Thank you all for the interesting discussion. I have been in a similar situation over the last few years, watching the pound sliding into the abyss and feeling powerless to do much about it!

I have little to add, but one thing to bear in mind is that if you transfer pounds into a US account to be invested in pounds, all of the reporting from the US company to the IRS will be in dollars, so you will be taxed not only on the appreciation of any shareholding, but also any appreciation of the currency. Sorry if that seems obvious, but it hadn’t occurred to me at the time I started looking at what to do with my UK lumpsum. At least, that is what I have been told by my CPA, Vanguard and Fidelity, all of whom I trust 99%, but not quite 100%. If anyone can categorically refute that, I would be most pleased!

It wasn’t until I did my first year of HMRC taxes that I really understood how the exchange rate movement could impact taxes on capital gains. I put all the proceeds of our house sale in the USA into a short term bond fund in 2015 then sold it all towards the end of 2016 to buy our house in England. The gain in $’s was very small but the gain in £’s was huge due the high value of the £ against the $ when I bought the shares and the very low value of the £ when I sold them.

USD.

Hi Mrken30 what did you end up doing?

im in the same boat. A large chunk of change in the UK and I can’t find a savings account in the UK with decent interest that will allow me to open it as I’m now based in the US. The US ETF investing in sterling stock is a good option except for the punitive tax rate we will face when sterling rallies (is paying tax on increase in stock price due to sterling appreciation). Would be so valuable to hear if you found any good options (here or via message). Thanks.