How to move assets from PH to US

[Adventine 3,196]

We're very early in the process (just filed my K-1 petition in June 2020) but we're researching how to legally move my PH-domiciled assets to the US.

 

I (the beneficiary, a PH citizen) have assets in the PH (cash, stocks and bonds). All of it is in PHP (Philippine pesos). I don't have a US bank account, since I'm not qualified for one yet.

 

My fiancé and I have tested money transfers both ways. He's sent money from his US bank accounts to my PH accounts through Transferwise and Paypal.

 

I've also successfully sent him money via Paypal but the fees are way too expensive. We haven't found another way to move my PH assets to a US account.

 

There's no urgent need for me to move my assets until I actually move to the US, which could be many months/years from now. When the time comes, though, I'd like to do it legally, efficiently, and with the minimum amount of fees.

 

Any ideas? 

[Scandi 4,166]

Have you tried transferwise? Nevermind, saw now that you had. It's the only thing I have seen recommended. 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Scandi

[JFH 12,190]

*~*~*country-specific question moved to Philippines forum*~*~*

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

My recommendation is to open a US bank account when you qualify and do a bank wire when you want to transfer funds.......It's fast, simple, and secure......there are no taxes on wealth in the US, and transferring funds is not generally considered income.  My wife has a considerable amount of assets in her country. The only real hassle for her is gathering her annual passive income and reporting her foreign bank accounts and asset information for US tax reporting.

 

EDIT:  My wife leaves her assets in her country, and she wires money to her personal US account when needed .  We each have a personal account, and we have a joint account which we use for normal household expenses.  We each transfer funds from our personal accounts to our joint account monthly.......it works well for us.

 

Edited August 22, 2020 by Lucky Cat

[Allovertheworld 355]

BDO and Chase Bank used to have a working relationship, and may still have. You could transfer fund for like $4.

[Allovertheworld 355]

49 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

EDIT:  My wife leaves her assets in her country, and she wires money to her personal US account when needed .  We each have a personal account, and we have a joint account which we use for normal household expenses.  We each transfer funds from our personal accounts to our joint account monthly.......it works well for us.

 

Philippines banks can go out of business and isn't uncommon for it to happen.  Plus the PDIC, only insure cash up to like 500,000 pesos or only $10,000 US Dollars.

 

So no way in hates would most anyone want to leave money in Philippines, when they can only insure $10K

 

 

[Allovertheworld 355]

1 hour ago, Adventine said:

We're very early in the process (just filed my K-1 petition in June 2020) but we're researching how to legally move my PH-domiciled assets to the US.

 

I (the beneficiary, a PH citizen) have assets in the PH (cash, stocks and bonds). All of it is in PHP (Philippine pesos). I don't have a US bank account, since I'm not qualified for one yet.

 

My fiancé and I have tested money transfers both ways. He's sent money from his US bank accounts to my PH accounts through Transferwise and Paypal.

 

I've also successfully sent him money via Paypal but the fees are way too expensive. We haven't found another way to move my PH assets to a US account.

 

There's no urgent need for me to move my assets until I actually move to the US, which could be many months/years from now. When the time comes, though, I'd like to do it legally, efficiently, and with the minimum amount of fees.

 

Any ideas? 

Just wire the money from bank to bank.  Only pay a wire fee which is small.

 

I sent $30,000 US Dollars to PI recently and was charged like $12.  I am sure if sending from Philippines to USA it would be cheaper, like most things are.

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

2 minutes ago, Allovertheworld said:

Philippines banks can go out of business and isn't uncommon for it to happen.  Plus the PDIC, only insure cash up to like 500,000 pesos or only $10,000 US Dollars.

 

So no way in hates would most anyone want to leave money in Philippines, when they can only insure $10K

 

 

I would certainly consider a wholesale move of those assets......LOL.

[Adventine 3,196]

1 hour ago, Lucky Cat said:

My recommendation is to open a US bank account when you qualify and do a bank wire when you want to transfer funds.......It's fast, simple, and secure......there are no taxes on wealth in the US, and transferring funds is not generally considered income.  My wife has a considerable amount of assets in her country. The only real hassle for her is gathering her annual passive income and reporting her foreign bank accounts and asset information for US tax reporting.

 

EDIT:  My wife leaves her assets in her country, and she wires money to her personal US account when needed .  We each have a personal account, and we have a joint account which we use for normal household expenses.  We each transfer funds from our personal accounts to our joint account monthly.......it works well for us.

 

 

Thanks a lot. We're still discussing, but my fiancé and I are moving towards the same arrangement.

 

I haven't decided yet how much of my assets I want to move, but until the visa is approved and we get married, most of the assets are staying put anyway.

 

11 minutes ago, Allovertheworld said:

Just wire the money from bank to bank.  Only pay a wire fee which is small.

 

I sent $30,000 US Dollars to PI recently and was charged like $12.  I am sure if sending from Philippines to USA it would be cheaper, like most things are.

 

Thanks, that's very useful. What bank did you use? Also, did you transfer from your US bank account to a PH bank account in your name, or someone else's PH bank account?

 

I'll have to check if my bank (fortunately  BDO) still has an agreement with Chase (funnily enough, one of fiancé's banks). 

 

Ideally, I want to transfer my PH assets to my own US bank account. But I'll need to be in the US and have the legal status to open a bank account in the first place.

 

Current BDO wire transfer fees are:

 

• Service Charge: $ 10.00 (BDO & Local)
• $10.00 (Foreign)
• A $25 additional charge for Foreign Wire Transfer will be debited from your account if On-Us is selected in Charge Type Field

 

 

 

 

 

 

[flicks1998 1,044]

5 hours ago, Adventine said:

 

Thanks a lot. We're still discussing, but my fiancé and I are moving towards the same arrangement.

