US Citizen, savings/investments if staying in Japan longterm

[bushidobryan]

Charles Schwab is also friendly.

[captainspoke]

Charles Schwab is also friendly.

"Friendly", as in they're now letting US expats in Japan set up new accounts?

I just got an email from them about this. Via this link https://international.schwab.com/?cmp=em-THJ scroll down to "How do I open an account" and follow the directions to tell them your country. Choose Japan, and it comes back with something like "further investigation needed."

I have followed that schwab is buying TD ameritrade (initiated last autumn), which according to some here does allow US expats to sign up for new accounts. Maybe they're going to open up a little more based on that connection? A result of combining operations?

In the past, they refused to open an account for our daughter, who is US/japan dual, and who lives and works here. And that's in spite of me being an established schwab client (personal intro carried no weight! ). The rep asked around to confirm it, but they just said "no"--it didn't even get to the point where they might've taken a look at an online or paper account application. Perhaps something has changed?

[retiregem]

Charles Schwab is also friendly.

Could you give some more information on this? Before they wouldn't allow expats to open accounts.

I'd love to go somewhere else other than Interactive Brokers because their customer service, site, and apps are not that great.

[jeronimoski]

I recently opened an account, gave my US address where my mail gets sent, used my Dad's phone number, and have started buying ETFs. Of course I will def not buy any mutual funds. It is annoying cause my dad needs to Line call me to tell me the code. Does anyone know of any way to set up my own US phone number that will forward the text messages to my phone here (for cheap)?

[retiregem]

Could you set up a free Google Voice number? You might be able to get SMS messages that way.

[griffitp12]

Ah okay. I get paid by a Japanese organization, so there's no way I would be able to pass the initial screening for sign up then. You should be fine, though since you already have an account.

I have read that employer information is only useful to them to make sure you're not working somewhere with a conflict of interest, like another bank; and that most folks recommend just filling out unemployed. However, without a valid US mailing address and a US phone number to start with, you're gonna have problems. At least I did.

[retiregem]

I have read that employer information is only useful to them to make sure you're not working somewhere with a conflict of interest, like another bank; and that most folks recommend just filling out unemployed. However, without a valid US mailing address and a US phone number to start with, you're gonna have problems. At least I did.

Good to know, thank you!

[gogakuhei]

Does anyone know of any way to set up my own US phone number that will forward the text messages to my phone here (for cheap)?

I have a US phone number on an Ooma VoIP phone for voice calls, but it doesn't offer text/SMS. Recently I picked up a second number through TextMe. The app on my phone supports inbound and outbound calls as well as text/SMS. They charge for (outbound?) calls, and I pay about $20 USD a year to lock in my phone number. I've been able to use this for US services that require a US number for 2FA or other reasons.