FWIW:

Dual citizen married to a Canadian.

We both have IRAs left over from our time in the US. Those are at Charles Schwab.

I hold the remaining US-listed ETFs from our portfolio in my Questrade margin and TFSA accounts. I also hold some "savings" in SGOV in the margin account.

I also manage a small portfolio for my dad in a separate Questrade margin account. It is made up of ESGV (45%), VSGX (45%), and VCEB (10%).

I think Wealthsimple is worth considering if they have >$100K (to qualify as premiere clients).

Just use the standard Vanguard ones. VT, VTI, VXUS depending on where they want to invest.

Absolutely avoid anything TSX listed. Avoid the TFSA.

Quote from: DualFIRE on October 17, 2024, 09:46:44 PM

FWIW:

Dual citizen married to a Canadian.

We both have IRAs left over from our time in the US. Those are at Charles Schwab.

I hold the remaining US-listed ETFs from our portfolio in my Questrade margin and TFSA accounts. I also hold some "savings" in SGOV in the margin account.

I also manage a small portfolio for my dad in a separate Questrade margin account. It is made up of ESGV (45%), VSGX (45%), and VCEB (10%).

I think Wealthsimple is worth considering if they have >$100K (to qualify as premiere clients).

Are all your investments in USD funds? How have you been finding Questrade handles exchanging CAD to USD? And have they been giving you the necessary paperwork from your TFSA to file your US taxes?


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Quote from: DualFIRE on October 18, 2024, 09:56:37 PM

Yes, all my investments are in USD. That works for us because we can put CAD investments in my spouse's accounts and we have CAD employment income. So, I never do currency exchange through Questrade.

For the TFSA (as with the margin accounts), Questrade provides a 1099-DIV because they know I am a US person.

Very helpful. Especially about the 1099 from Questrade.

Do you now earn primarily Canadian income? Does this mean you don’t invest additional money in your US funds? If you do add money, how do you manage the exchange?

Very helpful to have real life feedback to add on to all the detailed information that @daverobev has been sharing.


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We're a family a dual citizens (moved from the US to Canada a little over 4 years ago).

Our taxable investments are held (in USD) in US-domiciled ETFs with Questrade.  Tax sheltered (e.g. RSP) is in CAD in Canadian-domiciled ETFs with Questrade.  Canadian ETFs in a recognized retirement account (e.g. RSP) don't trigger PFIC filing requirements.

A TFSA would, though, since it isn't recognized in the tax treaty.  You could still technically do a TFSA as a US citizen, it's just more complicated -- you'd have to report gains and losses to the IRS each year AND you'd want to avoid PFICs, so keeping it in USD and investing in US-domiciled ETFs is the way to do it.  As other folks have said, Questrade is good and provides 1099s on taxable accounts.  I'm not sure if they also would provide these for TFSAs (though that would make things easier).  Regardless, I'd keep my TFSA simple -- 3 or less ETFs, buy and hold.

When I reached out to Interactive Brokers about making an account, they were not open to US citizens who are resident in Canada.  That was 4 years, ago, though, and I never followed up.

For us, currency conversion has not been a big deal, except for when we bought our house, as our taxable account was always in USD.  When we bought our house, we used Wise.  Norbert's Gambit (so far) I haven't bothered to do it.  In my opinion, DLR would absolutely be considered a PFIC, so I wouldn't use that -- Royal Bank should be OK.