We live in Germany, my DH is American, I am German.
My DH has been resident here for almost 30 years, has previously paid taxes here in Germany, paid into our retirement system...
For the past 14 years he has been working for an American employer which has enabled him to pay US Taxes again (instead of German, win) as well as Medicare and Social Security payments.
He was able to open an account with the state department federal credit union.
As we cannot find a European bank that will let him invest in stocks, etf... (all afraid of penalties and lots of paperwork to fill in for their US customers due to regulations) we tried finding a US bank to open an account and IRa for years. This doesn't work either ( other than above mentioned bank) as he is resident here in Germany (no, we don't have anyone in the States who will let us - illegally - use their address...)
After unsuccessfully trying different US Investment banks, all at first claiming "no problem, this will work," long processes and in the end a "sorry, won't work" , we were able to open a Roth IRA with the State Department Federal Credit Union.
However, this only works like a savings account and gives us a monthly 0.5% interest rate. We have not contributed last year as we were contacting them to find out whether it isn't possible to get a better deal and be able to invest in Etf...NO
There are about 22.000$ earning about 10$ a month on there which doesn't seem worthwhile so our plan is to not contribute more.
Are we missing something? Would it make sense to contribute despite the small interest rate because of taxes?
There are no other tax sheltered retirement investments possible for him here or in the States (other than SS)
We are planing a trip to New York and Vermont this year but I doubt that will make a difference as we still won't have a residential address.
We will be very grateful for any help!