In about 8 months I will move to Italy permanently; I will not have a residence in the US.
A rep of Ch. Schwab (an int’l acct specialist) told me that upon loss of my US address, my Schwab acct must be closed (and online access from Italy will be blocked due to the IP address).
I’m seeking recommendations on brokerage houses that can handle equities AND a US IRA account. Any suggestions ? A few words on the cost of maintaining such accts at the recommended company also gratefully received. Thanks in advance.
dr
1 Like
Take a look at FxPro. they have several options for account opening and different services according to your investment profile.
Hope this helps,
Fabricio
Hi David,
A couple I know work for non-US persons is Interactive Brokers and Trade Station (the latter probably better suited to non dividend investors as they do not offer DRIP). Schwab now also has an international office based in the UK which accepts non US citizens. If you keep your US citizenship however, then there are more options. Good luck with your new life in Italy!
NomadAristocrat
Hi David, an alternative (if you like your Schwab account and would like to keep things as is) is to maintain a mailing address back in the U.S. If you still have friends or relatives there who don’t mind getting occasional mail from Schwab (they don’t send a ton of stuff, mostly electronic), you might want to ask permission, OR you can subscribe to a mailing address at places like Mailboxes ETC. and they can forward stuff to your address in Italy.
Best of luck!
I think you will want to keep a US address for other reasons that may not even be evident right now. I did this through https://www.usglobalmail.com/ . Buy a year-long subscription. You can see your inbox, have the letter scanned, or have it sent to you. Also, I can access my Schwab account just fine in France, so just keep your account as is. Google voice numbers or international cell phone numbers won’t work with Schwab, so I just use email. Use transferWise for currency transfers. It is not a bank but more like Western Union with a debit card. Try getting a www.OOMA.com US number and then you can call USA from Italy as if you were actually in the USA. Get a 2% back PenFed Power Cash card from https://www.penfed.org/credit-cards/power-cash-rewards which has no foreign transaction fees. Use your Schwab debit card for ATM access with reimbursable ATM fees. You will want to get a Google Voice phone number, as it works as a USA mobile phone for everyone (Except Schwab) anywhere in the world. Highly useful! Good luck. These are my tips and advice.
If other have other general tips I am a magnet for things that make life easier overseas.
Ciao! Marc
1 Like
Very helpful insights and advice. Thanks all.
David
Have you considered the impact to your FICO score if ou close your USA accounts?
1 Like