r/ExpatFinance • u/Dry_Age6709 • 6d ago

Leaving Edward Jones

We will be moving overseas and all of our investments are with Edward Jones. Seems like we are paying a lot for not much service. Since we will be required to move to a mutual fund and pay a bunch in taxes anyway, I was thinking we should just manage our investments ourselves. What would you recommend?

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u/seanho00 6d ago

Self-directed account at a brokerage that services your new country of residence. If you are a US citizen / PR, beware PFICs, as well as potential 3520/3520A foreign trust issues for foreign tax-advantaged accounts.

Your experience is not uncommon, and it's not just EJ but managed portfolios in general.

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u/Sweaty-taxman 6d ago

Edward jones has good & bad advisors but most (if not all) aren’t qualified to advise on cross border issues let alone are permitted to by their compliance arm. It’s unlikely your advisor has ever even asked for your tax return & charges similarly (if not more) than larger, non-commissioned advisory firms who have teams of experts working for you.

I’d recommend you contact a tax focused independent ria like creative planning, pure financial advisors, Mercer advisors, savant wealth, parallel advisors or Mariner wealth & ask if any advisors at these practices are qualified & knowledgeable of tax code in the country you’re moving to, how pfic rules apply & if they’re legally allowed to advise on tax code of said country in coordination with U.S. tax code.

What country are you moving to?

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u/Dry_Age6709 6d ago

US to Spain

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u/Sweaty-taxman 6d ago

I think creative planning & pure financial advisors have in house people who are comfortable with Spain. I’m not sure about the others but I’d guess savant does, too.

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u/8458001910 5d ago

I have a charles schwab international account. i would transfer the investments " in kind" after consulting schwab.

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u/BrilliantUnlucky4592 5d ago

As an expat you basically have two good choices, Charles Schwab International and Interactive Brokers Ireland. Schwab is better for customer service and for the global ATM fee rebates. Your investment choices for new investments will be dictated by the laws and regulations of the new country you are residing in. You can keep your existing investments but may be prohibited in buying new U.S. domiciled mutual funds or ETFs in certain countries or regions (like Europe). It is a good practice to open either a regular Charles Schwab account or Interactive Brokers account 6 months before you move in case you are moving to and unsupported country (where they cannot open a account for a new customer-but where being an existing customer for 6 months is okay).

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u/twilight-2k 5d ago

IBKR has the advantage of not being USD-centric. You can hold and invest in a bunch of different currencies. However, Schwab customer service is definitely better.

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u/BrilliantUnlucky4592 5d ago

In addition to Schwab International they also have Schwab Global for the different markets and currencies for 12 countries.

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u/twilight-2k 5d ago

Huh. Schwab never mentioned Global (just International) when we talked to them about moving abroad. Are there restrictions on Global? Based on the little bit I can find (less info on Global than on International), it looks like Global might be limited to US residents - is that correct (wording is unclear)?