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How do you use Wealthfront if living abroad? Their FAQ states that they require a permanent US residential address. Also unclear to me whether Interactive Brok

How do you use Wealthfront if living abroad? Their FAQ states that they require a permanent US residential address. Also unclear to me whether Interactive Brokers transparently moves funds to brokerage accounts domiciled in your new jurisdiction, triggering FATCA filing requirements, and if they do a good job of making these clear to customers.

davidw 7y ago
People living abroad who are US citizens will often use an address they're associated with - parents or other close relatives. That's what I did for years. I think there are services you can use too. In turn, I'm curious why he bothers with Wealth Front rather than just parking it all in a few Vanguard funds. That cash account looks pretty attractive, but other than that...?
- cbhl 7y ago
  There's a link to https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/investing-for-geeks https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/investing... which discusses this: Vanguard is one of the two Right Answers(TM). My experience with roboadvisors is that the pretty user interfaces encouraged me to save more. Your mileage may vary.
- patio11 7y ago
  I am a huge fan of Vanguard, but Vanguard Japan has strong compliance concerns about providing services to Americans and Vanguard US has strong compliance concerns about providing services to people living in Japan, so I cannot conveniently consume Vanguard services directly.
rb808 7y ago
fbar is pretty trivial to file yourself, takes 20 minutes. https://www.fincen.gov/report-foreign-bank-and-financial-accounts https://www.fincen.gov/report-foreign-bank-and-financial-acc...
- skyraider 7y ago
  Right, not unclear on that, just unclear on whether IKBR domiciles the accounts in such a way that you'd trigger filing requirements, and how to know this when using the platform.
patio11 7y ago
Also unclear to me... I think that's more an "Ask them" question than an "Ask me" question but single data point: neither my tax advisors nor myself felt a lack of clarity with respect to the treatment of their IBSJ and IBLLC accounts, a distinction they are (appropriately) pedantic about with respect to Japan.
MandieD 7y ago
Opening an IB account as a US citizen living in Germany resulted in the IB account being domiciled in the UK - NOT what I was going after, because they then could not allow me to buy non-EU ETFs. I've heard that it used to be different, and that's why I opened an account with them, but they've changed policies within the past year. Pro-tip for other American taxpayers living abroad: do NOT buy non-US-domiciled ETFs or other funds; PFIC will eat up most of any gains. Schwab is reasonably-equipped for serving the US citizen expat market.
- throwaway9d0291 7y ago
  > because they then could not allow me to buy non-EU ETFs That's going to apply to everyone. It's due to new EU regulations requiring documentation (PRIIPs) for retail EU residents.
  - MandieD 7y ago
    Right, but it’s a nasty Catch-22 for US taxpayers, which is anyone with US citizenship. Can’t buy non-EU ETFs because PRIIPs, would be stupid to buy EU ETFs because PFIC.

davidw 7y ago

People living abroad who are US citizens will often use an address they're associated with - parents or other close relatives. That's what I did for years. I think there are services you can use too. In turn, I'm curious why he bothers with Wealth Front rather than just parking it all in a few Vanguard funds. That cash account looks pretty attractive, but other than that...?

cbhl 7y ago
There's a link to https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/investing-for-geeks https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/investing... which discusses this: Vanguard is one of the two Right Answers(TM). My experience with roboadvisors is that the pretty user interfaces encouraged me to save more. Your mileage may vary.
patio11 7y ago
I am a huge fan of Vanguard, but Vanguard Japan has strong compliance concerns about providing services to Americans and Vanguard US has strong compliance concerns about providing services to people living in Japan, so I cannot conveniently consume Vanguard services directly.

rb808 7y ago

fbar is pretty trivial to file yourself, takes 20 minutes. https://www.fincen.gov/report-foreign-bank-and-financial-accounts https://www.fincen.gov/report-foreign-bank-and-financial-acc...

skyraider 7y ago
Right, not unclear on that, just unclear on whether IKBR domiciles the accounts in such a way that you'd trigger filing requirements, and how to know this when using the platform.

patio11 7y ago

Also unclear to me... I think that's more an "Ask them" question than an "Ask me" question but single data point: neither my tax advisors nor myself felt a lack of clarity with respect to the treatment of their IBSJ and IBLLC accounts, a distinction they are (appropriately) pedantic about with respect to Japan.

MandieD 7y ago

Opening an IB account as a US citizen living in Germany resulted in the IB account being domiciled in the UK - NOT what I was going after, because they then could not allow me to buy non-EU ETFs. I've heard that it used to be different, and that's why I opened an account with them, but they've changed policies within the past year. Pro-tip for other American taxpayers living abroad: do NOT buy non-US-domiciled ETFs or other funds; PFIC will eat up most of any gains. Schwab is reasonably-equipped for serving the US citizen expat market.

throwaway9d0291 7y ago
> because they then could not allow me to buy non-EU ETFs That's going to apply to everyone. It's due to new EU regulations requiring documentation (PRIIPs) for retail EU residents.
- MandieD 7y ago
  Right, but it’s a nasty Catch-22 for US taxpayers, which is anyone with US citizenship. Can’t buy non-EU ETFs because PRIIPs, would be stupid to buy EU ETFs because PFIC.