Buying US Mutual funds

rg1495 · Post by **rg1495** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:02 pm

Fellow canucks,
I work in the US and live in a border canadian town. I used to live in the US before and had a brokerage account with Etrade. I still have that account and have changed the address to a CDN address and buy/sell stocks through it.

Since, I earn in USD, I am looking to buy mutual funds in USD. Can I buy US mutual funds(vanguard, fidelity?) being a CANADIAN RESIDENT?. Or will this be an issues with revenue canada/IRS ? What are my options for investing USD as a canadian resident? I know I could open a TD waterhouse account in USD but the choice of funds in USD is very limited and ofcourse the high fund fees. Companies like Vanguards charge less than 1% fund fees while most cdn funds charge 2-3% of fund fees.

Looking for some help from you guys.

much worried.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 5:27 pm

The issue is with the SEC and its Provincial counterpart.

Brokers in US are not allowed to deal with Cdn residents. They are not licensed in your Province.

rg1495 · Post by **rg1495** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 9:48 pm

Thanks. What if I use a US friend's address to buy the mutual funds? Would that be considered illegal or am I inviting myself to trouble?
The US mutual fund companies don't care whose address it is as long as it is a US address.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 10:56 pm

Brokers in US are not allowed to deal with Cdn residents. They are not licensed in your Province.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 8:01 am

I would add that there is a pretty good website set up aby a Cdn resident who talks about investing in US: bylo.org