Charles Schwab

For residents of the United Arab Emirates.
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NOTonA380
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Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 12:39 pm

Charles Schwab

Post by NOTonA380 »

UK expat living in UAE (dual national in fact, a citizen of an FSU country) considering to open a Schwab One International account at Charles Schwab. Purpose: grow capital for education of my children and retirement in c10 years. Other options are Interactive Brokers. Has anyone had experience with Schwab One, pros and cons? Appreciate your thoughts. By the way Nest Egg Care by Tom Canfield and Stocks for the Long Run are two really amazing books.
mptfan
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Re: Charles Schwab

Post by mptfan »

What is an FSU country?
quietseas
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Re: Charles Schwab

Post by quietseas »

Former Soviet Union
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samsoes
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Re: Charles Schwab

Post by samsoes »

Oh. I was thinking it was Florida State University.
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THY4373
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Re: Charles Schwab

Post by THY4373 »

I cannot speak specifically to Charles Schwab One, but I have been with Schwab for over twenty years and they have been great. I actually have had a few out of the ordinary things they have helped me deal with including holding some international stocks (not traded in the US) that I inherited. They were able to deal with them easily. They also leave me alone to manage my money how I like.
Newaygo
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Re: Charles Schwab

Post by Newaygo »

A Schwab One account consists of a brokerage account and a bank account along with a Visa credit card and Visa debit card. This is the normal setup for Schwab customers. I have no complaints. I live in the US so it may be different for non-US. I find the support very responsive and helpful -- no long waits. When I do run into problems without any obvious solutions I send an email to Walt Bettinger (CEO) and the email is forwarded to the Client Advocacy Team who are responsive and work to find a solution. Schwab has centers of expertise such as Asset Transfer and Cost Basis teams and many more. I also will get quick responses on weekends. I only wish that they had a cash sweep function (automatically move cash from brokerage account to MM account and back when needed).

I like their live webcasts. Liz Ann Sonders (head of investments) has a live webcast every week and you can ask questions. They have a marvelous series of podcasts on behavioral economics so that you can improve your judgment. The link is below and you do not need to be a Schwab client to access it.

https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/podcast
123
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Re: Charles Schwab

Post by 123 »

We've had accounts with Schwab for years without any problems or issues and are very happy with them. But that said I have the impression that international accounts and transactions are more mainstream at Interactive Brokers whereas Schwab obviously has a bias toward the US.
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typical.investor
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Re: Charles Schwab

Post by typical.investor »

NOTonA380 wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 12:48 pm UK expat living in UAE (dual national in fact, a citizen of an FSU country) considering to open a Schwab One International account at Charles Schwab. Purpose: grow capital for education of my children and retirement in c10 years. Other options are Interactive Brokers. Has anyone had experience with Schwab One, pros and cons? Appreciate your thoughts. By the way Nest Egg Care by Tom Canfield and Stocks for the Long Run are two really amazing books.
Welcome. I have a Schwab One International account and it's all peaches and cream. Well OK, you can't get bill-pay, mobile checking, access to mutual funds or access to brokered CDs (again this is about the International account). Those restrictions aside, it's awesome and easier to use with better customer support than IB .

However, what do you need it for? If for tax reasons you want to hold non-US domiciled funds, then Interactive Brokers is much better. For estate tax reasons, and sometimes withholdings on dividends (although I believe you should get them back by filing a tax return even as an NRA i.e. non-US resident and non-US person).
TedSwippet
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Re: Charles Schwab

Post by TedSwippet »

typical.investor wrote: Sat Jan 15, 2022 10:42 pm However, what do you need it for? If for tax reasons you want to hold non-US domiciled funds, then Interactive Brokers is much better. For estate tax reasons, and sometimes withholdings on dividends (although I believe you should get them back by filing a tax return even as an NRA i.e. non-US resident and non-US person).
Regarding the parenthetical above ... unfortunately, not. From the IRS:

Taxation of Nonresident Aliens 1 | Internal Revenue Service
Filing Requirements for Nonresident Aliens

Nonresident aliens are generally subject to U.S. income tax only on their U.S. source income. They are subject to two different tax rates, one for effectively connected income, and one for fixed or determinable, annual, or periodic (FDAP) income.
...
FDAP income is passive income such as interest, dividends, rents or royalties. This income is taxed at a flat 30% rate unless a tax treaty specifies a lower rate.
Given this, and the potential for confiscatory US estate taxes, the topic author will want to avoid US domiciled ETFs and use non-US domiciled ones instead.
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NOTonA380
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Re: Charles Schwab

Post by NOTonA380 »

This is all very helpful. Agree that Schwab provides better user experience (charts, visuals, realised vs unrealised loss view) and customer support over the phone (I feel it's better than IBKR). The points about taxation are very important. I also read a discussion on this UAE platform titled "Withholding tax on US Mutual Funds for UAE investor" (started by chrismues). It has some good tips about tax implications for US and non-US domiciled ETFs, as well as ETF screening tools. Time to build a retirement portfolio and figure out my safe spending rates and so forth. Once again, recommend everyone to look at Nest Egg Care book by Tom Canfield. Well written and easy to understand - for everyone who is planning long-term.
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