Ep 75: Navigating Cross-Border Finances: A Recap & Season End
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We reflect on the journey of the International Money Cafe podcast, summarizing key lessons and themes from the first three seasons.
We discuss the evolution of the show, the importance of understanding cross-border finance, and the intersection of immigration and financial planning.
We also share exciting plans for season four, including webinars, case studies, and new resources for listeners.
Episode Links and Resources
00:00 Season Recap and Highlights
02:52 Exploring Season One: Orientation and Basics
06:00 Diving into Season Two: Planning and Future Considerations
09:09 Reflections on Season Three: Personal Stories and Lessons
11:56 The Intersection of Immigration and Finances
15:06 Tools and Resources: Checklists and Digital Grinds
18:12 Looking Ahead: Season Four and New Initiatives
20:49 Engaging with Our Audience: Feedback and Future Topics
24:01 Closing Thoughts and Gratitude
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Jane Mepham, CFP (00:05.292)
We have a really, really special episode today. So grab your cup of coffee, your hot chai, and let's jump into it. You're gonna love it.
Manasa Nadig, EA (00:16.615)
Yes, today we're closing the chapter on seasons one, two, and three of the International Money Cafe. And serving up a tasting flight of all our and your favorite moments from all of the three seasons, the biggest lessons maybe, and also what's brewing for season four and beyond.
Jane Mepham, CFP (00:45.642)
Love it. So think of this episode as your end of season coffee chat with us. we'll look back at some of the most meaningful episodes from the first couple of seasons, share how your questions have shaped the show, and then give you a sneak peek into what's coming up next.
Manasa Nadig, EA (01:05.415)
Recapping Season 1
Yes. So season one was all about the basics. And it was more like, hey, what on earth is going on in this space? So it was kind of like that phase of your cross-border life, right?
We wanted new immigrants to the US, green card holders and expats, US citizens or green card holders living abroad, to have a starting point that wasn't just legalese and IRS forms.
Jane Mepham, CFP (01:42.714)
And you know, Manasa when you say that, one of the early episodes that I've thought a lot about as we were talking about this is do you remember that episode we called not just a question for Hamlet, Substantial Presence Test, where we broke down what it really means to become a US tax resident under the substantial presence test. Not in Shakespeare, but of course, but in plain English.
And we actually walked through how days in the US are counted when you cross the line into US tax residency and why that one threshold can completely change not only what files you form, but really your financial life in the US. I love that episode.
Manasa Nadig, EA (02:25.852)
Yeah, me too. I kind of am really proud of that title, you know. Kind of like a riff off on to be or not to be. Sorry, Shakespeare and Shakespeare lovers, but that was really cute. and but and in another earlier episode, we tackled kind of foundational topics, you know, like overseas assets and reporting.
Manasa Nadig, EA (02:52.816)
We will kind of building towards that free guide that is still out there on our website, folks. The one that says, Are you tax compliant with your overseas assets? You know, that guide and many of our episodes from season one were designed so you could at least go from I don't know what I don't know, to okay, I think I see the road in front of me.
Jane Mepham, CFP (03:21.581)
Which I think was really it's it's when you think about cross-border life and cross-border finances, it's like you gotta start a middle and part of the middle is life is moving along. And so when I look back and I think about season one, if I was gonna give it like a theme, I think I would think of it as orientation. Where am I? What rules apply to me? How does my visa, residency, or my passport change my financial life?
Jane Mepham, CFP (03:50.465)
And so I do feel like with that, and you can go back to all those episodes, you can go back and really feel like we give you a map for the for the for the very nuanced life in the US, which then makes me think, Manasa, when you think about season two, what stands out to you?
Manasa Nadig, EA (04:10.33)
I love this analogy, Jane, with the whole road and the maps and the orientation and all of that. Yes, for sure. That that got a good start, I think. And you're right. By side season two, we were kind of past the basics and what forms do I file? You know, am I really even a resident of the US kind of stage? And asking.
The next questions, maybe better questions, like how do I plan ahead? What happens if I leave the US and I retire overseas? how does the country where I'm living now, that tax system interact with the one in the US, right?
