Background: My wife and I live in Germany. She is a EU citizen and I'm American. The account would be in her name to make things easier tax wise. We're interested in investing in index funds and ETFs. We're trying to decide on a platform to go with but are having trouble figuring out the best option for us. Ideally we'd like a platform that offers a wide selection of ETFs and index funds, but it does not need to offer FOREX, cryptocurrency, etc.
Which potential option would you recommend for our situation? It'd be nice to hear anyone's feedback who has used any of these platforms.

1. Fonds Spärlane or Savings plan - The DKB Sparpläne https://www.dkb.de/privatkunden/wertpapiersparen/fonds/. This seems like a good option. They have a decent selection of products and offer the ability to automatically purchase into a fund/ETF each month. Since they are a German Bank they have to offer tax forms as well, which makes life easier.
   
2. International Broker - Interactive Brokers or Fidelity International. We don't have 100k to invest so I don't think IB is the right option due to the 10 euro per month fee. Fidelity Int'l has a wide selection but I need to do more research to see what tax info they provide.
   
3. German Broker - I haven't come across one that I'm crazy about yet so any recommendations would be helpful.
   
4. German Depot Konto - Commerzbank https://www.commerzbank.de/portal/de/privatkunden/sparen-anlegen/produkte/depotmodelle/depot-eroeffnen/depot-eroeffnen.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw5Kv7BRBSEiwAXGDElRF5GnUm8exUdl4NjmQ5eT3lBc6ypA4Xhmc_rn4Dclfs9oRlm8o3ZRoCnysQAvD_BwE. We're already customers there so it would be easy to setup an account. The costs here seem quite high and I don't know yet what kind of product range they offer.
   

Background: I posted this question on /eupersonalfinance https://www.reddit.com/eupersonalfinance/comments/iy7ay6/what_is_the_best_way_to_invest_in_index_funds_and/ and they said I should post here as well. I've made some changes to the question after more research.
My wife and I live in Germany. She is a EU citizen and I'm American. The account would be in her name to make things easier tax wise. We're interested in investing in ETFs. We're trying to decide on a platform to go with but are having trouble figuring out the best option for us. Ideally we'd like a platform that offers a wide selection of ETFs and it does not need to offer FOREX, cryptocurrency, etc.
Which potential option would you recommend for our situation? It'd be nice to hear anyone's feedback who has used any of these platforms.

1. International Broker - Interactive Brokers or Fidelity International. We don't have 100k to invest so I don't think IB is the right option due to the 10 euro per month fee. Fidelity Int'l has a wide selection but I need to do more research to see what tax info they provide.
2. German Brokers - Scalable Capital and Smartbroker look intriguing. I'm leaning towards the latter since they have been around longer.
3. German Depot Konto - Commerzbank https://www.commerzbank.de/portal/de/privatkunden/sparen-anlegen/produkte/depotmodelle/depot-eroeffnen/depot-eroeffnen.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw5Kv7BRBSEiwAXGDElRF5GnUm8exUdl4NjmQ5eT3lBc6ypA4Xhmc_rn4Dclfs9oRlm8o3ZRoCnysQAvD_BwE. We're already customers there so it would be easy to setup an account. The costs here seem quite high and I don't know yet what kind of product range they offer.

We tried setting up an account with DKB since we read and heard good things about them and their Sparpläne is a solid price. Our account was rejected so we contacted customer service for their help. To put it nicely their customer service is terrible and we've decided to continue our search for a different company.

