Opening IBKR (or similar) account

[tokyojoe]

Dear All,
I have a smallish amount of cash savings in the UK. I was considering opening
a brokerage account and transferring the cash into a mutual index fund or similar.
Although one option would be to transfer the cash to Japan than invest in one of the
Japanese brokerages (Monex, SBI etc) I am also considering whether I can just transfer
it directly from the UK to an international brokerage such as IBKR. This would
presumably keep it based in pounds (?) to act as some sort of currency hedge, and may be
simpler to do since setting up an international transfer from the UK could be a bit
more challenging when I am not there. I appreciate that if I start selling investments
then things get more difficult than if I invested from Japan in terms of tax etc., but I
wouldn't particularly have any intention of selling it any time soon as I don't need
the money for everyday purposes or for buying a house etc.

The question then is does anyone have any experience of setting up such an account ?
Was it easy to set up , was it a lot of hassle to operate etc. ? Is IBKR the best such company
or are there better / comparable options ? Or is the whole idea crazy / unworkable to begin with ?!

Many thanks !

[rsutubedragon]

I opened an IBRK account just to hold Japanese stocks directly. IBRK is good, but it is really designed for the very active trader. That means its interface is a bit complex in places. I only use the web portal, but I'm happy. I hold only Japanese stocks and the currency is yen (you have a choice on that). I'm here in the US right now, but plan to be in retired in Japan sometime next year.

[gaijin86]

I set up an account with IBKR about 10 years ago, when it was OK to do so with Japanese address. As far as i recall, I got a letter initially, so you would might need to have an address for letters. Not sure how that would work for you with a UK address. Also you need to give your tax domicile.
If you have a Japan address or Japan tax domicile, they may tell you to apply to the Japanese IB.

I have no big problems with IBKR, just the ongoing uncertainty about whether they may close IBKR accounts in Japan, and force you to move to the local Japanese IB.

Other downside is that I have to file taxes on my dividends and gains every year.

[jmac]

I may be able to help here as I just called them 2 weeks ago to ask about a similar situation.
I was enquiring about transferring money directly from a Canadian bank to IBKR and then investing in eMaxis (index fund). It is possible to do this but not in Canadian currency. I believe they only support USD, Euros, Pounds and maybe one more but can't recall at the top of my head. I would give them a call. They have excellent English-language support.
Hope this helps.

[tokyojoe]

I may be able to help here as I just called them 2 weeks ago to ask about a similar situation.
I was enquiring about transferring money directly from a Canadian bank to IBKR and then investing in eMaxis (index fund). It is possible to do this but not in Canadian currency. I believe they only support USD, Euros, Pounds and maybe one more but can't recall at the top of my head. I would give them a call. They have excellent English-language support.
Hope this helps.

Okay, many thanks I will try contacting them, it would be nice to invest pounds -> pounds so that nothing is lost in exchange costs!

[beanhead]

I was enquiring about transferring money directly from a Canadian bank to IBKR and then investing in eMaxis (index fund). It is possible to do this but not in Canadian currency.
Hope this helps.

Does IBKR have the eMaxis funds now? Previously they only had the (similar but not the same) ETFs.