best BROKER for US and EU

[frugal]

Hello

What is the most solid broker in US and EU?

In america i found IB and TDameritrade, in Europe dont know.

Regards

[Storm]

Vanguard or Fidelity.  Their sheer size and strength gives you security, plus they have some nice features like free trades for high net worth accounts, free treasury bond purchases, etc.

[Storm]

If you're a very active trader I think Interactive Brokers is probably the best.  I don't think it's worthwhile to have an account there if you're only running a traditional HBPP, though.  The monthly minimums will probably cost more for buy and hold type activity.

[escafandro]

Vanguard or Fidelity.

Neither of the two accepts foreign customers, if it is your case.
You can use TDAmeritrade or Schwab.

[frugal]

Vanguard or Fidelity.

Neither of the two accepts foreign customers, if it is your case.
You can use TDAmeritrade or Schwab.

TDAmeritrade neither



Schwab I don't know, I'll check.

[Thomas Hoog]

I'm with IB and yes it is designed as active trading platform with a complex interface.
However I pay nothing except when trading and trading costs are very low

[frugal]

I'm with IB and yes it is designed as active trading platform with a complex interface.
However I pay nothing except when trading and trading costs are very low

you pay $10 per month minimum fee

or not? How you avoid that?

[Thomas Hoog]

No, I don't pay a monthly fee. But my broker is Lynx, custody is IB
I pay only for transactions and optional for actual stockprices (but i don't need actual prices).
Lynx is in NL, FR, BE en DE (sorry, no portugal)

[frugal]

As a good HB pratice is to have Gold outside the country, having a portfolio VP outside should be good also, no?


Thank you

[Storm]

As a good HB pratice is to have Gold outside the country, having a portfolio VP outside should be good also, no?


Thank you

For practical purposes, it is difficult if not impossible for US citizens to hold foreign bank accounts now.  The IRS reporting requirements make it so difficult for the foreign banks to comply that many will not take on US customers.  If you are a citizen of another country perhaps you won't have this issue.

[escafandro]

Vanguard or Fidelity.

Neither of the two accepts foreign customers, if it is your case.
You can use TDAmeritrade or Schwab.

TDAmeritrade neither

Weird. When I ask to open an account with them they told me that there was no problem. May not be enabled for Europeans (I'm Latin American).
Right now I'm with Schwab and the attention is pretty good.

[frugal]

Hi,

what is the Schwab email contact?

Can't get answer...


Tks

[hedgehog]

Please recommend me a broker!

I am EU resident but want to invest in a US PP . I am more bullish on the US economy than the EU. And sorry, the notion that if you are from the
- UK - invest in the UK
- US - invest in the US
- Germany - invest in Germany
- Russia - invest in Russia, etc.
sounds weird to me, because one will obviously perform worse than the other, US being the strongest of all these. The Credit Suisse report (http://gyroscopicinvesting.com/forum/pe ... iscussion/) also showed Australia and South Africa gave even stronger returns in the 20th century.

I thought Interactive Brokers would do the trick but I just found out about their minimum $10 a month fee. which requires - how much minimum investment to make it worthwhile? You can't start small with it as suggested.

Vanguard has yearly fees of 0.18%. To make it equal to IB's $120 a year fees, you have to invest at least $66,667 with them.

Alternatively, what are the best brokers as a US resident? Maybe as a European you can set up a US company with a fixed cost of $100 a month, get a US tax number and set up an account that way - but again, that is also at least $100 a year.

[LazyInvestor]

This website has all the details for the questions asked in this thread, and it has not just comparison of US brokers that accept foreigners, but also other brokers worldwide:

http://the-international-investor.com/2 ... ck-brokers

For >10K accounts, I think IB is the best. The monthly fee is more than saved on free money transfer, excellent currency conversion rates, lowest trading fees in the market, and so on.

Insist on opening the account with their US division to get the 500K SIPC protection. To protect yourself against heavy US estate taxes on foreigners, you buy government debt (50% of PP) directly as it is exempted from estate taxes, and you buy Vanguard or iShares S&P500 on a EU exchange (LSE maybe the best). If you are not buying physical, you can also buy Rowland's PP book-recommended ZGLD ETF on an EU exchange to avoid estate taxes. They are the only broker that let's you submit and update W8-BEN form online thus saving you the hassle of having to mail it in every 2 years.

[hedgehog]

Lazy Investor:

Thank you!

So if I understand correctly, I buy various assets all on IB's platform but different assets on either US or EU markets which is more beneficial tax-wise for each?

PS. I just realized we are discussing this in the Variable Portfolio thread. Actually, my very same question applies to the Permanent Portfolio.

