U.S. topic: Interactive Brokers possibly an expat friendly brokerage and IRA account firm

[mokwit]

58 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Suretrade is a company backed by the Swiss and based in the Bahamas

Nothing about that gives me confidence.

[Yellowtail]

On 3/10/2019 at 7:35 AM, Cryingdick said:

It seems fairly obvious they don't want people taking money out of America. I am going to guess they don't want to let expats hold tax deferred mutual funds because of that. Trump is big on bringing money back to the USA and the dems are about to make a war on Wall Street if elected. 

 

Politics aside all of this is bad for the small investor. Suretrade is a company backed by the Swiss and based in the Bahamas that doesn't care and gives margin accounts that are 6:1 leverage with a deposit of $500. If you visit their website with in the USA you will be asked to check a box saying that they didn't intend to market their services to American citizens.

 

I am not sure what products they offer but this may be of use to people that want accounts with higher amounts of leverage and low barriers to open. The trade off no pun intended is higher transaction fees from what I know.

 

If you trade frequently something like Robinhood might be useful I am not sure how much they check into where you live but trades are commission free. There is a small charge for some kind of tax or whatever that is usually hidden with in the commission structure of companies with higher fees. I made a second account with them to get around the pattern trading rules. They asked very few questions online and I simply provided a USA address and phone number. I was with in the USA when I did it so have no idea if a foreign IP address sets off alarms, these days we can assume it does.

 

 

 

 

7

 

 

It is really your position that Trump is reducing US-based investment vehicles available to US citizens living abroad to coerce them into keeping their money in the US?  

 

So by making investment less attractive, he hopes to increase investment, it's brilliant! 

[Cryingdick]

19 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

 

 

It is really your position that Trump is reducing US-based investment vehicles available to US citizens living abroad to coerce them into keeping their money in the US?  

 

So by making investment less attractive, he hopes to increase investment, it's brilliant! 

 

I don't really have a position was thinking out loud of some concerns. I live in the USA so it really doesn't matter. I gave out some options Robinhood is brilliant for example. It seems you are here to do nothing more than pester people. If you don't have anything to offer... 

 

I know people that used Suretrade because of relaxed rules and it was fine. I explained why I mentioned it. 

[Bang Bang]

My experience with US brokerages:

1. ETrade: Set up while working in the US, then moved to Thailand and changed my address to this one here. No hassles at all. Excellent service all the way.

 

Then wanted to switch to Vanguard because of some of their excellent index funds.

 

2. Vanguard: 'Orrible. They didn't want to have anything to do with an expat. Then I thought I could try again with my brother's MI address. They sussed out the inconsistency (phone from Thailand, US address) and cut me off.

 

After the Vanguard debacle I applied to Fidelity because they have some nice funds too.

 

3. Fidelity: Been with them 7 years now and perfectly happy. Ok, I did use my brother's address to open the ac. but I've been perfectly open with them about where I live. I did ask what would happen if I changed to my Thai address - other than that they couldn't advise me re some things (valid, consultants are licensed for certain territories) it seemed nothing.

 

Added: My Wisconsin CU didn't bat an eyelid when I changed to an international address. Docs/CCs come here without problem.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Bang Bang