Forex brokers are firms that provide currency traders with access to a trading platform that allows you to buy and sell foreign currencies. Retail forex brokers, handle a very small portion of the volume of the overall foreign exchange market.
Some of the best forex brokers:
Saxo Bank
This is considered one of the best forex brokers overall. It is the best overall because it has great competitive pricing to get involved, and has access to a wide range of markets. In addition it is very secure with multiple regulatory licenses. It also offers all forex traders with innovative trading platforms that really create more options for traders making them more successful.
Btw, I am trying to build a team with people who are interesting in learning how to trade. Here is the link to join my team and the name of the company is called mastery im academy. it is an education platform to learn how to trade https://iM.Academy/corp/cjoin?enroller=trade2bewealthy
IG
This forex broker is considered best for CFD trades which means Contract For Difference. A contract for difference (CFD) is a popular form of trading that helps traders to speculate on the rising or falling prices of fast-moving global financial markets. This means that traders who like this trading style look for a wide range of tradable products in their platform which you can find globally on IG. IG is also very trusted around the world which is good for traders because they need to be able to trust their forex broker. They also provide Comprehensive research tools and real-time exchange data. In addition, they have a broad range of markets, including multi asset CFDs like cryptocurrencies.
TD AmeriTrade
This forex broker is only for US residents but it is great for Americans if you need a forex broker. If you are an American I would suggest this one because it is ranked number one for customer service and is very well trusted. It is regulated within the United States standards and is very heavily looked after. It has a wide array of premium research and tools to help traders succeed. They are predicted to start using Bitcoin trading which is also up to date and will be useful. They also have excellent phone support which can be an essential aspect of trading if you are hands on with questions and need answers.
Overall, these are some of the best forex trading brokers. I highly recommend taking a look at these three forex brokers because they are some of the most regulated and also have good tools.

aay.
The current consensus seems to be RH is awful and is in pre-release right now anyway - ameritrade doesn't appear to support non American peeps, and i'm very very leary of doing anything with Degiro without some more research. What do you use and why?
edit: After 1 week and £2,000,000 of money mangling:
IG went down twice, right when something valuable was happening. Also the API is broken. Get a general 'cheap goods' feel from them, and they don't support straight options trading
Trading212 is built on AWS and is tangibly better performing. The UI for desktop is a bit too javascripty with flashy effects and there's a general feeling it was designed mobile first, but I have to admit it's quite pleasant to use. Plan to look at the API at some point.
Edit 2:
InteractiveBrokers gave me an account up to a point but I'm too poor to qualify for their services according to their regulations section. Need $40k+ liquidity to your name before they'll look at you.
Plus500 is nice, if a bit basic and clunky to get started, but the only options trading it offers is CFD which defeats the purpose - at least for me.
Ava Trade is very very 1990's looking for the web platform and the demo only offers forex.
Edit 3:
Ameritrade rejects UK applicants after you've given them your info.
Tradestation does not support any UK banks for initial funding out of the box - waiting for contact.
Bit the bullet and going with Degiro - currently inundated with new applications so _10 days_ delay expected.
Still looking for an actual options broker ;\

