What this site is, and what it isn't

Not advice

Everything on this site is one person's record and research. It is not investment, tax, legal or immigration advice, and it does not create any professional relationship. Cross-border money questions turn on facts specific to you — citizenship and visa status, your state of last residence, marital status, the timing of your move, and the policies of your particular bank or brokerage. Two people in apparently identical situations can get opposite correct answers. Use a qualified cross-border professional before acting.

Accuracy and timing

Tax thresholds, filing rules and company policies change. Articles carry a publication date and, where revised, an updated date. I link to primary sources — the IRS, FinCEN, the Japanese National Tax Agency, the Japan Pension Service — so you can check whether a figure still holds. Where practitioners genuinely disagree on a point, I say so rather than present one reading as settled. If you find an error, tell me; I correct articles and note the change rather than quietly editing.

Affiliate disclosure

Some articles contain affiliate links. If you sign up for a service through one of them, I may receive a commission. This costs you nothing extra, and it does not change the price you pay. Current affiliate relationships:

• Tello — low-cost US mobile service, relevant to keeping a US number for 2FA.
• Taxes for Expats — a US expat tax preparation firm.
• Wise — international money transfer.

Every article that contains such a link carries a disclosure at the top, before the link appears. These links are marked rel="sponsored" in the page source. Links to primary sources, government pages and companies I have no relationship with are ordinary links and earn nothing.

What the money does not do: no company has paid me to write an article, review a product favourably, or leave something out. Topics come from problems I ran into or that readers ask about. When a service I have a link to is the wrong choice for a given situation, the article says so — an article that recommends everything is worth nothing to you and, eventually, nothing to me either.

Privacy and analytics

This site uses Google Analytics to count visits and to see which links readers click, and MailerLite for the email list. I do not sell reader data. If you subscribe, you can unsubscribe from any email.

Contact

Corrections, questions and disagreements are welcome via X.