Jane Mepham, CFP (04:58.636)
Yeah, and and I think when we we got into that, it was around the time when we were seeing a lot of interest in retiring overseas. And so this makes me think of I think it was episode 33, Guided by the Stars No More, a Roadmap to Retiring Abroad. And we did a part one and part two. it's now on YouTube and everywhere else. And we kind of took a very dreamy idea retiring abroad.
Jane Mepham, CFP (05:27.852)
And then grounded it in hard realities like taxes, healthcare, and legal residency rules. And we really talked about what it really means to move your life, your investments, and your future income streams across borders. So you're not just following your heart, but also reading the fine print.
And I think episode a part two of that kind of tied the whole thing together. So anybody thinking about seriously retiring overseas.
How was that with those two episodes?
Manasa Nadig, EA (06:00.227)
yes, for sure. For sure. because you know, we always keep coming back to this. It's not just the whim or the idea of doing something. You have the idea, and then when you come to the execution part of it, what's the plan? What's the blueprint?
That's that's something that we always like to keep in our back pocket and we want you to keep in your back pocket
Speaking of Season two favorites. You know, another favorite of mine was the what is English for Green Guard? I think that was episode 30, as I see. Where, yeah, and we started to unpack how your immigration status interacts with the tax status. And then how do we bring in the long-term financial and tax planning into that? So I think that.
Manasa Nadig, EA (06:59.07)
That particular episode and some of them around that time kind of reflected a big realization that you can't separate your visa or your residency status from your tax situation. And both of those, especially in this space, cannot be separated from your financial goals. You know, they are all a part of one story, you know, right, Jane?
The Intersection Of Immigration and Finances
Jane Mepham, CFP (07:29.362)
Yeah, which is I I think it's also I can't remember exactly when I started doing this, but it can't led me to start doing, you know, this popular post I do on Monday mornings on LinkedIn, the intersection of immigration and finances. Cause you're right. thank you.
The two can never really be separated. And what's interesting is, you know, people would say that they may say my immigration status.
Jane Mepham, CFP (07:57.057)
Is my tax status, but it's not the same thing, but the two do intersect. And then, of course, I think around that time, another episode that I've thought a lot about, and we'll keep coming back to it and we'll keep updating it actually, is I think it was episode 21: Stay Ahead of Cybercriminals Protecting Your Identity.
Because we really do need to address the growing risks around digital life and money.
And so we kind of reminded you that cross-border complexity plus identity theft is a nightmare combo you absolutely want to avoid. And so it it like I said, I think it's something we'll probably come back to over and over again.
Manasa Nadig, EA (08:45.38)
yes, yes. That's definitely something that's not a static episode. So you gotta keep updating that for sure. now kind of let's going now to season three, you know. By season three, we were more comfortable, honestly, with being in front of the microphone.
Manasa Nadig, EA (09:14.566)
And talking about things and we sort of also kinda got more comfortable with being on YouTube. i I think it's a big leap, you know, just putting yourself out there on camera on YouTube. especially for two both of us who I think we are not that extroverted. So yeah. But anyway, by season three.
Jane Mepham, CFP (09:25.368)
Big yes.
Manasa Nadig, EA (09:44.359)
We were kind of ready to go to the next level. Not really the deep, deep end of the pool, but you know, almost there. We kind of saw how you, our listeners, were responding to our episodes, you know, especially the one we did on Mother for Mothers, which I think was episode 44, where we talked about wisdom from our mothers and lessons of money we carry with us.
So that one wasn't just about numbers, you know. We went a little bit into our lives and what shaped us, our cultures, our mothers, and our early experiences with money, and how we spend it, how we save it, and how we plan around that.
Because both Jane and I, as you all know, if you've been listening to us for a long time, we have immigrated from other countries to the US. So we are definitely walking the same footsteps. Maybe we are a little ahead or maybe a little behind or maybe we are in the same place as you are.
And that's where we started season three.
Jane Mepham, CFP (10:58.902)
Yeah, and actually I'm gonna have to say something else about that Mother's Day episode because we shared stories. One of the stories I still remember is what my mom really talked to me about, the whole idea of “don’t eat your future” and learning that if something affects you every day, like money, you owe it to yourself to understand it well enough not to depend blindly on others.