Intro.
This might be a long one. I hope someone reads the thing, I put like 3 hours into writing it. A brief story of my life and how it all led up to this moment, where I am disillusioned with my self-image, my life choices, and certain aspects of the world, and have no idea what to do next. Warning: this whole thing might be a little depressing to read.
Childhood.
I am a 20yo Russian male. During my childhood, I was made to believe that I am capable of doing something great and doing better than anyone. At the same time I developed a very non-conformist life stance and very often rejected things and ideas simply because they were too popular for my taste, and I couldn't feel special whilst enjoying them. Of course, in turn, society rejected me, as it does with anyone who doesn't play by the rules. Oh well.
My only redeeming quality was that I considered myself pretty smart. Which is even easier to assume, when at the same time you think that you're different from everyone else. Now, I know that to some extent, I was indeed smarter than most people in certain areas. Unlike most people I knew back then, often with bare minimum efforts I was able to maintain near perfect grades at school. I was also enjoying learning new things and reading more than an average person. So, let's just say, I had a basis to assume I was a smart dude.
I wasn't happy and content with my life, though. I never had real friends, because I only hung out with people when they were my classmates/roommates/co-workers, and after we parted ways, I rarely if ever contacted them afterwards. I always enjoyed doing things you usually do in solitude more, because when I was alone, I wouldn't be afraid that someone could hurt me for being different. Because of that, I was never in a romantic relationship.
High School.
Still, life was going okay. By the end of school, I kind of accepted my social deficiency and I wanted to focus on improving the world and become a successful person - for myself. I was facing a dilemma, though. Despite the fact that I was doing great in school, the idea of having to invest four years of my time into studying something really specific, and then having to work another 20-30 years on the same job was terrifying, because I had no idea what I liked to do! Nothing seemed interesting to me, I didn't have a passion for doing anything... Thanks to my video game addiction, which made me lazy as fuck, probably. I also needed to meet my criteria for success with my future job, which included being financially successful. I grew up in top 1% income family, so... I always felt the pressure to outperform or at least match my parents' income.
Enter trading. My dad discovered investing several years ago (we don't live in US, so most of the people aren't as financially savvy, so he never thought about investing before then). I was always curious about financial independence and markets, but now I was seeing it all done in front of me, I realized that it might be a good opportunity to make a lot of money and become successful without being socially adept, which is something absolutely required in business or politics. So, I asked my father to open a brokerage account for me in the US, and started swing trading (trading in weekly/monthly time frames). I could only trade slow and small because of the trade restrictions put on accounts <$25k and <21yo in the US. Still, it was going well, but in hindsight I was just lucky to be there during a great bull market.
Even before I thought trading and more importantly investing were the ways smart people make money. I thought simply because I was conventionally smart, I had a talent or an innate ability to pick innovative stocks and do venture investing when I grow some capital. I truly believed in that long before I was introduced to financial markets, I believed that my surface level understanding of multiple areas of cutting edge and emerging technology would give me an edge compared to all the other investors.
US Community College and Return Back.
In the end, I've decided I want to go to a US community college and study finance and become a trader and later an investor, but I didn't want to work for a fund or something like that (lazy ass). I wanted to use my knowledge and skill and my own money to grow my net worth and make a living. I didn't really like the process of trading, I just needed the money to live by while I was trying to figure out what else to do with my life. Because I thought I were smart, I thought this would come easily to me. Boy was I wrong. From the nicest of conditions in my hometown, I was suddenly moved into a foreign setting, on the other side of the planet away form my family and mates, with a video game addiction and laziness that ruined my daily routine and studying as well. The fact that I didn't like my major was not helping. My grades fell from A- in the first quarter to C+ in the last. I gained +30% from my normal weight. I was stressed out, not going outside and sitting at my computer desk for days at a time, skipping all the classes I could if they were not absolutely essential for my grades, living on prepared foods. I never got out of my shell and barely talked to anyone in English, all of my friends were Russian speaking. I wasted an opportunity to improve my speaking, although aside from that my English skills satisfy me.
By the end of community college, last summer, I was left with B grades that wouldn't let me transfer anywhere decent, and the extreme stress that I put myself through started taking a toll on my mental health. I was planning to take a break and go back to Russia for several months, and transfer back to a US uni this winter. Needless to say, you can't run from yourself. It didn't really become much better after a few months in Russia. I didn't want to study finance anymore, because it was boring and I was exhausted. I still had the video game addiction, still was lazy and gained some more extra pounds of weight. I was not sleeping at all, extremely sleep deprived for months. Because of this and lack of mental stimulation I started to become dumber. And all that was happening where I didn't really have to do anything: not study or work, just sit around the house and do whatever I wanted. Turns out, these conditions didn't help me to get out of the incoming depression.
Finally, around November, when I already sent out all of my transfer applications and already got some positive answers from several universities, I knew I didn't have much time left at home, and I had to leave soon. But I really, really didn't want to go back. It was scarier than the first time. I was afraid of new changes, I just wanted for the time to stop and letting me relax, heal... I was having suicidal thoughts and talked about it with my family and my therapist. They were all supportive and helped me as much as they could. But I was the only person who could really help myself. If I wanted to breathe freely, I had to admit defeat and not go back to the US to continue my education. It was extremely hard at first, but then I just let go. I decided to find a temporary job as an English tutor and give myself time to think. Then I remembered that I had a bunch of money in my trading account. I still thought that I was pretty smart, despite failing college, so I figured, why not try move it to Russian brokers who don't have trading restrictions, and do it full time? Which is exactly what I did. And I started to study trading all by myself at a fast pace. I was now trading full time and it was going sideways: +10% in December, -20% in January. Then, something incredible happened. I was already in a shitty place in life, but I still had some hope for my future. Things were about to get much worse. I'm in the late January, and I discovered for myself that the whole financial industry of the world was a fraud.
Brief Explanation of My Discoveries.
In the image of the financial industry, there are several levels of perceived credibility.
In the bottom tier, there is pure gambling. In my country, there were periods when binary options trading and unreliable Forex brokers were popular among common folk, but these were obvious and unsophisticated fraudsters who were one step away from being prosecuted. There are also cryptocurrencies that don't hold any value and are also used only for speculation/redistribution of wealth. There is also a wonderful gambling subreddit wallstreetbets where most users don't even try to hide the fact that what they are doing is pure gambling. I love it. But the thing is, this is trading/investing for the people who have no idea what it is, and most people discredit it as a fraud, which it, indeed, is. These examples are 99% marketing/public image and 1% finance. But these offer x10-1000 returns in the shortest time span. Typical get-rich-quick schemes, but they attract attention.
Then, there is trading tier. You can have multiple sub levels here, in the bottom of this tier we would probably have complex technical analysis (indicators) and daily trading/scalping. I was doing this in the DecembeJanuary. At the top would be people who do fundamental analysis (study financial reports) and position trade (monthly time frames). Now, there is constant debate in the trading community whether technical analysis or fundamental analysis is better. I have a solid answer to the question. They work in the same way. Or rather, they don't work at all.
