Mark Moberg moved his family from Tampa to Sintra at the end of 2021 — under his wife's corporate visa, at the height of COVID — and made most of the expensive mistakes on the way in. In conversation with Josh of ExpatsEverywhere, he retraces them: the NHR technicality that dropped them onto Portugal's progressive tax rates, the stock options and home sale and retirement accounts that turn on the order you handle them, and the life-insurance and currency traps most Americans never see coming. Underneath all of it, one throughline — the people who struggle a year in are the ones who moved from something rather than to something.
You might be moving from something — but if you're not moving to something, that's a very different move.
Mark Moberg · 48:40
It's a mindset error, not a paperwork one. Mark's observation from working with relocating Americans is that the people who wobble a year or two in are usually the ones who moved to escape something rather than to build something. The fix is doing the work before you go — knowing precisely why Portugal, and what you're moving toward — so the first hard winter doesn't read as a verdict.
You might be moving from something, but you're not moving to something — and that's a very different mindset.
Hurry up and wait. You put the financial pieces in the right order first, then you slow down while the Portuguese side catches up. The trap is doing it backwards — relocating first and tidying the finances afterward — because residency can attach the moment you move into an apartment, well before any day-count, and by then Portugal already has a claim on decisions you were about to make. Mark's rule is to think two or three steps ahead of the visa.
If the house carries large gains, it's generally better to sell before you become a Portuguese tax resident. Wait until after, and the gain is exposed to Portuguese tax rather than handled under the US rules you planned around — potentially a significant bill. Timing the sale ahead of the move can save a bundle, which is exactly why the order matters more than the individual decision.
They're the other pressure point. Required distributions from accounts like IRAs don't pause because you've crossed an ocean, and once you're assessed as a Portuguese resident those withdrawals are taxed under Portugal's progressive rates. For anyone holding a large balance, planning the drawdown — and the timing of it — before the move is the difference between a manageable bill and a painful one.
Mark's family arrived on his wife's D3 corporate visa expecting NHR's flat 20% rate. A technicality — how her employment was coded didn't match what NHR approved — knocked them onto Portugal's progressive rates instead, among the higher in Europe. Then stock options that hadn't been exercised before the move were exercised while resident, and taxed on the Portuguese side too. He calls the whole episode the price of admission: costly, but the ticket was worth it.
Yes — and this surprises people. The original NHR is a ten-year status, not something you reapply for annually, and it's distinct from its successor regime (NHR 2.0 / IFICI). When Mark's wife later moved to a different qualifying employer, she re-entered the original NHR. If you arrive and find your situation doesn't fit, changing to work that does can bring the benefit back into reach.
A quiet one most people miss. Buy any US term or permanent coverage you might need while you're still stateside: once you're abroad, US insurers typically require you to fly back for the medical exam and again to sign, and expat minimums often start around a million dollars. Portuguese policies, meanwhile, aren't necessarily recognized as insurance from the US side — and if you finance a home here, the lender will require Portuguese cover regardless. For most US expats, Mark finds US coverage is both cleaner and cheaper.
Both, for different jobs. Wise handles smaller, everyday transfers and a multi-currency card; Spartan FX handles larger transfers and — the useful part — lets you lock a euro/dollar rate ahead of a big commitment like a home deposit, which can save thousands when the currency swings. One caution Mark flags: deposit-insurance coverage across the EU is generally around €100,000, versus $250,000 FDIC in the States, so mind where larger balances sit.
Lightly edited for readability; sponsor segments omitted. Timecodes match the video.
JoshYou moved at the end of 2021, and you made some mistakes along the way. Set the stage for us.
MarkThe list is long, but I'll keep it short. We came at the height of COVID, from Tampa. And we came differently than most — under my wife's D3, because she was doing corporate work for an international company. The company handled hiring people to manage the transition, and honestly that should have been my first tip-off that there might be a problem. We trusted that everything would be fine.
MarkWe thoroughly understood NHR going in — the flat 20% — and that's part of what made the move feel workable. Then once we were here, there was a technicality: the way my wife's work was coded didn't factor into what NHR had approved. So we were taxed under Portugal's progressive rates, which from an American perspective are notoriously high. Her company tried to make good on some of it, so it wasn't a complete disaster. But it was a real pain point.
MarkI look at it almost like a price of admission. It was a costly ticket to get here — more expensive than Disney World — but it was worth it. Had we known it wouldn't work out cleanly, we probably wouldn't have moved, and then we'd have spent years regretting not moving. I'm thankful every day that we went.
MarkMy wife had been granted stock options. Because we assumed we'd be under NHR, some hadn't been exercised before we moved. So when they were exercised while we were living here, they were taxed under Portuguese rates. It was a cluster of compounding issues built around that same wrong assumption.
MarkHere's the interesting part. The original NHR — different from the new NHR 2.0, the IFICI — you don't reapply for each year; you're granted ten years. My wife now works for a different company, based out of Finland, and she was able to come back in under the original NHR. Those little things sometimes work out.
