My banking is getting a bit complicated. First, we’re trying to open a couple of CDs to hold the money from selling our Arizona house. That would have gone a bit smoother if I hadn’t typed in the wrong account number to fund one of them. (That is, the number was for one of our accounts, just not the one with the money in it.) Next trick is to make sure these are insured individually by the FDIC, not together with our other accounts, so that the whole amount is covered.
Even more complex are the questions about my retirement savings. They’re taking out money for three Dutch pensions, which is fine if I can get it back when I retire. Otherwise I need to see if I can get exempted. I keep forgetting to bring in the phone number so I can call them during working hours. Meanwhile, to compensate for the 401(k) I don’t have, I want to transfer money to my US bank account, so I can transfer it to my US brokerage account (same bank) so I can invest some every week or month into a mutual fund. The brokerage account internet site doesn’t seem to have a way to automate that, but maybe they can arrange it for me over the phone. The hard part of that is getting the money to my US bank. I tried a wire transfer from the Dutch bank’s website on Sunday, but it hasn’t shown up in my US account yet. I did just have one idea, though: I could Paypal myself the money. I wonder how their fees compare to wire transfer fees? For that matter, I wonder how the fees compare to the interest I’d earn?
Moving abroad is rewarding, but complicated.
I’m dealing with banking issues right now too, but I know it’s so much harder from another country! Hopefully the banks will be helpful.