Manasa Nadig, EA (11:04.219)
Yes.
Jane Mepham, CFP (11:27.118)
And honestly, mana said, this is a lesson that I'm passing on to my girls, just like my mom did. The idea of you need to learn this stuff, absolutely, because it does impact you, and not learning it is obviously gonna have adverse effects on you. And for many listeners, that episode connected the technical side of cross-border planning with the emotional and cultural side.
Manasa Nadig, EA (11:27.122)
Mm-hmm.
Jane Mepham, CFP (11:56.411)
Which will explain sometimes why we sometimes hesitate, over save or underinvest. Probably one of my favorites actually.
Manasa Nadig, EA (12:06.94)
For sure. Actually, it's it's funny. I, you know, now that we're talking about touchy-feely things, I have to, I have to tell you about this really quickly. so my daughter and I were visiting India recently, and I was talking to one of my closest role models as a mother figure to me, one of my aunts.
Manasa Nadig, EA (12:35.718)
And I was I asked her about what she felt when she heard that, episode and she said something that kind of really resonated with me. She said, you have to keep all of these
lessons in mind, the ones that we have learned, you know, the money scripts in our head and what we have learned from our mothers and all of those influences. But we also need to step a little outside of it to find our own footprint or our own way of doing things.
And that kind of made me think about it. And I realized that yes, a lot of the lessons that I had learned from my mother, yes, it stayed with me in the way I think about things. But I think also that I am ready to spend money if I think that I want to go and splurge on something, you know?
Manasa Nadig, EA (13:30.886)
So maybe those are other lessons that are more conducive to this culture where we are in right now. And that is also something maybe we need to incorporate. And you know, maybe we can talk about it a little more in an in an episode on season four.
Jane Mepham, CFP (13:44.907)
I I actually I actually think we should, and maybe it will go along the lines of I know we still have to talk about what's coming up, but I like what you said because when our mothers passed these lessons on to us, it was not only shaped by where they were, but by the timing of where we are. We're now in a different culture. So yeah, I think we do have to incorporate that. Yeah, I look forward to that. Mm-hmm.
Manasa Nadig, EA (13:52.081)
Yeah.
Manasa Nadig, EA (14:08.922)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So coming back to season three and the more kind of serious stuff, we did tackle some heavy, heavy acronyms. The one that seemed to resonate with a lot of our listeners was episode 63, I believe, which was what is English for DII RSP or the DIRSP, like we call it.
And here we've really got serious. We broke down the IRS's Delinquent International Information Return Submission Procedures. We explained what that was and how it could possibly be a lifeline if you missed certain foreign reporting forms, but you don't owe extra tax and need a penalty-free way to get back into compliance, with a big emphasis, of course, being on reasonable cost statements and
Always not trying to DIY your way through something, like which could end up being a six-figure risk factor. But that was one of the big ones, the heavy lifting we did in season three, I think.
Jane Mepham, CFP (15:21.856)
Yeah, so for for whoever is watching this on YouTube, I'm like nodding along as Masa is talking and I need to stop doing that. But it's just that I I a hundred percent agree every time she mentions one of these episodes. So the Durst point, for many of you, that episode was probably the first time you had those even a structured way to fix missed filings without
Ruining your financial future. It it really, the feedback we got was that it put language and options around this very complex topic and it kind of gave you hope, which when we were doing it, I don't think that's a word that came to mind. But I do love that that's kind of what has come out, that there's hope you can fix this, all isn't lost.
Manasa Nadig, EA (16:18.392)
Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, yes, for sure. Because, you know, when when Jane and I have these experiences with our clients when they come to us and they are some of them are literally panicking because they either listen to one of our episodes talking about something, so they read somewhere or they talk they read a blog, they read my blog on Substack, or they read Jane's blog, and then they were like,
Jane Mepham, CFP (16:19.682)
Yeah, yeah.
Manasa Nadig, EA (16:47.014)
Should we have been doing this? We didn't. Now what do we do? please, you know what I mean? So definitely this is something that we think we we kind of sum of it, like Jane said, people hadn't even heard of this before. so as we talked about that, as we moved through these seasons, you started asking us, hey, could you give us a checklist?
