Trading stocks/shares as an expat

[BladeRunner]

Hi all!

I want to invest some money in stocks/shares, I'm a British expat living Japan (obvs!)
A lot of online brokers don't seem to have an option for me...

I was wondering if anyone uses a provider they could recommend??

 

[impish]

Do you not have a legal residence in the UK? Could you not register with your UK address and send money to a bank in the UK to invest with

 

[Frenchy]

If you are resident here any Japanese online broker should be able to open an account for you. But their website is only in Japanese.
Otherwise you should be able to open a non-resident account at a US or U.K. Broker.
I know some people have one at Interactive Brokers which has apparently the best selection of markets you can trade and low trading fees.

 

[BladeRunner]

Do you not have a legal residence in the UK? Could you not register with your UK address and send money to a bank in the UK to invest with

What would constitute a legal residence? I don't own anywhere no.

 

[TAG Manager]

What would constitute a legal residence? I don't own anywhere no.

Each country has a residence test for tax purposes.... or if you are indeed British, don't you have a legally registered domicile in the U.K.?

What Frenchy said is pretty straightforward.... I don't even do that stuff in Japan, I don't like dealing with those transactions if I can't do it in my own native language. (risk of error or misunderstanding)

 

[MikeH]

I don't even do that stuff in Japan, I don't like dealing with those transactions if I can't do it in my own native language. (risk of error or misunderstanding)

And I haven't found anything close to the prices you can get back at the old home country as what comes to commissions and stuff.

 

[e-smile]

What would constitute a legal residence? I don't own anywhere no.

if you spend more than 6 months a year in a country legally that country will be your tax residence (not sure if that's what he meant though)

 

[Frenchy]

Anyway you don't need to be resident to have an account somewhere , be it bank or brokerage. Just know however that increasingly , countries' tax authorities share information (between countries of residence and countries of said accounts) so if you make big profits on your overseas account and don't declare them where you live you may have some issues later.

 

[KJos]

Hi all!

I want to invest some money in stocks/shares, I'm a British expat living Japan (obvs!)
A lot of online brokers don't seem to have an option for me...

I was wondering if anyone uses a provider they could recommend??

You can check the forums on the site retirejapan.info
It has lot of discussion and information around investment options for foreigners under different circumstances including broker options.

I don't even do that stuff in Japan, I don't like dealing with those transactions if I can't do it in my own native language. (risk of error or misunderstanding)

If you are not using NISA and iDeCo while being resident in Japan, you are missing out some incredible opportunities to grow your savings and reduce tax incidence. It's not all that difficult as it requires a one time effort in Japanese for initial setup.

 

[MikeH]

If you are not using NISA and iDeCo while being resident in Japan, you are missing out some incredible opportunities to grow your savings and reduce tax incidence. It's not all that difficult as it requires a one time effort in Japanese for initial setup.

And if you don't use them you are also missing out locking your monies until the retirement age and paying high fund expenses.

 

[Jaaz]

If you are not using NISA and iDeCo while being resident in Japan, you are missing out some incredible opportunities to grow your savings and reduce tax incidence. It's not all that difficult as it requires a one time effort in Japanese for initial setup.

Please, tell us more!

 

[John Chavers]

What @MikeH says. Investing in Japan is a joke unless you've got several million $USD, and even then the trading houses will move your money out of Japan into real investment opportunities.

 

[MossBoss]

And if you don't use them you are also missing out locking your monies until the retirement age and paying high fund expenses.

The NISA was based on the UK's ISA (Individual Saving Account). But the ISA is much more flexible. Also in the UK most people use a discount broker. If you buy them from a high street bank the charges would be something like an initial 3-4% then an annual charge of 1.5%. Discount brokers by comparison have an initial charge of less than 1% and annual charges of 0.2% (from memory). Although discount brokers don't officially give advice they offer tons of information for free such as model portfolios depending on risk outlook.

It is shocking that the Japanese allow the big financial players rip off the consumers with high charges and lack of choice.

 

[John Chavers]

Why is it shocking? As a society Japanese love being lead by the nose to the slaughterpens.

 

[Taylorjp]

Hi all!

I want to invest some money in stocks/shares, I'm a British expat living Japan (obvs!)
A lot of online brokers don't seem to have an option for me...

I was wondering if anyone uses a provider they could recommend??

https://www.tdameritrade.com/home.page
Give them a call. I'm pretty sure they'll take you as long as you're willing to fill out a lot of paperwork, and set it up firstly by snail mail.