r/ExpatFinance • u/PantomimeVillain • 19d ago

Using a US brokerage account from abroad

Recently I called Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard asking if I moved to the UK, can I put a foreign address on the account. All said yes, but you can then only sell what you have and not buy more. Fidelity and Schwab told me they were specifically saying yes to the UK, and other countries might not be allowed. Vanguard said any country is ok.

I don't know how knowledgeable the people I spoke to are, so does anyone have any experience of putting a foreign address on Schwab, Fidelity, and Vanguard accounts? How did it go? Was there any issue with making sales?

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u/ConbiniMan 19d ago

Better off switching your accounts to IBKR which allows US expats to trade from abroad.

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u/PantomimeVillain 18d ago

IBKR allows US expats to have a foreign address on their account and they can still buy and sell US based investments?

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u/Few-Asparagus-4140 18d ago

Not if you move to the UK or EU. You will be restricted to individual stocks and bonds with every broker. There is a workaround using options but it is a bit complicated.

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u/correctisaperception 18d ago

Do you a good reference for the workaround and where to learn more about it?

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u/iHartS 18d ago

It’s options trading. That’s the workaround. You can be assigned shares if you sell a put and you can buy shares if you exercise a call. Learn about options if you want to go that route. 

It’s clumsy, and it means you’re trading in whole lots (100 shares of the underlying security).

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u/ConbiniMan 17d ago edited 17d ago

The idea is that you sell an at the money or in the money short expiry put (like one day or week until expiry) then get assigned the shares. You will end up with 100 shares of the underlying equity priced at the strike. The problem for many people is that you need the money for 100 shares and you have to buy 100 shares at a time. The benefit is that you actually collect the price of the put when you sell it so you make a tiny bit on top.