they have it) may not cover them when they move abroad, unbeknownst to them. It is, thus, very important to review your coverages before moving abroad, to ensure your existing solutions will continue to work for you, and/or update coverages for your new reality. Conversely, if you are a non-US citizen living and working in the US – you may also be a candidate for international life insurance. 

How do I qualify for International Life Insurance? It all starts with your NEXUS. 

So how do you know if you would even be a potential candidate for an international life insurance policy? The next factor in the equation is if you will qualify for a US Domestic Product, or rather an international product. The answer to this question often revolves around something called NEXUS.  

Do you have strong, limited, or no nexus (ties) to the US? 

Some of the information we need to determine your nexus include:

·      Your citizenship, birth country, and primary residence

·      Time 📆 spent in the US

·      US assets, businesses 🗄, properties 🏡, bank accounts 💳

·      The purpose of your insurance request

By doing very thorough due diligence into your specific situation, we will have a better idea if we should request quotes for US insurance products, or if we should explore options in the international insurance market. Obviously, your current health and medical history will also play a very important role in what solutions may be available, as well as pricing. 

We work closely with all our clients to understand their unique values 🌱, goals 🥅, life situation👨🏽‍🤝‍👨🏾, to propose solutions uniquely tailored to your specific needs 🤝. 

Are there other reasons to consider International Life Insurance? 

There are many more situations where international life insurance may be a solution to consider for your needs.  

Some examples include:

·      Planning for multigenerational 👵🏽 👶🏽 global wealth transfers.

·      Creating liquidity for estate and inheritance taxes 🧾.

·      Diversifying with US dollar 💵 assets to complement your home assets.

·      Earmarking funds for philanthropic projects 🎗.

·      Working abroad ✈️ for your firm.

·      Non-US citizens working in the US 🇺🇸 .

My goal is to help clients protect and enhance their legacies – and international clients often arrive at the conclusion that an international life insurance product may suit their needs. We review every case individually, and propose solutions that apply to your needs, goals, and wants. 

If any of these ideas intrigue you, or you would like to learn about others, please 📲 CONTACT ME TODAY .