You'd ask: "Why you didn't discover this earlier? You were in this financial thing for several years now!" Well, you see, unlike on the previous level, here millions of people say that they actually believe trading works and there is a way to use the available tools to have great returns. Some of these people actually know that trading doesn't work, but they benefit from other traders believing in it, because they can sell them courses or take brokerage fees from them. Still, when there are millions around you telling you that it works, even a non-conformist like me would budge. Not that many people actually participate in the markets, so I thought that by being in this minority made me smart and protected from fraudsters. Lol. All it took for me to discover the truth is to accidentally discover that some technical indicators give random results, do a few google searches, reach some scientific studies which are freely available and prove that technical and fundamental analysis don't work. It was always in front of me, but the fucking trading community plugged my ears and closed my eyes shut so I wasn't able to see it. Trading usually promises 3-15% gain a month.
A huge shock, but surely there was still a way for me to work this out? Active investing it is!
The next level, active investing, is different from trading. You aim for 15-50% yearly returns, but you don't have to do as much work. You hold on to stocks of your choice for years at a time, once in a while you study the markets, re balance your portfolio, etc. Or you invest your money in a fund, that will select the stocks of their choice and manage their and your portfolio for you. For a small fee of course. All of these actions are aimed at trying to outperform the gain the market made as a whole, and so called index funds, which invest in basically everything and follow the market returns - about 7-10% a year. And if I ever had any doubts in trading, I firmly believed that active investing works since I was a little kid (yes I knew about it back then). And this is where the real fraud comes in.
The whole Wall Street and every broker, every stock exchange in the world are a part of a big fraud. Only about 10-20% of professional fund managers outperform the market in any 15 year period. If you take 30 years, this dwindles to almost nothing, which means that no one can predict the markets. These people have no idea what they are doing. Jim Cramer is pure show-business and has no idea what's going on. Warren Buffet gained his fortune with pure luck, and for every Buffet there are some people who made only a million bucks and countless folks who lost everything.
Wall Street. They have trillions of dollars and use all that money and power and marketing to convince you that there is a way to predict where the stocks are going without being a legal insider or somehow abusing the law. They will make you think you can somehow learn from them where to invest your money on your own or they will make you believe that you should just give it to them and they will manage it for you, because they know how everything works and they can predict the future using past data.
They won't. They don't. They can't. There are studies and statistics to prove it countless times over the span of a 100 years. But they will still charge you exchange fees, brokerage fees and management fees anyway. And they also manipulate certain studies, lobby where and when they need it, and spread misinformation on an unprecedented scale, creating a positive image of themselves. And everyone falls for that. Billions of people around the globe still think it's all legit.
Passive index investing is the last level. You just put your money in the market and wait. Markets will go up at a predetermined rate. If there's a crisis, in 10 years no one will even remember. Markets always go up in the end. But passive index investing can only give you only 7% inflation-adjusted returns a year. Not enough to stop working or even retire early, unless you have a high-paying job in a first-world country. I don't.
Despite all that, to put it simply, this is the only type of investing that works and doesn't involve any kind of fraud or gambling. It's the type of investing that will give you the most money. If you want to know why it is like that and how to do it, just go to financialindependence. They know this stuff better than any other sub. Better than investing, trading or any other sub where non-passive-index investing is still discussed as viable strategy.
Back to me.
My whole being was fucked over, my hopes and dreams and understanding of success and how this world works were shattered. I realized, I had no future in financial industry, because only middlemen make money in there, and I quit college needed to get there. Frankly, I wouldn't want to work there even if I had the opportunity. The pay is good, but the job is boring and I wouldn't want to be a part of this giant scheme anyway. But even if I wanted to go back, I also couldn't. Russia is in a worsening crisis and my parents could no longer afford a US university and now with coronavirus it's even worse. Good thing I quit before it all happened. I learned a valuable lesson and didn't lose that much money for it (only about 10% of my savings). God knows where it would lead me if I continued to be delusional. But now that my last temporary plans for the future were scrapped, I had no idea what to do next.
The future.
With the reality hitting me, I would lie if I say it didn't all come full circle and connect to my past. I realized that I was stupid and not intelligent, because I was living in a made-up world for years now. But even if I were intelligent, pure wit would not give me the success and fortune that I was craving, because trading and active investing were a no-go for me, and business/politics require a very different, extroverted mindset, different education and interest from my own. My only redeeming quality in a hopeless introvert world, my perceived intelligence was taken away from me and rendered useless at the same time.
Besides, failing at that one thing made me insecure about everything and now I think of myself as an average individual. So, if 8 out of 10 businesses fail, I shouldn't start one because I will probably fail. And if most politicians don't get anywhere, why should I bother? If average salary in my country is X, I shouldn't hope for more. I stopped believing in my ability to achieve something. First, I failed at education and now I failed... Professionally? I don't know how to describe it, but my life recently was just an emotional roller coaster. I just feel like a very old person and all I want calmness and stability in my life. I was very lazy before just because, but now I feel like I also don't want to do anything because I feel I would just fail. It feels better now I don't have to worry about trading anymore and I got rid of that load... But I am still miserable and perhaps worse than ever, maybe I just don't understand and feel it because I've become slow and numb. The only positive thing that happened to me recently, is that I finally started losing weight and about 1/4 of the way back to my normal weight.
As for my future, am looking at several possibilities here. So far the parents are allowing my miserable life to continue and they let me live with them and buy me food. I don't need anything else right now. But it can't go on like this forever. The thought of having a mundane low-paying job in this shithole of a country depresses me. I will probably temporarily do English tutoring if there's demand for such work. My old school friends want me to help them in their business and my dad wants me to help him in his, I and probably should, but I feel useless, pathetic and incapable of doing anything of value. And business just seems boring, difficult and too stressful for me right now. Just not my cup of tea.
I am also looking at creative work. I love video games, music, films and other forms of art. I love the games most though, so I am looking into game dev. I don't really like programming, I have learned some during school years, but the pay would probably be higher for a programmer than an creator of any kind of art. However, I think I would enjoy art creation much more, but I don't have any experience in drawing and only some limited experience in music production. And I am not one of these kids who always had a scrapbook with them at school. Having to make another life choice paralyzes me. I am leaning towards art. I don't feel confident in my ability to learn this skill from scratch, but I think it's my best shot at finding a job that would make me happy.
So perhaps, when this whole pandemic is over, I'll go to Europe and get my degree, get a job there and stay. American Dream is dead to me, and Europe is cheaper, closer, safe and comfortable. Just the thing for a person who feels like they are thrice their real age.
Outro.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Special thanks if you read the whole thing, it means a whole lot to me, an internet stranger. But even if no one reads it, feels good to get this off my chest. I actually cried during writing some parts. Holy shit, this might be the longest and smartest looking thing my dumbed down head could manage to generate since college. I hope that you're having a great day. Stay healthy and be careful during this fucking pandemic. All the best.

