investing with american based online broker

M

marfsmal

Registered User
Messages
157
I want to buy shares in an american company on the NSQ through an american online broker but I'm just scared about wiring money to an american account. Silly probably. The amount wouldn't be totally massive either.. less than 10k.

Has anyone done this and can they give me some tips re. charges to send money to american account/ making sure it happens securely?

Also woul d you be saving in charges that you would other wise be charged by an Irish broker re. Government/stamp duty charges? I bought Google shares before and there was a secondary charge due to it being american company.

The online broker is zecco.com. They've been around for a long time and seem legitimate. It's just couple of people I have talked to said to be careful, that they'd rather deal with Irish broker. But the fees are way cheaper online with this crowd- for the transaction anyway.

Thanks in advance. Any tips really appreciated.
 
I've been using US broker since February. So far no problems at all.
Irish brokers are just nightmare,they are ok only for ISEQ. Otherwise avoid.
 
What's the story with tax when investing with American brokers online. Do you just pay capital gains tax over here or is there a charge over there? I read something about an American tax of 30% but I'm not sure!?
 
Marfsmal,

I've been with TDAmeritrade for about 10 years now (they were Ameritrade before that and Datex before that again). I've never had an issue with them, trades are executed in real-time and wire transfers (inbound/outbound) are easy/inexpensive to use.

The cost per trade is $9.99 which isn't the cheapest but certainly way below the costs of using an Irish broker. They also provide Level 1 trading tools such as realtime quotes, trading, analysis etc for free with optional Level 2 tools at an additional charge.

If you are not a permanent U.S. resident, you must complete the IRS W-8 BEN form, which is required to certify that the beneficial owner is not a US taxpayer. I believe that this is effective for 3 years at which time you will have to complete it again.

I have no connection with TDAmeritrade other than being a very satisfied customer, driven to them by unreasonably high costs charged by Irish brokers.

One thing to be aware of is that you will be converting Euros to Dollars and vice versa so you will be subject to the vagaries of exchange rate fluctuations. Over a longer period of time this has generally smoothed out for me but may be a concern with a shorter timeframe.

Good Luck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register