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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: simonice on February 17, 2015, 03:48:13 AM

Title: Investing in Iceland
Post by: simonice on February 17, 2015, 03:48:13 AM
Hi all,

I'm new here on the forum and just recently started reading MMMs blog. He mentions Vanguard quite a lot and so started reading the Bogleheads guide to investing (almost finished). The book along with MMM really inspired me to find some way to invest my money. I'm still pretty young (24) and according to what I've read that should be a big bonus. I have only one problem, I'm not from the US.

I'm completely new to investing and was hoping to be able to invest in a mutual fund at Vanguard but if the information that I found is correct I'd need a minimum of a 100.000$ to invest with them here in Europe. I don't have that kind of cash.
So my question to you, dear mustachians, is, do you know where a young person from Iceland should invest his/hers money?
If so, would you be so kind as to share that information with me? :)

Thank you for taking the time to read this (if you did) and hopefully you'll have some advice for me. If not, have good day :)
Title: Re: Investing in Iceland
Post by: ShoulderThingThatGoesUp on February 17, 2015, 04:41:03 AM
Vanguard isn't your only option; what people are really saying is that the best investment for most people is an ETF that covers a broad portion of the economy, so that you're diversified with one investment. The ETF should also have a low expense ratio so that you aren't paying much for the privilege of owning it. Whatever banks or brokerages most people in Iceland hold their investments through hopefully have similar offerings.

Iceland still has capital controls after the crisis, right? Are you allowed to invest outside of Iceland?
Title: Re: Investing in Iceland
Post by: simonice on February 20, 2015, 04:59:32 AM
Sorry the late reply.

I'm pretty sure Iceland still has the capital control and I'm not allowed to invest outside of Iceland (pretty sure). I only recently started thinking about this so I'll have to find out.

Thanks for the general advice, really helps hearing from a person (not just out of a book).
The main reason I posted on this forum was because I feel like Iceland is not the place to invest my money in (really feel like the crisis isn't really over) and was hoping that maybe someone had some experience with Iceland, if I couldn't invest elsewhere in Europe.

Also, is it generally worse to invest your money outside of the country you're living in? Because of changes in exchange rates of currencies.
And last but not least, is anything under 1% considered low cost?

Appreciate the response :)
Title: Re: Investing in Iceland
Post by: ShoulderThingThatGoesUp on February 20, 2015, 05:38:13 AM
The broad-market fund I put money in by default has an expense ratio of 0.04%. So 1% would be pretty high.

Currency isn't really something I think about because I can be lazy and just invest mostly in the United States and I'm getting a big portion of the world economy. However, there are lots of Canadians, Australians, etc here who might have more perspective on that  - I know I've seen threads to that effect.

In your shoes I would ask banks if they offer investment accounts, and ask around among frugal people at work and in your family how they invest their money.