As title says, I'm dead. This is a final notification from this reddit here: https://www.reddit.com/SuicideWatch/comments/f5sajn/suicide_is_not_selfish_depending_on_circumstance/ I deleted the original post so just get the context there. But to briefly summarize, I'm 26, US american studying abroad in Asia. It's easy to pay for college when the USD currency is stronger so that's that. My parents, my loving parents supported me for four years so I can graduate. I will not be graduating. Unknown to them, I've been keeping them as well as my wife and child in the dark. In the 2nd year of my course I failed miserably. I was contemplating suicide right then and there after I found out. Silly me of course thought that I could put if off, perhaps leverage my situation by making myself financially self-sufficient so I dabbed in the forex market for two years with great hopes. Failed. Technical analysis, fundamental analysis, price action, chart and candlestick patterns were worthless. I spent the last past weeks studying a special FX tool that could be considered a black-box but I no longer have time to confirm it. I'm out of time, more on that later. Tomorrow my parents find out if I graduate or not, obviously not.
So reddit title says it all as well as my previous post. Tonight I'm going to be drinking heavily, then put a bag over my head and that's that. Why I'm killing myself? Because I lied, I caused pain, misery. My parents fought tooth and nail, sent money to me through sweat and blood for me to graduate, get my diploma and start my life with my family but I failed them. They've complained more than once that times aren't getting easier, so me being alive doesn't change any of that. But that's not all. Two years dabbing in the most prestigious "profitable" market has failed me time and time again. Only now do I realize that the rabbit hole in the market goes much deeper than silly little charts. If I had more time, I'd be able to reap massive profits in such a short time span. To give you an idea, I took a $5k demo account and turned it into $27k in 6 days worth of trading. Not bad. I needed further study but it's no longer an option for me. I've costed my parents $40k and they lost 4 years of their life, their fragile life, time and money that they're never going to get back. So if I were you and you were reading this, I would refrain from posting anything along the lines of "Oh, it's okay. Tough love. Failure you is better than no you at all. Think about your daughter." Your comment will just get shrugged off like yesterday's news. I need real help redditors and I promise to pay you back even double what it is you spend but I need real help.
So I need a ticket back to the US and a job, one that at least pays min. $30k/yr and most likely a place to stay. If I can have that, all will be good. I'll be off my parent's budget so no more strain to them, I'll be able to take care of my family. It won't bring back those wasted 4 years, but at the least I'll be alive to do what a father must. Other option, I could "sell" this FX tool. This tool isn't downloadable anywhere on the internet anymore. I'm not the programmer but I made contact with the programmer and it's now receiving quotes via FIX api meaning no fake broker feeds, you're getting the real aggregate feed. There's three anomalies I've documented that pinpoints when and where a turning point in the market happens, only for the 28 major currency pairs. Last option, I die. Well, let's see what Reddit(ers) will say in the next 10 hours. This'll be interesting. And for all intents and purposes, if I don't reply back after the allotted 10 hours I'm obviously dead. I'll keep this post up as a reminder to ALL who ask for help on Reddit whether or not someone will or can help you. I'll be online until then. Post's up.
​
P.S. Why suicide of all things? Because it's for atonement. It may not be atonement in your eyes, in my parent's eyes, in my wife's eyes, in my daughter's eyes, but it's more than atonement for me, so that's all that matters.

Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, forex, make money, online trade, stock exchange
IQ Stock Broker
IQ stock broker is a Forex & bitcoin Company in USA Founded in 2012 by a team of highly motivated professionals who are very passionate about trading on the world’s financial market, and are keen on empowering others on the same bailiwick. Binary options, or digital options, have continued to gain popularity in the past decade, many ambitious traders see binary options as their preferred choice of investment vehicle in this time of market instability. “IQ Stock Broker” stands out as a leader among the brokers out there with a team that is made up of professionals with experience in Binary trading, risk management, derivatives and international laws and legislation. Their combined knowledge and experience trumps that held by most operators in the market. Learn about bitcoin price in USD here and convert bitcoin to dollar, bitcoin to pounds, bitcoin to euro, bitcoin to yen, bitcoin to naira. Create your own bitcoin wallet. 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This makes it easy to trade from anywhere… at any time. You don’t need to have any previous trading experience to get going. It is as easy as 1-2-3. The interface is remarkably user friendly. We have worked hard to ensure processes are fast and intuitive. Using our platform, customers can trade on options such as currencies, indices, stocks and commodities round the clock. We provide the most flexible pricing and the most suitable options on the market among all the Forex & Bitcoin companies in USA. Our objective is to make the trading process as simple and profitable as possible for all level of trader. Our team consists experienced professionals with backgrounds in binary trading, derivatives, risk management, payment processing as well as international laws and legislation. Contact us for Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, forex, make money, online trade, stock exchange. IQ stock broker is listed in American Stock Exchange.
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Hi, I'm a 19 year old at university, I want to start looking into dividends seriously. What can I do to learn about how to trade dividend stocks (e.g what books can I buy) and what platform can I use to trade dividends? I know Americans use stuff like robinhood however what can I use in the UK?
When I turned 18 I tried to do Forex using the platform IQ Options and made around £100 profit in a week but that was too much of a luck game and I didn't know what I was doing and didn't want to risk it, so I took a step back and wanted to actually learn properly and learn on making passive income without all these scamming "guides" or online courses from instagram "stock gurus".
However I never got round to it until recently I started reading more about dividends and how it's not a get rich quick scheme, which is more attractive to me.
I'm on a tight budget but I can put aside £1200-1500 AT MOST to trade that I can afford to risk (e.g won't make me homeless or starve without it). With that in mind, I'd appreciate if any UK based people could tell me what platform/broker to turn to with that amount of money in mind in case some require you to drop more.