JoshSo a fair few people arrive not realizing that changing to a job that fits the criteria can bring the benefit back.
MarkExactly. And having her Irish passport made it far easier for her to find work here, or anywhere in the EU. You play to your strengths — that was one of the cards in our hand.
JoshYou're right at the five-year mark. What do you make of the new law?
MarkI'm sorry it happened. Truthfully, my Portuguese is abysmal, so I couldn't pursue citizenship right now anyway — and once I heard about the change, I decided not to press it. Where I really feel for people is the Golden Visa group: those who came in understanding the rules, put the money into the investments, did everything right, and then had the rules change right at their edge. That's the group I feel for.
MarkBecause it was COVID, buying anything was ridiculous — you couldn't even get furniture at IKEA. We started in corporate housing, but it was 45 minutes from our kid's school every day, and that drive was not sustainable. That's what brought us out toward Sintra. We'd put a proposal in on an apartment in Oeiras — lovely area, near the train — and we didn't get it. Blessing in disguise: during COVID there was no traffic, but six months later everyone went back to work and Lisbon traffic was brutal. Not getting that apartment saved us from being stuck in it.
MarkOur kid was twelve at the time, and of the three of us they carried the biggest emotional strain — leaving friends behind. So it made more sense to get them close to school and to other kids near the school, to build their own network, than to chase proximity to Lisbon. My wife's a New Yorker and would love the city; we'll put that off a few years. We prioritized the child, and it was the right call.
JoshDid you go in with a housing budget?
MarkWe'd planned somewhere around €1,200 for a two-bedroom. We ended up around $1,800, furnished — in retrospect not terrible given where prices went, but well over plan. And a furnished place inside a hotel-style property never really feels like your own; you're living a little transient, which matters when you're trying to make somewhere your permanent home. We're now in a place with much more space, and I'm genuinely happy here. It took a while to get to it.
MarkWe shop far more often now — four grocery stores within five kilometers, one two blocks away I can walk to. I like different things at different stores, so I use all of them. The one thing I miss is real heat; what's labeled hot here is mild. I like to cook, and when we visit the States a couple of times a year we travel with a small bag out and a big bag back, loaded with spices — and mac and cheese packets for my teenager, rationed to last six months.
MarkMy wife and I both work from home; her company's based in Helsinki, so they're a couple of hours ahead, and my schedule's flexible. Yesterday we ran errands at the mall in the middle of the day — unheard of back in the States. Away from downtown, getting around Sintra and Cascais is easy, even at rush hour, because we're so close to the school. My wife has mostly given up driving; we use Uber, and it works.
JoshWhat pain points do you see in the Americans you work with now?
MarkThe biggest thing is getting yourself mentally right to move. A lot of people are moving from something, but they're not moving to something — and that's a very different mindset. The ones who move from something find it hard, a year or two out, to keep committing. So what I really talk to people about is: why Portugal? What made your Venn diagram land here? Make sure you know why you're going.
JoshYou talk about sequencing. What's the chain of events people need to get right?
MarkIn the big scope, you do certain things first, then you slow down and wait for the Portuguese government to catch up. Get your finances in order first. Do you sell the house before you move? If it has large gains, selling before you become a resident matters — wait, and the gain gets taxed under Portuguese law, which can be significant. Retirement accounts are the same: distributions become taxable under Portugal's progressive rates once you're resident. A lot of it is structuring and reshuffling, and understanding that waiting six months can sometimes save you a bundle. You have to think two or three steps ahead so you don't hand yourself a serious tax bill.
MarkHere's one people never think of: life insurance. If you want US coverage, buy it before you go. Try to get it once you're here and you'll usually have to fly back for the medical exam and again to sign, and expat minimums often start around a million dollars. Portuguese life insurance isn't necessarily recognized as insurance from the US side. And if you buy a home here with a loan, you'll typically have to carry Portuguese cover for the property anyway. For most US expats, US coverage ends up cheaper and cleaner — though for higher-net-worth planning with trusts, you'll want US insurance for certain.
MarkWe use them similarly to how you do — Wise for smaller transfers, travel, and the multi-currency card; Spartan FX for larger transfers. Spartan FX has one genuinely smart feature: say you're buying a home and leaving the money in the States until the deposit's due — you can lock the euro/dollar conversion in advance, which on a large deposit can save real money when the currency swings. One thing to know: EU deposit insurance is generally around €100,000, versus $250,000 FDIC in the US, so pay attention to where you park larger balances.
JoshHow has living abroad transformed your life?
MarkIt let us re-assimilate our life's equation. We had a good life in the States — I wouldn't complain about it — but it was missing something. I'm in the back half of my working life, and I wanted more. Portugal wasn't the only possible answer to that question, but it was a good one. The move let us maximize the life we have, do things we hadn't imagined, and see it all from a different perspective. We pinch ourselves about it, honestly, most days.
The full framework for crossing the US–Portugal threshold — the financial sequencing and the mental move both. Built from $43,000 in real mistakes.