Author Topic: Investment for non-US/UK/EU/Canadian citizens?  (Read 1863 times)

Keren

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Investment for non-US/UK/EU/Canadian citizens?
« on: March 19, 2016, 02:22:40 AM »
Help! I am an Israeli citizen. I save over 70% of my income and I need to learn more about investing. The resources that I saw on the website are not applicable to me due to my citizenship. I need help figuring out how to invest my money to get a solid return. I appreciate any guidance you may be able to give!

Seppia

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Re: Investment for non-US/UK/EU/Canadian citizens?
« Reply #1 on: March 19, 2016, 03:50:50 AM »
Are you sure there is no broker in Israel that allows you to purchase Vanguard ETFs?
I would bet there is this option.

Now obviously being in the USA is best, as you can open an account with vanguard and have zero purchasing fees, plus you can get the mutual funds (which I personally prefer because there's only 1 price per day), but buying ETFs from a brokerage account is not that bad either, as the purchase fees are usually reasonable and are just one-shot (good for the buy and hold investors)

In Italy my purchasing fees are 0.19% of the amount purchased with a minimum of 3€ per transaction 
So say I buy €1000 worth of VEUR (vanguards Europe ETF) I pay €3 one shot fee, if I buy €5000 I pay €9.5, etc.

WerKater

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Re: Investment for non-US/UK/EU/Canadian citizens?
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2016, 04:48:11 AM »
Welcome to the forum, Keren!

You might want to check very generally whether there are Israeli online banks that offer brokerage accounts. I would be very surprised if there are none.

Don't get too stuck on Vanguard funds. True, Vanguard is usually the best for Americans but in other countries that might not be true (depending on taxes, financial regulations and so on). For example, it seems not to be true in Germany. But we have other options (not as good but good enough).

What you should look for is funds that:
1.) Invest in broad markets (ideally you want to invest in the whole world)
2.) Have low expenses (terminologies to look for: Expense Ratio, Total Expense Ratio, TER).  Vanguard offers as low as 0.05% but you might not find anything quite as low in Israel. For example, my funds have an average TER of 0.24%. I consider that good enough.
3.) You can buy without too many fees. See what Seppia said.
4.) Are tax-efficient. This is a vague statement, but since I know nothing about Israeli taxes, I can not tell you any more, unfortunately. Just as an example, in Germany, holding funds that are domiciled abroad and that do not follow certain reporting guidelines can have very unfavorable tax consequences.