 

I haven't decided yet how much of my assets I want to move, but until the visa is approved and we get married, most of the assets are staying put anyway.

 

 

Thanks, that's very useful. What bank did you use? Also, did you transfer from your US bank account to a PH bank account in your name, or someone else's PH bank account?

 

I'll have to check if my bank (fortunately  BDO) still has an agreement with Chase (funnily enough, one of fiancé's banks). 

 

Ideally, I want to transfer my PH assets to my own US bank account. But I'll need to be in the US and have the legal status to open a bank account in the first place.

 

Current BDO wire transfer fees are:

 

• Service Charge: $ 10.00 (BDO & Local)
• $10.00 (Foreign)
• A $25 additional charge for Foreign Wire Transfer will be debited from your account if On-Us is selected in Charge Type Field

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving your money from the PI to the US via a bank transfer is easy.  No problems at all, unlike some countries, ex China, etc would make it extremely difficult to take money out of the country.  Even the money send places make it easy. 

 

For your stocks, bonds, in the PI, you may want to look at selling these as once you get your green card, you can buy stocks, bonds in the US and the management fees and other fees are much much cheaper.  The PI and other SE Asia countries have ridiculous mutual fund fees, broker fees, etc etc.  Even a 1% difference can be a ton of money.  You can find alot of funds with low fees and good return in the US.  Also, if you want to stay active in the Philippines market, there are multiple ETFs traded on the US exchanges that you can look at with low fees and decent returns.  You can even hedge against PHP depreciation if you will continue to have expenses in the Philippines while living in the US. 

 

As a new immigrant, if your fiance is not up to speed on financial management, I would highly suggest taking a class at a community college or elsewhere that teaches you personal financial management.  I cant stress this enough.  Most Americans are poor at this practice which is why so many are debt ridden.  This class or course will teach you how to manage your debt (and keep your freedom), plus teach you on to manage daily finances, finances in a recession, finances when the economy is good, brief overview on taxes, etc. etc. Will also teach you about stocks, the risks of stocks, mutual funds, bonds, etc etc etc etc.  If you know the basics, you will be way ahead of other Americans.  

 

Later when the time comes for you to consider citizenship, youll need to know that once you become a US citizen (Im not sure on a PR)  but you will be taxed on worldwide income, you will need to file taxes yearly even if you didnt work in the US and you will need to file FAFTA along with other various bank forms declaring all of your accounts overseas.  I had to do this for the last 10 years even I never put one foot in the US during that time and is the #1 reason once my son gets to 18, and my fiance becomes settled, I will get rid of my US citizenship.  Its one of the few countries in the world that requires you to declare everything based off of citizenship.  Once you work for awhile, youll probably build up considerable wealth and I would advise having a tax advisor in both the US and Philippines for this.  

 

Finally, dont trust others with your money.  If your going to work with a financial advisor in the US, get a recommendation from someone.  If you do have a financial advisor, ask if they are a fiduciary.  If not, you need to be very careful as these financial advisors may steer you into over priced products which in 20-30 years could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Thats why I recommend getting a good understanding of your own personal financial management in the US and you keeping as much control of this as possible.  

 

[Adventine 3,196]

@flicks1998

That is an amazing answer. Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed post. 

 

I'm glad to say all your advice dovetails with our own research. I actually met the fiancé on a personal fiance forum, and we originally bonded about saving and investing money (real romantic, I know). 

 

Apparently, part of the appeal was that I was self-supporting long before I met him, and have never had any debt.

 

He's a financial analyst (not an adviser) and we are already discussing the best Vanguard/Fidelity low cost funds for our goals and risk profiles. He's also excited about me maxing out my tax-advantaged accounts (intially with his income, but eventually with my own, once I start working).

 

Still, I'm grateful for the very PH-specific advice! It's a validation of a great deal that we've been discussing as a couple.

[flicks1998 1,044]

2 hours ago, Adventine said:

@flicks1998

That is an amazing answer. Thank you for taking the time to write such a detailed post. 

 

I'm glad to say all your advice dovetails with our own research. I actually met the fiancé on a personal fiance forum, and we originally bonded about saving and investing money (real romantic, I know). 

 

Apparently, part of the appeal was that I was self-supporting long before I met him, and have never had any debt.

 

He's a financial analyst (not an adviser) and we are already discussing the best Vanguard/Fidelity low cost funds for our goals and risk profiles. He's also excited about me maxing out my tax-advantaged accounts (intially with his income, but eventually with my own, once I start working).

 

Still, I'm grateful for the very PH-specific advice! It's a validation of a great deal that we've been discussing as a couple.

I have used Vanguard alot as they are good low cost funds.  In fact quite a bit of my 401K is in Vanguard as well as Fidelity.  Vanguard is a good option to use.  Also, I have had friends retire in their 40s by just putting savings in index funds.  Its not "sexy" per se and may be boring, but index funds have proven time and time again to be an excellent choice of investments. 

[Adventine 3,196]

1 hour ago, flicks1998 said:

I have used Vanguard alot as they are good low cost funds.  In fact quite a bit of my 401K is in Vanguard as well as Fidelity.  Vanguard is a good option to use.  Also, I have had friends retire in their 40s by just putting savings in index funds.  Its not "sexy" per se and may be boring, but index funds have proven time and time again to be an excellent choice of investments. 

Do the words "Boglehead" or "Mustachian" mean anything to you?

 

In any case, glad to know someone else here promoting financial responsibility.

[TVC 244]

Put it all in bitcoin.

[Talako 785]

3 hours ago, Adventine said:

Do the words "Boglehead" or "Mustachian" mean anything to you?

 

In any case, glad to know someone else here promoting financial responsibility.

I see your "Boglehead" and "Mustachian" and raise you J.L. Collins.

 

His stock series is pretty good.