Added

If im not wrong, i trade under CIMB they serve as intermediary as well as act as broker for us to trade in US exchange. In this case should i still need the W8-BEN ?

So far my withdrawal of ETF with them, they did not required me to provide any tax filling, however im not sure on the charges incur during the withdrawal process, might need to re-look into that.

Its 0.42% per trade or min of 25usd

Diverse, low fees

Actually $25 per trade if you buy in big chunks here and there it isn't really that much in the long term

ETFs can be used for long term, short term, intra day trading , short selling, options

Can you buy them directly in SG from Vanguard? Doesn't give any information on their SG website at all.

There's a Malaysia ETF, IWM by iShares : http://www.ishares.com/us/products/239669/...ci-malaysia-etf
I did say big chunks .. if you bought $5k, that $25 is only 0.5%

hi guys, i just noticed this thread. good that ts started this as i was looking for something to begin with, found nothing then. found this only:
usa stocks thread:

.. if one is paying 0.42 or 0.35% at bursa, 0.4% for us equities is bearable, provided each transaction is >usd6250, i.e. >usd25 min brokerage.
.. local platforms also offer t+3 for us and sgx like bursa, so u can manage the trades among the bourses.
.. exchange rates - i find itrade's rates reasonable, the spread is about 0.37% e.g. last trading session 3.5035/3.4905.
.. us etf's appear tradeable - the popular ones are always among the highest, spy being the top one almost everyday.

Oh so it's 10usd. I'm looking to invest quarterly or monthly if it's convenient to make payment.

I'm building a long term nest, so I guess I'm going to buy and hold. Looking at 10 yrs horizon:)

Any discount broker recommendation for an occasional (quarterly), buy and hold investor with access to Irish ETFs?

I think $1250 per quarter may be a bit cost prohibitive in both instances considering the roughly $50 transfer fees.

I don't follow your logic of additional ER of 0.3% though? I'll do a spreadsheet and report back shortly 

Npt yet, busy day. I should have time to do it today