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Selling RSUs before coming to Canada or after coming to Canada

Alex54321

Hero Member
Jul 28, 2017
513
127
USA
Category........
FAM
App. Filed.......
20-10-2017
AOR Received.
01-12-2017
Not sure about this. Most Canadian brokerages e.g. Questrade, Interactive brokers let you trade in world markets e.g. USA.
You can also hold currency in USD. So you lose nothing in terms of choice.

Of course, you don't have Robinhood. But I'm not sure you'd want that anyway.
I personally agree with all 3 bullets above. If you are not US tax resident that's one thing, but if you are US citizen that's a total different story. The US Interactive Brokers told me if I am US citizen with US account with them and move to Canada - all I have to do is just to change an address with them, that's it, no changes as far as trading. My IRA is with Vanguard and Fidelity - for them looks like is better to keep US address even if I moved to Canada. Again- this is for US citizen living in Canada.

By the way, are Canadian brokerages commission free like all major US brokerages? Can I get no load mutual fuinds like Vanguard Wellington Fund (VWENX) with expense ratio 0.17% or Vanguard Wellesley Fund (VWIAX) with expense ratio 0.16%?
 

deadbird

Hero Member
Jan 9, 2016
648
193
I personally agree with all 3 bullets above. If you are not US tax resident that's one thing, but if you are US citizen that's a total different story. The US Interactive Brokers told me if I am US citizen with US account with them and move to Canada - all I have to do is just to change an address with them, that's it, no changes as far as trading. My IRA is with Vanguard and Fidelity - for them looks like is better to keep US address even if I moved to Canada. Again- this is for US citizen living in Canada.

By the way, are Canadian brokerages commission free like all major US brokerages? Can I get no load mutual fuinds like Vanguard Wellington Fund (VWENX) with expense ratio 0.17% or Vanguard Wellesley Fund (VWIAX) with expense ratio 0.16%?
Fees are of two types:

(1) ETF MER fees - See https://www.vanguardcanada.ca/individual/indv/en/product.html#/productType=etf&managementStyle=index ; You get about 0.05 - 0.2% range. Some popular funds to invest in are $VCN, $VUN and $VGRO on the TSX.
(2) Brokerage commissions - https://www.interactivebrokers.ca/en/index.php?f=45251

Overall, I think with interactive brokers the fees are largely similar between the the US and Canada. You certainly pay more in Canada but the differences are not that great. The main hit comes from additional taxes on dividends and capital gains. That too varies significantly between provinces e.g. Quebec vs BC.

Overall, unless your net worth is in the 10s of millions, don't bother too much. Canada and US are similar in terms of brokerages except for taxes. If you indeed have > 10s of millions, then you shouldn't be hanging out on this forum. Hire a financial planner, they will save you much more in tax loopholes.
 
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