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One of the most unsettling moments for Americans moving to France doesn’t come from taxes, visas, or even the language barrier. It comes when they start researching how managing U.S.-based investments is going to logistically work once they’re in France. Around this time, it’s common to encounter issues such as learning you will no longer be able to open new accounts, and, increasingly, that your advisor can no longer work with you at all.
This is understandably deeply confusing, perhaps a little frightening, and even frustrating. The money is still in the U.S. The investments are the same. The relationship with the advisor may even go back decades. So why is this suddenly a problem?
If you’ve learned more about this topic from Facebook groups than from your bank or advisor, you’re not alone. And if you’ve found yourself piecing together answers from long threads, contradictory anecdotes, and “this worked for me” stories, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed.
This article is meant to change that by helping Americans planning a move to France better understand this issue –and their options for managing it -- before moving.
The Problem Most Americans Don’t Know They Have (Yet)
When Americans plan a move to France, there are a host of big, obvious questions that surface to grab the lion’s share of one’s attention:
Will France tax my U.S. income?
How does the U.S.–France tax treaty work?
Can I keep my retirement accounts, like my Roth, in the U.S.?
What happens to Social Security?
These are important questions — and they’re well covered elsewhere on our site. But the custodial issue sits underneath all of them, a bit like black ice on an unfamiliar winter road.
To be clear: The issue isn’t whether you own your investments. It’s whether you can still access, manage, and transact them the way you expect. And that depends on custody.
Let’s Back Up and Look at What “Custody” Actually Means
A custodian is the institution that physically holds your investment accounts. Firms like Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, or Pershing aren’t just platforms — they are regulated financial institutions operating under specific jurisdictional rules.
When you live in the U.S., those rules are relatively uniform. Once you become a legal resident of another country, they are not.
Two things matter far more than most people realize:
Your legal address
Your country of residence
Once those change, the custodian’s regulatory obligations change too.
This is separate from:
your tax residency
your citizenship
your intentions (“I’m only here part‑time”)
From the custodian’s perspective, what matters is where you live now.
Why Moving to France Changes Accessibility to U.S. Banks
At the heart of this issue is U.S. legislation called FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act).
Most Americans think of FATCA as paperwork — something banks deal with behind the scenes. European banks and financial institutions see it very differently.
For non‑U.S. institutions, American clients represent:
additional reporting obligations
compliance risk
potential penalties
As a result, many foreign banks — including French ones — are cautious about Americans. Some simply avoid (or try to avoid) them altogether.
U.S. custodians face a different version of the same problem. Once a client becomes resident abroad, especially in Europe, the firm must ensure it is compliant not only with U.S. regulations, but also with foreign regulatory exposure.
That’s where restrictions begin to appear.
Why Some Big U.S. Firms Suddenly Stop Working
Many Americans assume that if their accounts are already open, everything can stay the same. In reality, there are two layers of restriction:
1. Custodian restrictions
Some U.S. custodians do not permit accounts to be:
opened
consolidated
or sometimes even maintained once the account holder resides outside the U.S.
2. Advisor compliance restrictions
Even if the custodian allows the account to exist, the advisor may no longer be legally or ethically permitted to advise a non‑U.S. resident client.
This is why people sometimes hear: “Your accounts are fine, but your advisor can’t work with you anymore.”
It can feel contradictory or even accusatory to receive that information, as though there’s something wrong with wanting to move outside the U.S., but isn’t personal. This response is the result of jurisdictional compliance rules — not a judgment on the client, and not an accusation of wrongdoing.
Why Charles Schwab Might be an Exception (Though, Notably, Not a Silver Bullet)
Charles Schwab is frequently mentioned in expat conversations because it is one of the few large U.S. custodians that maintains a more flexible international platform.
That said, there are important caveats.
One of the most misunderstood concepts here is account aging.
In simplified terms:
Accounts opened while you are still a U.S. resident are treated differently
Accounts opened after you become resident in France often cannot be opened at all
This means someone who opened a Schwab brokerage account years ago may be able to keep it, but someone who attempts to open one after they’ve moved may be refused.
