We have been living outside the US since Sept 2023. We are self-employed and still working. We use a combination of 3 methods.
First, and foremost, we try to avoid physical mail as much as possible. This is something I did in the US for years before we left. Regularly requesting to be removed from all mailing lists, subscribing to electronic document delivery for all existing accounts, etc. I had to explain multiple times to some providers the importance of receiving electronic documents to ensure it happened. In some cases, we’ve had to re-signup for electronic delivery annually. We even deal with our CPA 100% digitally.
Second, we signed up for Anytime Mailbox, which gives us mailing services in the US. Almost all of our accounts use this mailing address, unless it’s not accepted (i.e. Wise will not accept it, and if we tried to open a new bank or brokerage account, it would also likely not be accepted). We chose a location that we were familiar with in the US before we moved so I had some comfort level of the staff and services. We also have family in that area, so if something gets mailed there that needs to be physically dealt with (i.e. physical check), we can authorize the family member to pick it up.
The third leg is an address with a family member. We didn’t want to have to do this, but I’m glad we did. The main account we use it for is USAA because we retained some minimal driving insurance for when we visit the US. It turned out we needed it to maintain the Wise account. In the last 2+ years, I can only recall receiving some USAA mail and one piece of junk.
We lived in Costa Rica for the last 2 years and their mail system is not one that we felt we could meaningfully use so we didn’t set up anything there. We also moved around a lot and we didn’t have a bank account there. In 2024, I did have to get a debit card replaced while there. We found out where the best place was to receive international mail and had it shipped there. It took a while, but I did receive it safely.
We have a bank account in Europe and everything is done electronically. We set it up remotely while still in the US and used the physical address where we lived at the time. Once we left the US, we changed it to the mailing address with Anytime and have had no issues.
We recently moved to an apartment in Uruguay, where we’ll be for some time. We plan to open a bank account here and will use the apartment address. We’re applying for permanent residency so having an address, bank account, utilities, etc will naturally flow. That said, we’re still trying to keep everything as digital as possible, where possible.
As far as risk or safety goes, I think the biggest risk is the mailbox services. Those folks handle everything and there is potentially nefarious access to so much of our personal and financial information. It bothered me initially, but not anymore. At the same time, we monitored everything while in the US, and we continue to do that outside the US. I feel good about our setup.
Just this week, my husband realized his business credit card will expire in a few months. He called his account manager, and they will ship a new card directly to us in Uruguay. We don’t know yet how they will ship it, but I suspect it will be with an international shipper and have a tracking number. One has to be creative and sometimes persistent to figure out solutions when something like that pops up.
Since he runs a business, he also had to be pretty persistent with some of his customers initially to ensure they switched to electronic payment instead of sending checks.
I hope this is helpful. I don’t think there’s a “right” or “best” answer to these questions. I think it all depends on where you live, how you live, and what’s important to you.
Will be interested to hear what others are doing. Thanks for asking the questions.