Hello everyone! 
So I plan on applying for the gold card in 2027 and retiring / living off my American dividends in Taiwan. I’m curious if anyone has experience with living off investments in Taiwan as a foreigner. More so, what’s the easiest / cheapest way to transfer money from a brokerage to pay for rent / food / etc.? 
I’ve looked into WISE, but they don’t offer exchange for TWD/USD or cards for Americans. Does anyone have experience with these things? Trying to find a practical solution here. Any help is appreciated! 
Welcome!
There’s a decent community of retirees and semi-retirees in Taiwan. We meet for walks, cards, and the occasional drink.
Taiwan is a bit cut off from fintech. Your best bets are wire transfers, ATM withdrawals and paying with your US credit cards.
HSBC Premier
Free, instant international transfers. Need US$100k or NT$3 million in assets at HSBC.
But honestly, just use your American credit cards (amex/chase) and debit cards (Schwab) with no foreign transaction or ATM fees. Can withdraw NT$20k/day. Much better % cash back and points earning.
Not worth opening an offshore bank account. More paperwork (IRS FATCA, FBAR) and you can’t hide the assets since the Taiwanese bank reports it to US.
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Appreciate your response.. that’s helpful. I guess finding a “free foreign transactions” card / bank seems to be the best first step. I have heard Schwab is the go to for this. Thanks again mate!
guess things are different now , moons ago i had an american Amex and when i used it in taiwan i had to pay an ntd/usd rate fee (amex rate was worse than tw govt rate) and when i went to pay for it at their local office in ntd i was charged a rate diff again. So overall the same 100nt charge increased by around 5 to 6 pct that Amex made off rate diff.
Fidelity cash reward visa card, 2% cash back
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Just to clarify, if you have/open a premier account in the US you can then open one in Taiwan without without meeting the minimum balance.
You then get the free international transfer ability (schwab>us hsbc>tw hsbc), as well as a local debit card + credit card. with local debit card/account you can also use free local atm/transfers which is still sometimes used here or direct debit for mobile/rental/etc.
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Banks with global ATM reimbursement
Schwab (their bank account product) is good for global free ATM reimbursements including Taiwan. They also reportedly give a good exchange rate. But the account offers 0% interest on balances. So compared to $10000 in a 4% hysa, it loses out to $400. So, I only keep under $500 in my Schwab bank account and add money manually when needed.
Although not required, it makes sense to also have an investment account with schwab so you have some reasonable balance. I have some passive stock holdings i don’t touch. Schwab is fine with that and a good brokerage.
Fidelity also has a Cash Management Account (must be that kind of account, CMA, and they have many account types) with free ATM rebates globally. However, I have heard the exchange rate they give is maybe worse, possibly 1% worse. The CMA also has a sweep to a competitive money market fund (roughly 4% right now) and the ability to hold stocks. So everything here is pretty automatic.
Ally Bank is another contender. Although it doesn’t advertise it globally, I have had them reimburse international ATM fees. However, I think they are 1% worse on their exchange rate. Their ATM account (spending account) is close to 0% interest rate, but you can do automatic overdraft from a hysa, which is at about 3.6%. So I keep the checking account balance to a minimum.
I would have at least 2 methods, because nothing is worse than being stuck if your only ATM card fails or is lost.
And you can do the math on what the difference of 0.4% or exchange rate fees matters to you. Maybe no big deal on 10,000, but sizeable on 100,000.
All of these ATM methods are fine for paying rent and general lifestyle. You can easily use this for up to $5000+ per month. Maybe even $10,000+ if you use 2 or more ATM cards and withdraw often.
If you use a bank that doesn’t do ATM remimbursements, you can expect to be paying about 1-5+% for ATM fees and crappy exchange rates.
All 3 of these (Ally, Schwab, Fidelity) also have no minimum balance, to my knowledge. But I would not “milk it” and put nearly zero balance and rack up $50 in ATM reimbursements per month. they do have the right to close your account if you lose them too much money.
If you need details, look on reddit which covers these things extensively.
Some people recommend WISE, and it might work. But WISE doesn’t allow accounts from all US states, and so I have not tried since I am in a banned state.
zero foreign transaction fee credit cards
Instead of paying cash for everything, you can use a US credit card with zero foreign transaction fee and 1-2% in points. The fidelity card at 2% is popular from reddit, but there are plenty to choose from. Some people like the costco credit card.
other financials
EasyCard is fine to load up value and to use for metro/mrt, train tickets, grocery store. It probably cannot be used to pay rent.
I never got LINE pay to work, unfortunately, despite trying twice.
Opening a bank can be a pain, but Postal Bank opened an account for me when I had a NWOHR. Other banks are varied in what they allow for walk in customers who are not Taiwan Passport NWHR people.
Be aware of the FACTA and FBAR reporting requirements.
I haven’t looked into it, but the wealth management products for high net worth individuals can facilitate cross border movement of money, like for buying a house. HSBC is one i looked into, where i might just open a large CD to get their cross border services. (I do not need money management and I heard their brokerage services are not good; but one method might be to by a cheap index fund like VOO and don’t actively trade).
Honestly, if you need the amounts for a very large purchase (fancy car or real estate/condo), then the people who sell you those products may be able to recommend or facilitate the cross border element.
Fidelity does international wires. Schwab probably does. Ally maybe, maybe not. Fees may depend on your balance level.
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Don’t forget to pay tax in Taiwan 
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Keep overseas income below NT$7.5mil and you should be good if no other income in Taiwan 
Is that just earned income, or total income?
total income
but enforcement is an entirely different matter…
3. The kinds of items included in the calculation of the amount of basic income
[…]
(3) Life and annuity insurance payments:
(4) Income derived from transactions of securities
(5) Non-cash donations or contributions
(6) Total amount of dividends and earnings
Source: ntbt.gov.tw
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Thanks for your helpful info!
Personally, I use Schwab and have been very happy with them. I once lost my debit card in Taiwan and called their support — they sent me a replacement within a few days. After that experience, I opened a second Schwab account specifically to get extra debit cards as backups when traveling.
I’ve withdrawn cash from ATMs in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and several places in Europe, and the exchange rates have always been very good.
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UGH, but transfers between HSBC Taiwan and US are a hassle, slow, and expensive
I agree about just using a Schwab ATM
This, but literally opposite.
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I use no-fee credit cards and if cash is needed, the Fidelity Cash Management and Capital One 360 Checking debit cards.
My transfers between HSBC USA and TW are free and they are instant.
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when using global money transfer within the HSBC network transfer’s are 1) free 2) instant..
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I see, if you have a US HSBC account, but not if you have a TW HSBC account and any other bank. Then it’s worse than the local Taiwanese banks