I keep warning people against accumulating US assets due to the challenges a deceased person’s family needs to overcome before they can get access to the deceased person’s US assets.
It was all theoretical until a few days ago.
Some context before I proceed: I work at a US company, and almost everyone in my company receives RSUs as a part of the compensation package.
A colleague shared with me a few days ago that another coworker unfortunately passed away during the Covid second wave. That deceased coworker’s family still doesn’t have access to their vested RSUs, even after 3 years!
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| Image credit: EinarStorsul from needpix.com |
It’s easy for us to accumulate US stocks in our investment portfolios. The “dual engine growth” of stock growth + USD/INR appreciation is lucrative. But the prudent thing to do is to reduce the “US exposure” risk on an ongoing basis.
This is secondhand knowledge, but I have read somewhere that investing is more a game of risk management rather than maximising returns. US domiciled assets are like a time bomb. We are better off keeping them away from our portfolios.
PS: This post is advice to others, but it’s also advice to myself. A big chunk of my portfolio is still my employer’s RSUs. All my net worth calculations and “how far along am I to financial freedom” calculations include the full value of these RSUs. If I were to die tomorrow, my family will see a big financial setback due to the “US asset” risk. The sooner I reduce that risk the safer my family will be.
