EXSI might be more tax efficient at least from your standpoint.  Although you should check out how they handle intra-EU with-holdings. As far as I know EXSI will not be tax efficient, there are source taxes on the dividends. Same with VGK. VGK will have a 15% (in Holland, check your own country) ta...

Hi Frugal,

If the dollar goes down 30% vs the euro then when you sell Gold you get more dollars so you still get the right amount in euros.

I am not sure if this is the solution to the risk you mentioned?

Kind Regards,K

Hi Frugal, IAU is gold, in dollar prices.  You sell IAU and convert the dollars to euros. I only use IAU because the fee is 0.25%. VGK is European shares priced in dollars. So if the dollar gets weak, then the price of IAU and VGK will go up in dollars and when you exchange to euros you would not se...

Hi Frugal, IAU - fee is 0.25% while PHAUP is 0.39% and ZGLDEU is 0.40%. I prefer the lowest fees. VGK fee is 0.14%, EXSI is 0.20%. VGK returns lending gains to the investor while Blackrock returns the lending gains to unspecified targets. I am waiting for Vanguard to start business in the EU. At tha...

Hi Frugal, My PPs run for a bit more than 3 years now. They still show linear behavior. The EU PP has a XIRR now of close to 8% after tax, that is a bit more than 9% before tax(we have a capital tax of 1.2% here). The US PP has a XIRR of approximately 10% after tax, that is a bit more than 11% befor...

Hi wenomeno, I don't pay the monthly activity fee. I use Interactive Brokers through an Amsterdam intermediary(Lynx), guess it would be hard to compete on the Dutch market which such a fee. Saxo bank is also not charging it here. I don't know where you are located, but you can always ask for no fees...

Hi kw, I have a doubt about EXX6 and maybe you can help me I´ve seen here http://de.ishares.com/en/rc/products/EXX6 an uncommon thing about fees. At the bottom of key facts page there is a box entitled fee breakdown, and there are a couple of fees that you can´t see in other ETFs. These ones are Ac...

Hi Clive,

My latest dividend from EDV was in June this year and the withholding tax was 15%.
This is according to the USA/Holland tax treaty, all dividends are taxed 15%.
The UK can have a different withholding tax percentage.

Best Regards, K

Hi T, Comparing the US PP with the EU PP, you find that the US PP is a bit expensive now, while the EU PP represents reasonable value at this moment. I like to add money to the PP after a downward move below the trendline, like March 2011 for the EU-PP. For an US investor it seems to be a 'good' tim...

Hi T,

My European PP is moving nicely the last few weeks. It was 4% down from late 2010, but lately it is moving upwards to its trendline:

EU PP


Best Regards,K

Hi Tarentola, 1 - I think the difference between IMEU and VGK's dividend yield has to do with stock lending. Ishares keeps some of the profit of stock lending while Vanguard returns the profits to the ETF. That means that a  Vanguard ETF returns 2% per year more than an Ishares ETF using this exampl...

IMEU MSCI Europe        Div%: 3,5%                ER: 0,35%        (europe based) IEV    S&P Europe 350  Div%: 3%                  ER: 0,60%        (US based) VGK  MSCI Europe        Div%: 5,3%                ER: 0,14%        (US based) Why is the dividend of VGK so much higher than the dividend...

Hi Tarentola,

Looking at the performance of EXX6, X25E, X509 and IBGL today (at 4:35 PM) :

[align=left]EXX6 : +1.88%
X24E : +0.30%
X509 : +0.03%
IBGL : +0.21%[/align]

Regards,K

ETF explorer is a nice tool.
The ETFs in Europe are generally more expensive than the USA ones. Vanguard should open shop here.

Hi D, Thanks for the gold ETF reference! Income tax is an order of magnitude higher than Capital tax here , sorry to disappoint you. Always welcome to work here) By now we have a few European ETF possibilities for a EU-PP and a US-PP: -----------------------------------------------------------------...

Hi D, Thanks for your advice! Tax is completely different here(Holland), basically a 1.2% tax on capital and no other taxes, so rents and dividends and capital gains etc. is not taxed. Holding treasuries direct is an interesting thought. I am with Interactive Brokers and will look if that is possibl...

Hi Tarentola, EXX6 is 10.5 +. ------------------------------- 13,23 BUNDESREPUB DEUTSCHLAND DE0001135275 113527 1,12 Germany Government 4,00 04/01/37 12,59 BUNDESREPUB DEUTSCHLAND DE0001135226 113522 1,25 Germany Government 4,75 04/07/34 11,45 BUNDESREPUB DEUTSCHLAND DE0001135176 113517 1,30 Germany...

Hi D,

I have a US-PP as well. Just the standard VTI, IAU, TLT and SHY.

It would be difficult to use european ETFs to build a US-PP.

If you measure your US-PP in euros, it is not linear. So it seems (less volatility)better to create your own european PP in euros, if that is your home currency.

Hi Tarentola, Just had a look at the ishares website: EXX6  Modified Duration (%)                     13,72 TLT    Effective Duration                                15.89 IBGL  Modified Duration (%)                          13,46 My feeling is EXX6 responds better than IBGL and X25E. The DB tracker ...

Hi Tarentola, EXX6 was bought because I found IBGL to have a lot of Spanish and Italian bonds. I wanted to have more German bonds. This was before the ECB started to buy Spanish and Italian debt. IBGL is also changing its Holdings regularly, the index it's based up on is updated each month. The DB t...

Hi Tarentola, It seems indeed that a EU-PP is somewhat more difficult to implement than a US-PP.  I live in Holland and have a euro based permanent portfolio. At this moment the following ETFS are used: stocks: VGK(US) and SXD(DE) gold: IAU and PHAUP(etfs physical gold) bonds: IBGL and EXX6(DE) cash...