From home to the US
You already know how saving, government bonds and retirement work where you grew up. These lessons start there and show what each one maps to in the United States, and where they differ.
New to the United States
The paperwork, health care, housing and work questions that come up in your first months, whichever country you came from.
4 min readOpen to everyone
Visas, green cards and citizenship: how the system fits together
Visa, status, green card, A-number, USCIS: what each word means, which agency does what, and why status keeps coming up in everything that follows.
4 min readMembers
Social Security numbers and ITINs
The two nine digit numbers newcomers meet constantly: what a Social Security number is for, what an ITIN is and is not, where each is requested, and how to keep the number away from identity thieves.
5 min readMembers
Finding real immigration help, and spotting the scams
Only licensed attorneys and Department of Justice accredited representatives may advise on an immigration case. Here is how to check a credential, what the usual fraud looks like, and where to report it.
4 min readMembers
Your first weeks: an address, a phone line and the lights on
How a mailing address, a phone line and utility accounts fit together in your first weeks in the United States, why providers ask newcomers for a deposit, and which documents you will be asked for again and again.
4 min readMembers
Driving in the US: licenses, REAL ID and what your state decides
Driver licenses in the United States are issued by each state, not by the federal government, so the tests, the accepted documents and the rules about immigration status differ from one state to the next.
4 min readMembers
Insurance in the United States, and the words every policy uses
Auto, renters and life insurance in the United States: the words every policy uses, how a deductible works, and why your state insurance department is the place to ask. Health insurance has its own lessons in this series.
4 min readMembers
How health insurance works here
There is no national health service in the United States, so a plan pays part of the cost of covered care and you pay the rest. This lesson explains the vocabulary, the order of the bills, and how one year adds up.
4 min readMembers
Where health coverage comes from
Health coverage in the United States comes from a job, the Health Insurance Marketplace, Medicaid, CHIP or Medicare. This lesson explains each route in general terms and where the official rules live.
5 min readMembers
Emergency care and the bills that come after
What calling 911 reaches, what federal law requires of hospital emergency departments, how an emergency room differs from urgent care, and what the letters and bills that follow mean.
4 min readMembers
Renting a home: the lease, the deposit and your rights
How renting works in the United States: what a lease commits you to, what landlords ask for, how a security deposit comes back, and which rights come from law rather than from your landlord.
4 min readMembers
Credit scores when your history did not come with you
Credit history does not cross borders. What a credit report and a credit score are, why arriving here often means starting with an empty file, and the ordinary ways a record begins.
5 min readMembers
Your rights at work, and how a paycheck is built
How gross pay becomes net pay, what the federal minimum wage, tips and overtime rules require, and which agency handles wages, safety and discrimination.
4 min readMembers
How everyday law works, and where to get help
Law in the United States is layered across federal, state, county and city, which is why answers differ by place. Here is how tax filing works, where to report a business (the FTC, state attorneys general, the CFPB), and the free help behind Free File, VITA, 911, 988, 211, libraries and legal aid.
From Brazil
5 min readOpen to everyone
From Tesouro Direto to US Treasuries
If you bought títulos públicos through Tesouro Direto in Brazil, here is what the US Treasury sells, where those securities are bought, and how the currency, the selling and the tax are different.
5 min readMembers
From poupança and CDBs to US savings accounts and CDs
Poupança and CDBs have close counterparts in US savings accounts and certificates of deposit, but the guarantee behind them, the rules for taking money out and the tax treatment work differently.
5 min readMembers
From INSS and previdência privada to Social Security, 401(k)s and IRAs
How Brazil's INSS public pension and previdência privada plans such as PGBL and VGBL sit next to US Social Security, employer 401(k) plans and IRAs, and where the rules, the currency and the tax treatment part ways.
4 min readMembers
From B3 to the US stock market
If you bought shares on B3 in Brazil, here is how the US stock market is organized, who regulates it, how people buy shares through a broker, and what investor protection covers in each country.
From Colombia
5 min readOpen to everyone
From TES to US Treasury bills, notes and bonds
TES are debt of the Colombian national government, commonly fixed rate in pesos or denominated in UVR. Here is how US Treasury bills, notes, bonds and TIPS work, and where the currency, the tax and an early sale differ.
5 min readMembers
From CDTs and Fogafín to savings accounts and CDs in the United States
Colombian cuentas de ahorro and CDTs are covered by Fogafín. US savings accounts and CDs are covered by the FDIC or the NCUA. Who guarantees what, how money comes out early, and how the IRS treats the interest.
5 min readMembers
From Colombian pensions to Social Security, 401(k)s and IRAs
Colombia's pension system has two regimes and has been changing. Here is what official sources say is in effect today, and how it lines up with US Social Security, 401(k) plans and IRAs.
4 min readMembers
From the Bolsa de Valores de Colombia to US stock exchanges
In Colombia, shares are bought through a sociedad comisionista de bolsa under the Superintendencia Financiera. Here is how buying shares works in the US, and where the regulator, the intermediary and the protections differ.
From Mexico
5 min readOpen to everyone
From CETES to US Treasury bills
CETES are short term debt of the Mexican federal government, sold at a discount. This lesson maps them to US Treasury bills, and covers Treasury notes, bonds and TIPS, the currency difference, selling before maturity and how the interest is taxed.
4 min readMembers
From Mexican bank deposits and the IPAB to US savings accounts and CDs
Mexican bank deposits are protected by the IPAB up to a limit written in UDIs. Here is how US savings accounts and CDs work, who insures them, what leaving a CD early costs, and how the interest is taxed.
5 min readMembers
From Afore and IMSS to Social Security, 401(k)s and IRAs
If you paid into the IMSS and have an Afore account, here is how US retirement is put together: Social Security earned through work credits, employer plans such as the 401(k), and IRAs you open yourself.
4 min readMembers
From the BMV and BIVA to US stock markets
How the Mexican stock market works, with the BMV, BIVA, the CNBV and casas de bolsa, and how it maps to the US market: the SEC, broker-dealers, FINRA, T+1 settlement and SIPC, and what neither side covers.
New to a topic? The library explains each one from the start.