Investing in Euros or USD? IB, Degiro or TDAmeritrade?

Hi,

I am a newbie in this world of personal finance and currently looking into Vanguard Life Strategy Funds. I live in Switzerland but I will most likely move out in about 10 years to a Eurozone country. I have an account with TDAmeritrade but haven’t used it yet.

You would agree that I would be better off buying these funds in euros rather than in USD, knowing that someday I will have to convert the USD into EURs anyway? In that case I should probably forget TDAmeritrade and focus on Degiro or IB.

A part from the one Vanguard Life Strategy fund, I would like to invest in ETFs and stocks.

I am quite confused about which broker to choose because there are still some questions in my mind:

  1. IB and Degiro are European based so they will/have stop trading US based ETFs and Funds because of PRIIPs (Degiro has already done this. IB not sure)
  2. TD nor Degiro provide fractional shares (true). IB does for US stocks.
  3. IB for small accounts is a bit more expensive (I have read the comparison on The PoorSwiss)
  4. Tax wise it would be the same using either one of the 3: TD, Degiro, IB (I believe it’s true but still not sure)
  5. Currency exchange wise, it’s better to stick to Degiro or IB (Almost sure ?)
  6. Platform wise: I like TDAmetritrade website and apps and I enjoy using Thinkorswim for research
  7. I really would like to avoid using more than one broker
  8. Degiro is more limited in products and tools for research.
  9. PRIIPs are a mess…

I would appreciate your thoughts and help.

Thank you in advance.

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Last time I checked they were only available for US citizens.

Not applicable for Swiss citizens for now. Swiss customers are still with IBKR UK.

Depends on the products you’re buying. US ETFs == 30% withholding tax where you can recover 15%

I don’t care about them.

Just go for IB if you ever plan to reach a 100k stock portfolio…

Thank you for the feedback.
Concerning the Vanguard fund, I messed up. I ment the ETF “version”.
The issue with IBKR UK is exactly the fact that it is in Europe: doesn’t that mean that it will loose access to US based funds in 2022?
Regarding taxes I am still lost. I have read the post “Swiss tax guide for investors in ETFs” in this website and what I got from it is that for US equities the best choice is to buy the US based version…
I will have to keep reading…
Thank you again

Don’t tell that to the English people… :sweat_smile:

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:slight_smile: Oooopsie.

Well it is in Europe, just not EU. :stuck_out_tongue: