Max Gerstein on the Risk Most Globally Mobile Investors Never See Coming

 Many internationally diversified investors hold U.S. stocks or ETFs by default.

U.S. markets dominate global indices. Liquidity is deep. Costs are low. Long-term performance has been strong. For investors building wealth across borders, U.S. exposure often feels less like a decision and more like alignment with how markets work.

That assumption is where the exposure begins.

For non-U.S. individuals, U.S. estate tax applies on very different terms. The exemption is low. The potential tax on death is high. None of this is determined by where you live, where your broker is based, or how conservative the portfolio appears. It is determined by the domicile of the underlying asset.

The danger is not the tax rate itself. It is the absence of any signal while the exposure builds.

There is no annual reminder. No impact on performance. No moment when the portfolio feels riskier. A modest allocation grows quietly. A single ETF becomes a core holding. The structure remains unexamined because nothing appears to break.

Most people only become aware of the exposure when it can no longer be changed. Death does not create the problem. It reveals it.

This risk persists because it does not sit cleanly with any single adviser. Investment advice focuses on allocation and returns. Tax advice often centres on income. Estate planning is reduced to documentation. Structural exposure created by cross-border ownership falls between these lanes, particularly for globally mobile investors.

This is not a tax issue. It is a structural one.

Some of the most consequential financial decisions are never actively made. They are inherited through default structures that were never questioned. Portfolios can perform exactly as intended while flexibility quietly erodes underneath.

The exposure remains invisible while everything works.

And owning assets is not the same as owning a plan.

Max Gerstein
Financial Adviser
Helping professionals and business owners protect what they’ve built, grow it intelligently, and make long-term financial decisions with clarity and confidence.

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