Hmm... if my memory serves me right, you did mention that you're not the aggressive & usually buy equities & let it mature long term.

If you're not trading 1:1, how do you settle T+3?

i mean... if like me now, not trading, local ib platform albeit higher fees still acceptable, no need to look for others.

if using foreign broker like trademonster, the motive is probably to trade intraday or t+3 since fees are much lower. but if there is no leverage, then there is a cost to the deposit to trade, unless u earn interest on the deposit if it is idle, which i doubt is the case - pls correct me if i am wrong here...? of course, if the plan is not to trade t+3 but trade by paying up, it is not an issue, just the benefit of lower fees whenever u buy or sell.


oh... like to check with u further about trademonster...

when u make deposit, how is it done? do u ibg thru banks? or some third party fund manager? spread? any funds transfer charge?

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Jan 10 2015, 08:27 PM

Ouch... I've yet to employ their service hence I can't speak much on those enquiries of yours. I've just mailed them my application form which will take roughly 2 weeks to reach them so I'll let you know once I'm officially in.

When you die, your spouse and/or children may not even know where are all of your assets unless you have specific documentation and instructions for them to execute and put this in a safe and secure location. You can download from the following link as a guide on creating such document.

http://www.erikdewey.com/bigbook.htm

Yeah - solved that earlier with a list of assets & liabilities + how to access them (for my then Executor or Trustee).
Lots of folks overlook this aspect - ada Will / Wasiat BUT dunno where the fish are all the assets and who/what is owed to/from.

BTW, U had any further luck with info/impact on them US death taxes for "non-domestic aliens" holding "US assets"?
Gawd.. looks like i've to hit up some big firm - ouch $.

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: Jan 12 2015, 03:12 PM

Sorry I don't and don't have any fixed assets there anyway. Just plan to get my benefactor to sell off my equity and transfer it back home. One problem though. How long does it take for the bank to freeze your account upon your death? Also when transfer back, they will call up and ask questions if the amount is big. Need some solution there.

I don't know if anyone knows, but is there any way to invest in a shariah-compliant US etf or index fund? Thanks!

er.. bro, not only fixed assets in US leh from what i read (direct from IRS' website & KPMG stuff).
Stocks too if held directly (ie. not via nominee accounts like HLeB, MBB, etc.) - unsure about stock options though - 1 of the Qs i want answered by US estate tax expert when i find one within my budget
Hopefully i understood wrongly.

This post has been edited by wongmunkeong: Jan 12 2015, 06:53 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong but you did mention before that you're using CIMB as your trading platform right? Can you share me the fees structure for both local & foreign trading (US market)?

sure.

cimb itrade online foreign is limited to sgx, usa, thailand, indo and hongkong. they offer others too but are offline and too costly, no eye see...

sgx <rm100k 0.42% min sgd28; >rm100k 0.275% + some other minor charges. dividends, flat sgd10 per div.
usa flat 0.4% min usd25 + some minor misc charge. div handling charge... waiting for confirmation.

as u can see, it is too costly to trade, so i don't. i optimize by:

.. no trading, just invest
.. buy/sell at amount for each transaction such that brokerage = or >min, i.e. min sgd 6666 or usd6250
.. accumulate div at zero int until amt good enough to buy by itself or combine with fresh funds if ex rate favorable

really, just common sense within the constraints.

the not-too-bad stuff:

.. i dun pay for real time data as i am happy enough with yahoo finance; don't need it every night
.. all bourses transactions in all currencies on one page daily report - easy to monitor
.. one single stocks account and one bank account
.. all holdings in all currencies combined x 2.5 into trading limit - i can trade quite a bit if i want to - maybe some day at some minute
.. exploit currency fluctuations - if foreign currency fav, i buy and use what is sitting there at locked in rate on day of purchase; if unfavorable, i pay with rm at ex rate on due date, i.e. 3 days later
.. ex rate spread reasonable, nothing exorbitant

works well for me at this time but... in time, i may want to trade and will need a cheaper arrangement, albeit more troublesome.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Jan 12 2015, 10:40 PM

Thank you for the summary. I guess it's time to pay the brokerage a visit during my lunch time one of these days.

Stocks and cash held in US brokerages above $60K fall under estate tax

You can for example instead of buying SPY, buy VUSA on LSE instead - domiciled in Ireland and therefore doesn't fall under US assets, and also only gets 15% tax withheld rather than 30%.

Options ... I have no idea, I don't hold any options. But I'd assume they'd be treated the same

Has anyone here successfully filed 1040NR in order to claim back 15% of withholding taxes?

I've had around $500 withheld over 2014 but am finding conflicting information if I can claim 50% of this back or not?

-Holds zero interests in this lair

This post has been edited by Brother J: Jul 14 2015, 01:52 AM

very nice....2000 coming.

Let's buy again if it dives to 1950 (200ma).

oh i love 1950.

JBTFD
Just buy the f***ing dip hahahaa

The brokerage fee of 0.42% for KLSE turned me off so I didn't end up getting an account on CIMB iTrade.

BTW, since you're looking for offshore brokerage as well, do checkout robinhood.com. It's quite a new brokerage with $0 commission & still in the invite-only phase. I'm not vouching for it or anything so you might want to read around for feedback & stuffs.

standard... 0.42% for bursa is the normal rate for cds accounts for most local banks incl mbb, hlb, public, i believe.
for priority-premium customers, it is 0.35%, 0.21% if >rm100k per counter, 0.1% intraday.
so, be premium!

for bursa trading, a lot of people prefer to use another type, the nominee account. also available in most banks, brokerage 0.1%, min rm8 for everything. only catch is no leverage, u deposit, trade and pickup 1:1.



robinhood.com... ok, thanks, will check when the time comes.

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Jan 13 2015, 05:09 PM