if u are really a novice in investing, then u hv a good mind and attitude, imo.

i can't comment on "vanguard index funds" becos there are at at least 25 of such funds:
http://www.marketwatch.com/tools/mutual-fund/top25largest

and those are US based, $ based. i would not put all in them but over a variety of markets, currencies and types - diversification is impt.
yes, the world is round... nothing is ever the same. more so with fast tech now, cycles are shorter, reactions in seconds rather than hours or days.

what i can say... something close to my own learning over the years...

one's "investing lifespan" is maybe... 30 years? the time you start to earn and save enough till the time u have no fulltime job... say 30 to 60...?

30 years will invariably see at least 2-3 cycles of boom, recession, (maybe superboom or depression) in stocks, real estate, gold, commodities, fx, etc. - foreign or domestic. over 30 years, one will never get it right all the time for all cycles. the key is to be able to spot a couple of cycles correctly and with some "luck", ride on them when they occur. ride on the disasters, u lose big time, never to recover. and too old, run of out time.

if one is able to have success in more cycles than in failures, that's enough.

to be an overall winner over 30 years is to be an angel, good enough... no need to be god!

of course, the conservative ones can stay in savings and fd, only to be oblivious to what happened, which is OK too.

If that's the case, follow Turtle Investor. He can sleep well even if al the markets are in red zone.  30-30-30-10 allocation.

Wow, this thread's been busy today!

I think the easiest way to make a decision is just to list down the few different scenarios (ie. local, TDAA/IB, SG Broker) taking into account all the different costs and what the end result is.

Also, perhaps fire fire aim?
ie just do it with a local brokerage first, after a few years, if want to move to TDAA or IB, can move leh

that's what i did with my US stocks with iTrade

there's no such thing as perfection except perfectly dead.
things change, new options pop-up, etc.
thus, shouldnt wait for all planets to align - only caveat, please have an emergency fund else one may need to rob one's investments at the wrong time. been there, done that - feel stupid, thus...

I agree with his method, which is similar to other articles which I have read.

The part which I have to figure out now is the forex rate (since I'm earning in MYR) and the recommended investment sum to ensure that the fees (tt, commission, etc) not eat up my profit and make the investment useless (which a few of you have provided some insights be in through local, SG or US brokerage) 

agreed. That's what I am planning to do over the next few days (or week maybe XD pardon my tardiness).

Although the result may indicate that foreign index fund may be out of my reach at the moment due to the required investment sum when converted from MYR, at least I'll have a sound knowledge of the numbers around it

Well for SG part, if you are planning to pay say SGD18/transaction, the min you should go for is SGD4k. That will be about 0.4%+ (0.4% is I am using DBS V, the "+" is other clearing fees). Of course, best is if you can put in SGD10k which is equal to 0.18% but heck SGD10k is too steep for me. So I decide to go with the next best one which I can afford; SGD4k.

Also since I don't the money for access to Ireland based ETF, I will go with the SG UT: Fidelity America A USD. Pay 0.75% (one time payment - each time you buy only) which manage to beat the S&P500. One does not need a global ETF as from what I learnt in the FSM MY thread, global index have about 50-70% in the US market. SC of 0.75% is damn cheap compare to 2% by FSM MY and SG UT outperform funds sold by Malaysians fund house.

You might want to look into that aspect too. If you want to talk about all the fees, that's already counted in the NAVs already. That will be my substitute until I have enough cash.

if u are really a novice in investing, then u hv a good mind and attitude, imo.

Actually, i feel that I am more of the pessimistic and cowardly investor-to-be. The fear of losing all my hard-earned money is larger than the temptation to make big money from investments/trading. Which in turn, make me take much longer than others to get started in investing. Currently all my money is dependent on the paltry Fd interest rates.

a lot has to do with yr age and whose money u r talking about!

a young man can lose everything but has the time to find more in the next 30 years.

old folks... lose it, u r finished.

nasi and kangkung u get for every meal... which is good, they tell u.

I'm am relatively young but my mind is like a old man's.

Regarding AVFANs earlier comment RE risk - if you're like me and just planning to buy boring buy and hold ETFs you can't really blow it too badly.

I'm more of this

If you're starting off with $10k USD and jumping into leveraged or inverse ETFs or leveraged forex and options then yes.. that's definitely risky.

And definitely not this. Too coward with the risks.

As default you only get permissions with foreign brokers for stocks / ETFs anyway.

1. It's just an assumption for me to get a feel of the numbers. Whether it's tdaa or ib I'll just need to adjust the numbers to reflect accordingly.
3. I got that value from the first post where it's stayed that roughly the total tt charges would be around usd 50. That rm10 is just charges by local banks. I would assume that there might be some charges by receiving and intermediate banks in us.
5. I thought as nra, were eligible to get a 15% deduction on the wt if we fill up some form by every April? Well,I suppose that is still some extra work compared to buying Ireland domiciled etf.

Tbh, 30k would be close to what i earn yearly. I supposed us etf is just out of my reach atm.

Thanks for your feedback.

actually, I have the usd10k now for my initial investment. However, it took me four years to save up due to the increase in exchange rates.

That means if I were to go ahead, I can only buy once now, save up another four years then only top up. I supposed this wouldn't be advisable? Or is my understanding wrong?

u can borrow personal loan to trade and earn much more compare to personal loan interest rate.

u can borrow personal loan to trade and earn much more compare to personal loan interest rate.

I understand that earning through investing/trading is anything but simple. I would like to think that I am not greedy and do not look to make quick money, else I would definitely be in forex and actual stock trading.

However, everytime I research on methods to investing, I come across many who would recommended investing long term in index funds, particularly vanguard funds even for your everyday average joe/jane. Most of them mentioned that index funds:
1. In the long term would provide decent returns. Nothing too fancy, amazing nor terrible which is what I am looking for.
2. In the long term, it is rather stable due to their diversification (Equity across the whole US economy and the whole world's economy + Bonds which covers the whole US economy)
3. In the long term, if one can weather the major dips and not pull out, eventually after many years it will eventually recover. Whereas, one may stand the chance lose all their money in other types of investment.

All these points mentioned by other websites recommending Index funds make it sounds like it is something which one can buy and be relatively comfortable that it is quite unlikely to lose all their investment in the event of a major financial crisis, provided one can weather the downturn period and not pullout. That is why it seems quite interesting to me.

The only downside and blocker at the moment is the fact that I am earning in MYR which translate to the huge sum which is required in order to make the investment worthwhile be it through a US or SG brokerage.

I do acknowledge that there are risks involved by investing in index funds, although I may not be able to properly size/feel it due to my inexperience. Like you have mentioned "if u hv not seen the devil, u will not cry".

However, at the moment, I can only think of three major risks with regards to investing in Vanguard index fund ETF. Please do enlightened me on any other risks of investing in Vanguard index fund ETF. 
1. MYR/USD forex fluctuation.
2. Risk of fees eating up profit if investments amount is too small.
3. US & World economy downturn (though, wouldn't this also affect other funds/investment types in other countries to an extent?)