Getting started for non-US investors

From Bogleheads

Welcome to the Bogleheads' Getting started for non-US investors page. There is a lot of information available to help. Take your time and get organised.

The Bogleheads motto is Investing Advice Inspired by Jack Bogle. We are part of his campaign "to give ordinary investors a fair shake."

The Bogleheads originated in the United States, but the principles apply worldwide. The non-US section of the wiki and the Non-US investing forum focus on topics that specifically affect non-US investors. Both the wiki and forum were built by volunteers who are dedicated to helping people begin or improve their investing by applying our investing principles.

Introduction

Bogleheads emphasise regular saving, broad diversification, and sticking to an investment plan regardless of market conditions. We follow a small number of simple investment principles that have proved over time to produce risk-adjusted returns far greater than those achieved by the average investor. They have been further distilled and explained in thousands of posts on the forum. Although there will be significant differences in taxation, available funds, and regulations, investors worldwide can apply the Bogleheads investment philosophy.

The power of the wiki is its ability to link content. This is not a structured course. Some pages are marked as "Global", some as "US only" and some as "Non-US". If a topic has a link, there is more material available. Use those links to explore anything you want, and consider bookmarking this page in case you get lost. The start-up kit below is designed to help you begin or improve your investing journey.

Bogleheads investment philosophy

We suggest you start your journey by reading the investment philosophy for non-US investors first. In short, this is:

Prepare to invest Create a portfolio Maintain discipline
  • Live below your means
  • Develop a workable plan
  • Never bear too much or too little risk
  • Invest early and often
  • Diversify
  • Invest with simplicity
  • Use index funds where possible
  • Minimize costs
  • Minimize taxes
  • Never try to time the market
  • Stay the course[note 1]

There are some short video segments that introduce these principles. See: Video:Bogleheads® investment philosophy. When viewing these videos, keep in mind that they were created for US based investors. Some of their content does not apply to non-US investors.

Investing start-up kit

Start your investing experience with the start-up kit.

As background, the Outline of non-US domiciles (mentioned below) contains links to articles written specially for for investors living outside of the United States. There are articles that explain portfolio construction for non-US investors, articles covering tax considerations for non-US domiciled investors, and articles written for investors in specific countries.

Asking questions

Once you are familiar with the content in the start-up kit, or if you are looking for content related to a specific topic, you can use the Outline of non-US domiciles for quick access to specific topics. In addition, the site navigation page contains a comprehensive topic list which you can use to find the specific topics you are interested in.

If you have questions on any investing or finance topic, just ask in the Bogleheads forum for non-US investors. No question is too simple or too complex. If you have a specific question, ask it.

If you would like assistance with your portfolio, it can be helpful to ask your question by posting your portfolio using the My portfolio: seeking advice template for non-US investors. Please include your home country in the post title.

Notes

  1. The phrase "stay the course" just means "stick closely to your plan." For an explanation of the term, and its origin, see: "Stay the course". Wikipedia. Retrieved July 16, 2020.

See also