What do you could you have do you have a template you can share with us? Do you have something that I can just take with me? And this is a step-by-step thing that I can check off all these boxes on what I should be doing, what maybe I should be doing next, and things like that. So that's when we put our minds together and we said, you know what we need to do is we need to build out something.
Which where people can go and maybe download these checklists. So we came up with our own store on our website and we called it Digital Grinds. And we launched these checklists, and they are there right now on the IM Cafe store.
And so these tools they take these themes from our episodes, like overseas asset compliance, or preparing to move abroad, or what if you're on an H1B visa and you know you're planning to leave the country? So what are these things?
These are our checklists which take these tasks and they turn them into things that you can, you know, check off your list, whether you're working with a pro or you're getting yourself organized first, you know.
So I think that one is something that Jane and I are really very proud of.
Leaving the US Checklist When a Work Visa
Jane Mepham, CFP (18:41.58)
Yeah, and and we actually plan to add more checklists. So you did mention, for example, that checklist we did, if you're leaving the US and you're on a work visa, I think we did that shortly after the elections because we had a lot of questions. And so we put our minds together. I love that checklist. It's a 52 page checklist that literally walks you through from day one. You're planning to leave, you've been accumulating assets in the US.
Here's how you do it. And it's actually one of the things I'm excited about adding more checklists so people can actually do that on their own. Of course, you can always come and work with us directly with Manas AI, but if you just want to give it a shot on your own, we're giving you some tools to do this. Now one of the other things we did, and I think you alluded to this, is getting more comfortable with where.
The International Money Cafe leaves. So, of course, now in addition to the website, the IMC, the imcafe.com, we also have we're on YouTube, and you can find all these different episodes there. But what's even more exciting, and I absolutely give Manasa 110% credit, is we've launched on Substack.
Manasa Nadig, EA (20:02.127)
Yes.
Jane Mepham, CFP (20:08.756)
So if you're someone who likes to read, highlight, and come back to ideas, you absolutely can find us there. And Manasa, do you wanna say something real quick about Substack? Because you've done a really phenomenal job on that.
The International Money Café Podcast on Substack
Manasa Nadig, EA (20:20.786)
Thank you, Jane. I love I love that platform. And it's yeah, and they're still evolving. You know, they've been done, they've done so much more with what you can do and the whole, you know, the formatting part of it on the back end so that the listener or the reader has a better experience.
And I I feel like there's a lot of you know, there are a lot more opportunities on Substack.
Jane Mepham, CFP (20:25.045)
I know!
Manasa Nadig, EA (20:49.19)
To be interactive and even talk to each other. You know, we you could get behind the scenes in the chat room and start talking about these th these topics. And there are other people in
that chat room who are also interested in the same thing. So definitely check us out on Substack. We are called the International Money Cafe on all our handles.
YouTube or Apple or Spotify or Substack, just go and find us, please. We would love to hear back from you, especially if you're on Substack and you give us a follow there. all of this, the courses, the checklists, the YouTube channel and Substack.
You know, we just want to meet you where you are and whatever format works best for you. That's why we want to expand to other things, and of course.
Jane Mepham, CFP (21:29.314)
Awesome.
Manasa Nadig, EA (21:45.828)
We find it more exciting as well, you know, to go to the next shiny thing. Well, at least me
Jane Mepham, CFP (21:48.97)
But I do wanna say I still think I mean the website imcafe.com is really the home. But yeah, if you want to consume in other formats, that's where you can find us in other things. So really I think the whole idea with this episode is to say we really wanna say thank you.
Manasa Nadig, EA (22:02.51)
Yes. Is our main thing. Yes.
Jane Mepham, CFP (22:19.806)
So much before we even talk about what's next. we really appreciate you listening to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Substack, and directly from our website. Every download, every share, every review, every comment, you know, tells the algorithms we're not just talking to ourselves here.
Jane Mepham, CFP (22:42.376)
But we are actually reaching out to you. And we know we are very specific about the topics that we talk about. So anytime somebody finds us and it helps them, even if it's only one person, we are so, so appreciative and we really, really appreciate you listening to our stories, and so I think should we talk about what we want to do next, Manasa?