Are these worth to mention for any purpose? https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/? ... _sites.php

[LazyInvestor]

Yes, IB is a company with divisions in a number of countries. No matter with which division you open an account with you will be able to trade on various exchanges in various parts of the world (over 100 exchanges, https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/index.php?f=1323). Depending on which country their division is in they must comply with that county laws, for example, US division with US laws and UK with UK laws. Also you get account protection as per regulations of the respective country. Since you want to buy US treasuries, and since US provides the best account insurance/protection through SIPC (500K vs typical EU 100K or so), you should insist to open it with their US division and not UK, HK, and so on (although they might be good for other purposes and depending on regulations you might not be able to open; I think Canadians must open in Canadian division, British in UK, and so on. Send them an email to check).

[hedgehog]

Thanks for your further insights!

Let's say I don't give a damn about government backed investor protection for now (it may have its value but let's assume I am not interested for now) but I conclude stronger banks in respected jurisdictions give better protection (HK has a low government guarantee but it surely is not a bad place to invest), and low fees wins in the long run, I am also not a UK or Canadian subject, assume I can open an account in any of their divisions, which would give the cheapest option to invest in US equities?

Somehow a low cost withdrawal option will also be important later down the line, but now let's assume that is for later. (Probably I can transfer the whole portfolio from one place to another when I want to start to withdraw, but that is still long time! Damn, the whole World will be a totally different place then!)

[LazyInvestor]

Just open it in US. They let you do one free withdrawal per month by wire, SEPA, and so on.

[hedgehog]

Thanks.

[frugal]

Hi,

I have EUPP and think to make a USPP too...

... sooner...

IB or SCHWAB?




Schwab as a DEBIT CARD for europeans!

[hedgehog]

No, I don't pay a monthly fee. But my broker is Lynx, custody is IB
I pay only for transactions and optional for actual stockprices (but i don't need actual prices).
Lynx is in NL, FR, BE en DE (sorry, no portugal)

Interesting. How does Lynx compares to IB in overall fees for PP? Maybe Lynx has no monthly fees but higher per trade fees so YMMV. You can trade with Lynx on IB's English platform.

All in all: EU resident, US markets - which broker for PP?

IB, Lynx, Schwab or MB Trading? The latter two offers a checking account and card as well. Just an extra, not a must, when compared to IB's (or Lynx's?) free withdrawals.

[frugal]

No, I don't pay a monthly fee. But my broker is Lynx, custody is IB
I pay only for transactions and optional for actual stockprices (but i don't need actual prices).
Lynx is in NL, FR, BE en DE (sorry, no portugal)

Interesting. How does Lynx compares to IB in overall fees for PP? Maybe Lynx has no monthly fees but higher per trade fees so YMMV. You can trade with Lynx on IB's English platform.

All in all: EU resident, US markets - which broker for PP?

IB, Lynx, Schwab or MB Trading? The latter two offers a checking account and card as well. Just an extra, not a must, when compared to IB's (or Lynx's?) free withdrawals.

And, you can do a free of commissions US-PP at Schwab , right?

Tks

[hedgehog]

And, you can do a free of commissions US-PP at Schwab , right?

Tks

- I am not a native speaker

- I am also a noob to this investing game

- I have no idea what point do you want to get across

Thanks

[hedgehog]

To protect yourself against heavy US estate taxes on foreigners, you buy government debt (50% of PP) directly as it is exempted from estate taxes, and you buy Vanguard or iShares S&P500 on a EU exchange (LSE maybe the best). If you are not buying physical, you can also buy Rowland's PP book-recommended ZGLD ETF on an EU exchange to avoid estate taxes.

Interesting topic, I haven't heard about these before.

Where can I get the basics and also the nuts and bolts of what taxes are due to non US persons in the US and how to legally handle them?

Google was not much of help.

[hedgehog]

Also worth taking into consideration if equities are held in your name or the broker's name. In Australia it is called CHESS sponsored, I don't know about the US. Interactive Brokers doesn't have segregated user accounts; equities are held in the name of the broker.

See this thread (featuring IB): http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-re ... ?t=1839507
and especially this post: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/ ... #r39131339
One word of advice: Make sure your broker is chess sponsored (so shares are held in your name) and that the money you give them is held in an account in your name with a reputable bank. Some broker hold your money in so called co-mingled accounts and shares are held in their name (or their clearing banks names). Brokers do go bust sometimes and in this case you will loose most or all your money unless the shares and money are held in your name. I had to learn this the hard way when Sonray capital markets went bust after the directors were stealing money out of the co-mingled accounts. So I would keep my fingers of Interactive Brokers, CMC markets or anything similar...

Your thoughts?