How to coordinate retirement across two systems

Create a benefits inventory

List every public, employer, and personal retirement benefit in both countries. Record the earliest claiming date, normal claiming date, inflation adjustment, survivor option, beneficiary, currency, and estimated tax treatment.

Do not assume a familiar account keeps the same character after a move. A plan that is tax-deferred in one country may be treated differently by the other, and treaty language may distinguish pensions, annuities, social security, and lump sums.

• U.S. Social Security and foreign social insurance
• Defined benefit and cash-balance pensions
• 401(k), IRA, and foreign personal pensions
• Employer equity and deferred compensation
• Taxable savings earmarked for retirement

Check social-insurance coordination

The United States has international Social Security agreements with certain countries. These agreements can help coordinate coverage and, in some cases, allow work credits from both systems to help a person qualify for benefits.

An agreement does not mean benefits are automatically combined or taxed the same way. Confirm coverage certificates, contribution history, eligibility, and the separate benefit calculation with the relevant agencies.

Design withdrawals around taxes and currency

A retirement projection should show spending currency and asset currency separately. Holding every asset in the future spending currency may sacrifice diversification, while ignoring currency can create unstable purchasing power.

Model the order of withdrawals under both countries’ rules. Required distributions, pension commencement, capital-gain realization, foreign tax credits, and charitable plans may pull in different directions. Revisit the sequence when residence changes because the optimal account to draw from can change with it.

• Base spending and discretionary spending by currency
• Income floors from public and private pensions
• Taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free account access
• Survivor cash flow after the first death
• Healthcare and long-term-care assumptions