Manasa Nadig, EA (23:10.064)
Yes, but before we go into that, I I have to also here give a shout out to all of our silent listeners and our silent followers and my own friends, you know, who and family, of course. well, I think the family doesn't have a choice on whether they should listen to or not. But my dear friends, you know, people who have reached out to my clients and me.
Manasa Nadig, EA (23:38.769)
Jane before the episode, like I actually have a client and I know you're listening, so you know who you are. You know, sh she said she makes it a point to go out and read one of my blog posts or listen to one of our episodes every morning with her coffee.
So she's actually drinking her coffee with us, you know. So and then with the other friends who reached out to me and said, Hey, you know what? That thing that you guys posted and you talked about
Manasa Nadig, EA (24:08.546)
It was amazing. It was just spot on and it was really relevant to my situation. So thank you, thank you, thank you. That really gives the wind beneath our wings, you know, to get going and keep doing this, of course.
And also a request, you know, to for you to not be silent anymore, you know, maybe just share it with your friends privately if you're not a public person or you know that that.
Like Jane said, it helps our algorithms. The more the episodes are shared, the more people get to listen to this. It's pushed out to more people thanks to the algorithm gods, like we call them.
Jane Mepham, CFP (24:51.39)
Yeah, I and I guess thanks to all that are sharing. I actually have a a prospect call next week and they said somebody send them to the podcast. And so that's why they're setting up time to talk. So yeah, so what you're saying is absolutely right. We really appreciate it. So let's talk about what's upcoming in episode four.
What’s Brewing in Season 4
Manasa Nadig, EA (25:14.587)
I know season four. what's brewing, Jane? What's brewing on season four? Yes, yes. So yeah.
Jane Mepham, CFP (25:20.882)
Yeah. Okay. So lots of podcast episodes, of course, we'll keep doing that. so that part is not changing. That's like the baseline. And part of what we're gonna do with the episodes, because as we said that our mother episode really resonated, we're probably gonna talk more about and we do talk about our lived experiences.
We continue living this life, and now we're at a stage where obviously we're not starting out. Our kids have grown and we're seeing interesting interactions. And I think it all has to do with where we are coming from.
We are planning on doing a couple webinars that dig into the nitty gritty details. We've only had time to touch on in episodes, so more like think step by step.
ideas with examples and live Q and A so you can actually see how some of these rules work and, you know, hopefully get to ask questions live.
Manasa Nadig, EA (26:31.514)
The webinars are what we have been planning for a long time and we would really le we're really looking forward to launching those and you know, getting more content to you to be very specific. You know, it's it's definitely something that we are working on in a very complex manner and we're gonna bring them out to you soon, and then also for season four, we're gonna bring you more.
Case study episodes, because we have, we think we have built a strong base right now. And we really want to get into more depth and more interaction.
And of course, some few fun extras, if you would like to call it that way. I mean, you know, and for us nerds, we like this stuff. but the case study episodes, it's not just talking about rules in isolation, right?
It these will definitely be anonymous, but they are based off of real life scenarios that Jane and I have seen in dealing with various clients and a lot of different things that happen and how we put the put things together for them.
So it could look a lot like what you are living through and what your particular situation is right now, and you would resonate with that, yes.
Jane Mepham, CFP (27:55.095)
I love that. I think the specificity, I hope I said that right, will be fantastic. And then the next thing we're planning on doing, we talked about this when we initially started, but we haven't done it yet.
For this season, we're planning on inviting a few, and we're very specific about this. Just a very few selected guests, just a few, you know.
Manasa Nadig, EA (28:12.082)
Mm-hmm.
Jane Mepham, CFP (28:24.782)
People that we admire and the industry, just so you can get more perspective on cross-border life money planning, not just us, but it'll be very specific. I don't want to go into too many details about what they'll be addressing, but it'll be very specific topics that I think you'll find value in. I think that's all I'm going to say about the guest. Once we get ready to do it, you'll obviously get more info on that.
Manasa Nadig, EA (28:52.154)
Yes. And of course, something else that we are really, really excited about. And you can see me holding one of those things. Merch, merch that actually speaks to cross-border life. Not just some generic post-podcast swag, okay? These will be pieces that reflect what it feels like.
Jane Mepham, CFP (29:02.004)
Love it.
