Are you familiar with eToro? Is it okay for long term index investing?

[Mr_Y]

Hello fellow mustachians,

Like most of you, I trust long-term low-fee investing with index funds. Vanguard would be ideal, but I do not think it is available for residents of my country (Tunisia), and I have done my research.

I was looking for online brokers to buy Vanguard ETFs, I have created a "practice" account at a day trading website (etoro.com), it is mainly a website for day traders and forex and there are no vanguard ETFs available, just a few stocks, but they also offer indices (DJ30, SPX500, NSDQ100, UK100, GER30, FRA40), these are their fees :

DJ30        | $10 fee per unit | currently at $14,825
SPX500    | $0.5 fee per unit | currently at $1,595.60
NSDQ100 | $1 fee per unit | currently at $2,876.50
UK100      | $3 fee per unit  | currently at $6,477
GER30      | $4 fee per unit  | currently at $7,907
FRA40      | $3 fee per unit  | currently at $3,885

   If I invest my extra money in SPX500, at what seems to be a reasonable fee ($0.5/$1,595), I will be able to mirror the SP500 index and enjoy something similar to "Vanguard S&P 500 ETF", right? There are transaction fees, but with wire transfer and very low frequency trading (buy SPX500 at whatever current price is, hold until I retire or change brokers). Am I missing something guys, too good to be true?

   I am not asking you to do my research, but I would like to know if someone else tried this. Also, maybe you know some tried-and-true international broker?

   PS: I am a student and I am investing about $80/month (plus some occasional freelance income), I will buy maybe one unit of SPX500 per year (current retirement savings : about $1.300. Gotta start somewhere).

   PPS: You Americans are spoiled, dammit I wish I could just enter my SSN in Vanguard's website and get started.

[daverobev]

Do you have access to an online/discount brokerage? If so, once you have agreed to the relevant things, you *should* be able to trade on the NYSE, NASDAQ... LSE, etc, etc. So you could just buy the Vanguard ETFs you wanted.

No idea how that would work in terms of tax - in the case of Tunisia having a double taxation agreement with the country of the stock exchange in question, and Tunisia having a tax-sheltered pension system, you could buy ETFs in there and not get taxed on them...

[Mr_Y]

   Hello Dave, Thank you for the reply.

   * Tax Sheltered Pension:   No, Tunisia doesn't have a tax sheltered pension system, but the state will not tax you on income you invest in the BVMT (Tunisian Sotck Market), up to 40% of your total income and up to 12.000 USD. Even with these incentives, the local stock market isn't really interesting (yep, that's how bad it is. The Tunindex even dropped 3% on a single day - when a political leader was murderd (RIP Belaid) )

   * Double Taxation Agreement: Yep, we have that with a lot of countries, including EU countries and the States. Taxes are great in my country, that's not a problem.

   * Buying ETFs: It would be great if you know a broker that (1) accepts Tunisians as clients and (2) Offers Vanguard ETFs and (3) Has low fee (I don't mind flat opening/closing fees, but there is no way I al paying a % on the invested money). Do you use an online broker yourself?

   Thank you.

[kittrad]

Hi guys, I'd like to know please please anyone has had success on investing here? I was checking out for some schemes for a passive income. I was thinking, rather hoping, that this could be it?

[iamlindoro]

Hi guys, I'd like to know please please anyone has had success on investing here? I was checking out for some schemes for a passive income. I was thinking, rather hoping, that this could be it?

<Checks post history>

So... how long until this account is used to shill for something/post a referral?