I am planning a move to Russia . How will this affect my US brokerage when I tell them where I am moving . I am aware of the issues with transferring funds to Russia . Not looking for speculative answers . Thanks
My advice would be a very strong âdonât do thisâ
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Only interested in answer to my question . I am 66 years old , my wife is Russian and I have a lot of family there . Have been visiting Russia for 10 years . Was just there last September . My wife is leaving to go for a visit tomorrow . How about just donât answer if you do not have an answer lmao
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Out of curiosity and some empathy, I would expect to hear any expectations & results (re: banks, partners, business, society) from people who have been in the same or similar situations⌠without the burden of petty, unconstructive criticism.
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Thereâs a recurring pattern I see on the internet. An independent thinker asks a perfectly reasonable question, seeking advice about some exotic topic like collecting wild mushrooms or motorcycling through Africa. An angry crowd of online bullies immediately appears and dog-piles with useless answers and hostile attacks on the person asking the question, thereby crowding out any useful responses and discouraging other independent thinkers from wading into the melee at all.
It seems like there are a lot of insecure people in the world who are threatened and flummoxed when someone colors outside the lines in our government-issued coloring books. Iâll try to assume good intentions, that the purpose of this naked aggression and shaming is to herd everyone back into the mainstream, so that they can safely live their soulless lives of mindless consumerism and watch the shows on the TV box. Thanks to all of those heroes who are always so vigilant to keep us safe from our own unique dreams and creative impulses. 
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Let me step in with some hopefully useful insight in the spirit of independent thinking haha 
I know someone with connections to Russia who had their IBKR account first âsanctionedâ i.e. they were banned from trading in EUR, and then later on blocked. They also had one of their crypto exchange accounts blocked for reasons unknown. Their retail banks called them up and conducted a âcompliance reviewâ asking various questions about their Russian connections, but I donât think they were blocked there in the end.
So the OP should anticipate some similar effects on his US-based finance matters if they indeed move to Russia.
Regarding the non-financial risks of moving to Russia, I do not know anyone personally affected but heard some indirect rumours of foreigners from âthe Westâ being apprehended as âspiesâ with alleged purpose of using them as exchange fund.
Having a Russian wife may or may not help in those circumstances, I do not know.
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Appreciate the reply . Not worried about getting apprehended . I would prolly be too much of a liability anyway , lol . I have many American friends living in Russia and visit regularly . When I was living in Germany my brokerage limited my account , couldnât buy mutual funds and a few other things . Some kind of SEC thing . Expats get screwed in many ways , lol .
Have you considered getting a domicile through a mailing service? There are several companies that specialize in this for full time RVers, like Good Sam, Escapees RV Club, and Texas Home Base. My wife and I donât have an RV, but we use one of these companies to collect / send our mail and to act as our permanent address since weâre basically ânomadsâ and donât have a full-time home.
You should set this up well in advance of your move to make sure itâll work with your financial institutions. One of our banks didnât like the address and wouldnât use it for our permanent address, so we had to open a new account somewhere else. Iâd also suggest setting up âtiesâ to the state like driverâs license, voter registration, estate planning, doctor, etc. in case youâre ever questioned about it.
I canât speak for how well this will work for Russia, but itâs never been a problem for us in other countries and moving around the US. That said, we do move around enough to make sure we donât become residents of another state or country by default (i.e., usually more than 182 days per calendar year).
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