Manasa Nadig, EA (29:17.724)
To juggle countries, currencies, and compliance and all at the same time. And you know, we do have a fun side, folks, and we would like you all to see that and then maybe participate in it as well.
Jane Mepham, CFP (29:34.169)
So actually, the one I'm really looking forward to is my DIIRSP Survivor Notebook. That's all I'm going to say. I think the whole idea is that it's gonna be something an immigrant, an expert, or a visa holder would get. Almost like an inside joke.
So it's actually something we're really excited about. So let's see what happens. Do you want to talk about the next thing?
Manasa Nadig, EA (29:42.405)
Yes.
I mean, you know what, dear listener? We are actually a little nervous, and you'll understand why, because we are putting this out there and we are now kind of going to think that we'll be held accountable for this, but we don't mind that.
So this is a big maybe that is slowly turning into a when. It's gonna be a book. I said it, Jane.
Jane Mepham, CFP (30:30.488)
That's fine. It's all good, let's put it out there.
Manasa Nadig, EA (30:33.124)
Alright. Yeah, let's do that. Yes. So, folks, this is going to be a book that pulls together the best of what we have shared here, plus stories and frameworks that we ha don't have room to put on episodes into something that you can keep within your arm's reach.
You know, maybe well, I don't know if it would be a bedside reading, but hey.
Manasa Nadig, EA (31:06.638)
Yes.
Jane Mepham, CFP (31:11.2)
You’ve already put it out there and we'll just leave it at that and say, okay, help us. So anyway. It's all good. I mean, because it's something we've really talked a lot about and we can see the need, but we're only going to do it if it makes sense. And so before we've talked a lot about things we want to do, honestly, and it's a lot. It feels like we need to clone ourselves.
Manasa Nadig, EA (31:18.194)
Yes.
Jane Mepham, CFP (31:39.267)
But before we do that, we really wanna ensure that these are things that will be of value to you, or dear listeners. And so would love to get some input, especially on the webinars and the cross-border case studies, as well as more checklists.
And so Manasa said, do you wanna explain how we're gonna do this?
Manasa Nadig, EA (32:02.944)
You know, at the end of this episode and in our show notes, we are going to share a link to a survey where you can vote on which topic you want us to cover first. You can maybe suggest your own ideas, etc.
So season four starts with exactly what you need most. And that's where we want to go next.
Next, you know, not just have our own plan and roadmap in place, but we also want your input on that roadmap on where we need to make stops.
So definitely look for this survey and please participate in it. We really look forward to seeing what your responses are and that to guide us in getting a season four together that will be are very helpful to you and bring you even more value.
Jane Mepham, CFP (33:06.196)
And so actually before we we close out of this, one thing I do want to say is we are actually taking the month of August off. So this is the last episode this year, which is end of July is our last episode.
We'll take August off to just kind of regroup and sort of look at all the feedback that we get and get started. And so episode five, four, I'm sorry, we'll be starting.
Jane Mepham, CFP (33:35.432)
Season. I'm so sorry. Okay. Season four starts September, beginning of September. Now, before we do the final, final close, Manasa, anything else you wanna add to this?
Manasa Nadig, EA (33:49.074)
You know what we may also send out a few things to you along with the survey and we'll put this out there on LinkedIn and our other social media channels. It's gonna be some kind of a survey, but also sort of taking your votes on where you want us to go with the webinars.
Whether it's an H one B cross-border reporting, maybe L One executives, and you know, like gifts and inheritances and so on. So we would definitely like for you to participate in that, like I already said, and also you know, give us feedback on all of the content, merch and whatever else that you think is you want to hear.
Jane Mepham, CFP (34:42.798)
And I think with that shall we say we'll see you in season four.
Manasa Nadig, EA (34:48.088)
Absolutely. So until then, all of our episodes rest on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. You can go find us there or our website, theimcafe.com T H E I C A F E dot com. See you all in season four and thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Jane Mepham, CFP (35:12.504)
Thank you so much. Bye.
Manasa Nadig, EA (35:14.321)
Yeah, bye.
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The speakers' views and opinions discussed in this episode should not be considered financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult your advisor for any legal, cross-border tax, and financial advice.