Even Schwab does not solve every custodial scenario
Anecdotally, one person may have a positive exchange with a representative from Schwab International that reassures them their French address won’t be a problem, notwithstanding certain restrictions around what you can and cannot continue to invest in once you are no longer a U.S. resident, but a French resident.
On the other hand, someone else may be told that even Schwab International will not be able to work with them after moving to France.
Part of the issue with these anecdotal stories is that it’s difficult to understand the baseline information everyone is working with when they share their experiences and stories. It’s important to remember that while the intent to educate and support one another comes from a good place, the reality is that everyone is working from a different field of understanding, and basing personal decisions off anecdotal comments on the Internet is inadvisable when it comes to managing something as important as your cross-border financial health.
Related reading: How to Build Your Relocation Team and Move Abroad Permanently
Our Chosen Alternative to Charles Schwab is StoneX
StoneX is not a household name like Schwab or Fidelity, but it offers a comparable service that can be a good fit for the right profile. That said, when it comes to your life savings, familiarity feels like safety, so let’s ease in here.
What is StoneX?
StoneX is a global financial services network that was established in 1924.
The important distinction between StoneX and Schwab: StoneX is an institutional custodian, not a retail brand.
It is:
a publicly traded company
a longstanding institutional provider
used by financial firms (e.g., Liberty Atlantic Advisors) rather than individual walk‑in clients (i.e. retail)
Most Americans have never heard of StoneX for the same reason they’ve never heard of many institutional clearing firms: individuals aren’t the target audience.
In cross‑border planning, institutional custodians sometimes offer more flexibility, meaning they’re designed to handle complex, international client structures.
Why Waiting Until After the Move Makes Everything Harder
By the time many Americans confront custodial issues, they are already in France.
At that point:
accounts may be frozen or restricted
new accounts may be impossible to open
advisors may be forced to step away
decisions feel rushed and stressful
None of this means the move was a mistake. It means the financial infrastructure wasn’t set up early enough. This can often be rectified, to a degree, but working reactively is almost definitely going to be more stressful, and potentially frustrating, than proactively, when you can receive information in a more measured way.
This is why we consistently emphasize pre‑move planning — ideally 12 to 18 months before relocation.
You may also be interested in: High-Net-Worth Tax Planning Strategies for Americans in Europe
This Has Nothing to Do With the U.S.–France Tax Treaty (But It Still Matters)
One of the most common misunderstandings we see is the assumption that a favorable tax treaty solves everything. And we will say, the U.S.–France tax treaty is excellent. But the treaty governs taxation matters between the two countries, not account access.
You can have the legal right to favorable tax treatment but still be unable to open, consolidate, or properly manage accounts if custody hasn’t been addressed.
For a broader planning perspective on why France remains a strong destination despite these complexities, see Why France Works for American Retirees: A Planning Perspective.
The Takeaway for Americans Planning a Move to France
When it comes to moving to France, custody becomes more than a technical footnote. Instead, it becomes one more piece of your financial infrastructure as an expat. When it’s handled early, you can often avoid the panic that leads to going down expat or immigration forum rabbit holes. When it’s handled late, even well‑planned moves can feel suddenly unstable.
If you take nothing else from this article, take this: The biggest financial risks of moving to France aren’t always about taxes. They’re often about access.
France can be a wonderful place to build a long-term life. But the path there is smoother when the financial groundwork is laid before the plane takes off, and this is an area we’re qualified to support you in. For questions around how working with Liberty Atlantic Advisors may be able to support you, please submit the contact form on our Contact page.
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Disclaimer
This material is purely intended to be general and educational in nature, and should not be construed as specifically-tailored investment, financial planning, tax, legal, or other professional advice. Information and data contained herein is as-of the date of publication, and may be subject to change in the future without notice. Any investment performance referenced is purely past performance, which is no guarantee of any future performance. Nothing contained herein should be construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or other financial product or investment strategy. All investment, tax, and financial planning strategies involve risk that you should be prepared to bear. You are highly encouraged to consult with professionals of your choosing before taking any action based on this material.