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I did a lot of searching for something equivalent to the options Americans had just buying Vanguard. Somehow I stumbled on the term non-resident alien (NRA), which is anyone living outside of the US who isn't a US citizen. That lead to a lot of really well written wiki's and forum posts on the bogleheads forums. There are a few options for NRAs, but the one most recommended by the bogleheads, and on a number of other sites was interactive brokers. I also liked that their monthly fee is waived if you have $100 000 invested with them.

At the moment I just have new money in their account, so it's not my R1m by quite some distance, but the account is ready and waiting, and should I need to move the funds I'll be able to. I'm also fortunate to have a US bank account, but they take transfers in all major currencies, so an EU, UK or even local bank offshore account would be perfect.

I was close to moving all my cash in December after it looked like we were heading downhill fast, but I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. All the reading material says the dollar is overvalued, and the rand is undervalued, and I just couldn't swallow a hit that big. I even went as far as getting my tax clearance, almost. It turns out you can't get tax clearance for investment without going through a bank/broker, but the lady at SARS did confirm they would give it to me with the documents I had on hand. We'll have to wait and see which way we head.

Eventually all my investments will sit in interactive. If I decide I want to hold South African shares, I'll just buy the iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund, or buy dual listed shares, but I think once I'm out I'll be staying out.

Yes, open a US based interactive brokers account and buy VWRD on the london exchange. That's what I've done, and have bought for the last 2 months. I also couldn't find a cheaper international broker than interactive that would accept South Africans.

I think we'll call jaDEB the comeback kid from now on. Doubling down on LON took some balls!

Quote from: Strive on February 08, 2016, 03:04:36 pm

Quote from: Mr_Dividend on February 08, 2016, 02:51:56 pm

Dividends are still taxed for overseas companies - so your only saving will be capital gains for the DBX funds, unlike SA ETF's where you obviously score on the dividend front. Just keep it in mind when deciding what's in the TFSA and what's out.

Huh, that's an interesting point that I hadn't considered, thanks for the heads up.  Over 15 plus years, that's going to have a pretty substantial impact on the returns over the tax-free ideal. I suppose there's a sweet spot between the gains from being exposed to the world economy, and the loss of the dividends from said exposure. Maybe 50/50 is a bit much?

Never knew. But then the dividends from DBXWD is so little they can just as well keep it.

I never knew that either. Remember even dividend yields compound, so the 2% or so for DBXWD is nothing to be sneezed at. I want all my money, any reference to the foreign shares still paying divvie tax?

now I've got some risk management in place it's going to get a bit boring

Ah come on, you've got losses to win back. Double up so you can make it back quickly 

Probably school fees well spent actually. Glad you're only risking what can be afforded.

RES 232.46 cents - LDT: 26 Feb 2016

TWR 45.19 cents - LDT: 19 Feb 2016

FSRP 366.52 cents - LDT: 19 Feb 2016