Another confirmation here: I, an American citizen living and working in Germany, have been able to get simple checking accounts, but no one will open a regular

Another confirmation here: I, an American citizen living and working in Germany, have been able to get simple checking accounts, but no one will open a regular brokerage or tax-advantaged retirement account for me. However, that's kind of ok, because if I were stupid enough to buy ETFs outside the US market, I’d be in for some spectacular US taxes on them (look up “PFIC”) However, to top that off, the few brokerages in the US that will openly serve Americans living abroad (Schwab) can no longer allow those of us living in the EU to buy boring index funds or any other sort of ETF on the US market because they don’t comply with the EU’s new customer disclosure rules.