Field Guide
Free explainers on the US–UK cross-border rules people meet the hard way. Educational information, not advice; every article names its sources.
Updated
A map of the money questions people face when they move from the US to the UK: what happens to a 401(k), how UK tax residence is decided, how RSUs are split across the move, and why an ordinary index fund can be a trap. Each links to a fuller explainer.
Updated
Your US retirement accounts do not disappear when you move to the UK. The US–UK treaty coordinates how pensions are taxed between the two countries, and there is one well-known contested question about the UK tax-free lump sum. What the shape of it looks like, without guessing the numbers.
Updated
RSUs granted in the US but vesting after you move to the UK usually get split between the two countries, based on how much of the vesting period fell on each side. What that apportionment looks like in shape, and why the exact basis is a question for a professional.
Updated
Whether you are UK tax-resident is not about how you feel or what you intend. It is a day-counting test with tie-breakers, and the year you arrive can be split. What the Statutory Residence Test asks, and where to count your own days, without asserting the thresholds here.
Updated
A US person who buys a non-US fund has opted into the harshest tax-and-paperwork regime the IRS offers retail investors, usually without knowing it. The escape routes exist, but all of them work better the earlier you see the trap.