Currently I'm targetting 30%/70% Bond vs. Stock ratio , will be heavier towards bonds as I get older. I'm treating this as my retirement pot , so planning to be topping up monthly without withdrawing anything (ie. close to 30 years - I'm currently 27) so I don't see a problem being a little heavier on stocks for now.

I'm still in fairly early stages as reluctant to put too much cash in at once - according to my monthly contribution plan I'm sitting on 10 years worth of contributions

Edit : Although for the long term I'm not sure doing this through the US is the best choice due to the Withholding tax on dividends - Luxembourg would be an alternative but the broker there has far higher transaction charges

This post has been edited by rjb123: Jun 20 2014, 02:31 PM

In regards to trading fees etc. US ETFs are far superior than equivalent products in Malaysia.

The only downside it seems are the tax on dividends - although I understand half of the 30% withheld you can claim back at the end of the tax year?

Wodenus , regarding your point "A) 2% sales charge. Lowest minimum brokerage here is $30 per trade. Would be interesting to find a low-cost US broker in this country"

Nothing is stopping you from opening an account with a US broker, they don't have to be based in Malaysia ...

I don't really understand this question - how do you define "better"?

B) If their expenses are so much lower, why aren't they doing any better?



This post has been edited by rjb123: Jun 23 2014, 10:59 PM

Hmm I see, I was under the impression we can get the 15% back from what I read - need to double check.


Benefits to unit holder - less annual fees?

They can have less fees, as much larger in terms of total assets

Depends what you call a ridiculous amount of money - less than $10K isn't really worth it after paying bank charges

Currently 30% max withholding, apparently at the end of the year you can file a 1040NR form to get half of that 30% back.

Just because you transfer in $10k doesn't mean you have to invest it all in one go. Can have a higher balance and just top up every month (whatever your schedule)

Just because you transfer in $10k doesn't mean you have to invest it all in one go. Can have a higher balance and just top up every month (whatever your schedule)

Just because you transfer in $10k doesn't mean you have to invest it all in one go. Can have a higher balance and just top up every month (whatever your schedule)

The excess funds parked in the brokerage are in my case insured by FDIC (www.fdic.gov)

The fund is just held in that brokerage, if it was to go under and taken over by a new brokerage it'd get moved to there I imagine. Only if every company that fund holds was to go bankrupt your money would be gone !

Already answered by Dreamer , and I'm not a US citizen - don't know what gave you that impression.

Lehman case I don't know much about, but not very relevant to this discussion

This post has been edited by rjb123: Jun 24 2014, 12:50 AM

FYI, from my TDAM account (the cash balance)

I'm aware of the bank - if I remember correctly they give you 2 choices of parking your cash , either FDIC or SIPC. Doesn't really make a difference to me as I'm not planning on having anywhere near the limit in cash parked there anyway.

Most important thing is, there's protection in the unlikely event of them going under.

Who do you prefer as a main broker?

I opened an account with IB as well, but really prefer the TDAM interface

Cash balances are protected by FDIC/SIPC. Afaik you can deposit via bank draft but is a lot slower - considering the lower purchase and sales charges the wire fee isn't really a big deal (unless you're depositing small amounts where the wire charge is a significant percentage)

I'm not too sure why you're coming up with all these scenarios - in this day and age it's extremely rare for wire transfers or funds just to suddenly disappear and go missing, either they're credited to the destination account or returned / rejected if there's an issue with the payment. I do multiple wire transfers around the world every single week for business, never had a single payment just go "missing"

Scenario 1 : Why would $5000 just go missing? Doesn't make sense. All these brokers are regulated by authorities in their respective countries - they can't just make your money disappear and ignore your e-mails / contact.

Secnario 2 : Why would the account be locked for "suspicious activity"? If something like this does occur (most likely due to attempted unauthorised access II guess) it'd just be a case of supplying a few documents.

Scenario 3 : Same as with other banks, just need to ensure your next of kin etc. has the relevant details

Scenario 4 : As per first point above, these brokers are regulated in their countries - money doesn't just disappear.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here - just because a bank/broker is in another country doesn't mean it isn't safe and money doesn't just go missing!

I filed W8BEN form, but withholding on dividends is still 30% (I believe as Malaysia doesn't have DTA with USA)

From what others are saying you need to file 1040NR form - I only started with US ETF this year so won't need to do this until 2015, will update then.

The W8BEN just exempts you from CGT, so we'll need to do the 1040NR filing for 2014 by April 2015.

Depends on the amounts of course - for me the claim would be so small at present it would be a total waste of time!

I tried, but that's only for US residents I believe. Didn't need it anyway, already have a USD debit card which I've never used

BTW, TD has commission free trades on many ETFs - no fees for buying, only a "fine" if holding for less than a certain amount of time (2/3 months? I'm not sure)

TT fee isn't much. Say overall, it may cost $50 USD as most for a transfer - if you transfer $1000 that's $50 (5%), if you transfer $10000 that's 0.5%, if $20000 that's 0.25%.

So far if I transferred in - either $10K or $20k, the % of TT fees is less than the SC I'd pay if I was buying funds in Malaysia

Just choose the standard account type, that'll do just fine

The IRA / 401K stuff is just for US citizens, not foreigners

$20K in USD, from Maybank USD account

No questions asked ... just filled in purpose of transfer "Investment" and that's it

BTW I'm not Malaysian ("Foreign Worker" on the TT form) , as such maybe they ask less questions, I'm not sure.

This post has been edited by rjb123: Jul 29 2014, 07:08 PM

I'm looking at SGX listed ETFs, purely because there's no withholding tax on dividends