Investment Platforms for expats
Sep 13th 2019, 9:04 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 40
Investment Platforms for expats
Hello,
I wanted to check if anybody suggestions for good platforms which offer a wide range of investments funds for UK expats. In essence, I am looking for something like Hargreaves Lansdown or Bestinvest or AJBell but for expatriates. It would be great if the platform is offshore as then I wont have to pay UK taxes on any income or capital gains. The challenge is that UK based platforms want you to be UK resident before opening an account with them. In addition if i were to open one income and capital gains are taxed.
To be clear, I am not looking for investment advice as I know what funds i want to invest in and happy to manage it myself. The criteria (not in any particular order) would be ease of investing (user friendly website), reasonable cost and decent customer support.
Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks
I wanted to check if anybody suggestions for good platforms which offer a wide range of investments funds for UK expats. In essence, I am looking for something like Hargreaves Lansdown or Bestinvest or AJBell but for expatriates. It would be great if the platform is offshore as then I wont have to pay UK taxes on any income or capital gains. The challenge is that UK based platforms want you to be UK resident before opening an account with them. In addition if i were to open one income and capital gains are taxed.
To be clear, I am not looking for investment advice as I know what funds i want to invest in and happy to manage it myself. The criteria (not in any particular order) would be ease of investing (user friendly website), reasonable cost and decent customer support.
Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks
Sep 13th 2019, 6:35 pm
#2
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: Riyadh
Posts: 204
Re: Investment Platforms for expats
Try interactive brokers. They don’t hold your hand through the account opening or trading on the platform, but covers your requirements as an expat. Saxo bank also worth considering.
Sep 15th 2019, 6:07 am
#4
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Abu Dhabi
Posts: 1,172
Re: Investment Platforms for expats
I use Internaxx: it's execution only like you want.
Sep 15th 2019, 11:53 am
#6
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Abu Dhabi
Posts: 1,172
Re: Investment Platforms for expats
Yes, I agree the commissions are't great. But I can't be bothered with the giant ball ache of proving my address in order to open an account with another broker.
Sep 15th 2019, 3:35 pm
#7
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 90
Re: Investment Platforms for expats
I use both Internaxx and Interactive Brokers.
Internaxx is the more expensive of the 2. It has a very simple interface but is more expensive with the account fees and trading fees. The multi currency accounts that come with it are a nice feature but they don’t pay interest.
Interactive Brokers is slightly harder to use but is much cheaper, there’s no account fee if your balance is over $100k and the trading fees are low.It is however a US broker so be careful not to hold more than $60k cash in the account because if you die your estate will get hit with some punitive taxes from Uncle Sam. Holding stocks/etf’s over $60k doesn’t matter, neither does money in a US bank account either.
Internaxx is the more expensive of the 2. It has a very simple interface but is more expensive with the account fees and trading fees. The multi currency accounts that come with it are a nice feature but they don’t pay interest.
Interactive Brokers is slightly harder to use but is much cheaper, there’s no account fee if your balance is over $100k and the trading fees are low.It is however a US broker so be careful not to hold more than $60k cash in the account because if you die your estate will get hit with some punitive taxes from Uncle Sam. Holding stocks/etf’s over $60k doesn’t matter, neither does money in a US bank account either.
Sep 16th 2019, 7:47 am
#8
Account Closed
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 0
Re: Investment Platforms for expats
Sep 16th 2019, 1:43 pm
#9
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Abu Dhabi
Posts: 1,172
Re: Investment Platforms for expats
Them: That's OK sir, just send me your utility bill.
Me: It's emailed to me and doesn't state my address
Them: The Tenancy Agreement will be fine then
Me: It doesn't have an address on it
Them: Could your company write a letter to state your address?
Me: My company has no more proof of my address than you do. Because there is no proof. Because we don't have a normal address system here.
Them: How about a mobile phone bill?
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH
Me: It's emailed to me and doesn't state my address
Them: The Tenancy Agreement will be fine then
Me: It doesn't have an address on it
Them: Could your company write a letter to state your address?
Me: My company has no more proof of my address than you do. Because there is no proof. Because we don't have a normal address system here.
Them: How about a mobile phone bill?
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH
Sep 17th 2019, 4:53 am
#10
Account Closed
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 0
Re: Investment Platforms for expats
Them: That's OK sir, just send me your utility bill.
Me: It's emailed to me and doesn't state my address
Them: The Tenancy Agreement will be fine then
Me: It doesn't have an address on it
Them: Could your company write a letter to state your address?
Me: My company has no more proof of my address than you do. Because there is no proof. Because we don't have a normal address system here.
Them: How about a mobile phone bill?
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH
Me: It's emailed to me and doesn't state my address
Them: The Tenancy Agreement will be fine then
Me: It doesn't have an address on it
Them: Could your company write a letter to state your address?
Me: My company has no more proof of my address than you do. Because there is no proof. Because we don't have a normal address system here.
Them: How about a mobile phone bill?
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH
I thought about downloading a tenancy agreement, filling it out with the information they needed and sending it to them.
Sep 17th 2019, 8:05 am
#11
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 90
Re: Investment Platforms for expats
Just go to your bank and get them to put your address on the statement. They really didn’t seem to care at FAB. You can then just print an online statement and send that as proof of address.
Or if you’re married, you could provide all of the paperwork in the wife’s name, your marriage certificate and and letter from her stating that you live together. Thats what my wife did for her IB account.
Or if you’re married, you could provide all of the paperwork in the wife’s name, your marriage certificate and and letter from her stating that you live together. Thats what my wife did for her IB account.