CRYPTOCURRENCY BITCOIN
Bitcoin Table of contents expand: 1. What is Bitcoin? 2. Understanding Bitcoin 3. How Bitcoin Works 4. What's a Bitcoin Worth? 5. How Bitcoin Began 6. Who Invented Bitcoin? 7. Before Satoshi 8. Why Is Satoshi Anonymous? 9. The Suspects 10. Can Satoshi's Identity Be Proven? 11. Receiving Bitcoins As Payment 12. Working For Bitcoins 13. Bitcoin From Interest Payments 14. Bitcoins From Gambling 15. Investing in Bitcoins 16. Risks of Bitcoin Investing 17. Bitcoin Regulatory Risk 18. Security Risk of Bitcoins 19. Insurance Risk 20. Risk of Bitcoin Fraud 21. Market Risk 22. Bitcoin's Tax Risk What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a digital currency created in January 2009. It follows the ideas set out in a white paper by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto, whose true identity is yet to be verified. Bitcoin offers the promise of lower transaction fees than traditional online payment mechanisms and is operated by a decentralized authority, unlike government-issued currencies.
There are no physical bitcoins, only balances kept on a public ledger in the cloud, that – along with all Bitcoin transactions – is verified by a massive amount of computing power. Bitcoins are not issued or backed by any banks or governments, nor are individual bitcoins valuable as a commodity. Despite it not being legal tender, Bitcoin charts high on popularity, and has triggered the launch of other virtual currencies collectively referred to as Altcoins.
Understanding Bitcoin Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency: Balances are kept using public and private "keys," which are long strings of numbers and letters linked through the mathematical encryption algorithm that was used to create them. The public key (comparable to a bank account number) serves as the address which is published to the world and to which others may send bitcoins. The private key (comparable to an ATM PIN) is meant to be a guarded secret and only used to authorize Bitcoin transmissions. Style notes: According to the official Bitcoin Foundation, the word "Bitcoin" is capitalized in the context of referring to the entity or concept, whereas "bitcoin" is written in the lower case when referring to a quantity of the currency (e.g. "I traded 20 bitcoin") or the units themselves. The plural form can be either "bitcoin" or "bitcoins."
How Bitcoin Works Bitcoin is one of the first digital currencies to use peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant payments. The independent individuals and companies who own the governing computing power and participate in the Bitcoin network, also known as "miners," are motivated by rewards (the release of new bitcoin) and transaction fees paid in bitcoin. These miners can be thought of as the decentralized authority enforcing the credibility of the Bitcoin network. New bitcoin is being released to the miners at a fixed, but periodically declining rate, such that the total supply of bitcoins approaches 21 million. One bitcoin is divisible to eight decimal places (100 millionths of one bitcoin), and this smallest unit is referred to as a Satoshi. If necessary, and if the participating miners accept the change, Bitcoin could eventually be made divisible to even more decimal places. Bitcoin mining is the process through which bitcoins are released to come into circulation. Basically, it involves solving a computationally difficult puzzle to discover a new block, which is added to the blockchain and receiving a reward in the form of a few bitcoins. The block reward was 50 new bitcoins in 2009; it decreases every four years. As more and more bitcoins are created, the difficulty of the mining process – that is, the amount of computing power involved – increases. The mining difficulty began at 1.0 with Bitcoin's debut back in 2009; at the end of the year, it was only 1.18. As of February 2019, the mining difficulty is over 6.06 billion. Once, an ordinary desktop computer sufficed for the mining process; now, to combat the difficulty level, miners must use faster hardware like Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), more advanced processing units like Graphic Processing Units (GPUs), etc.
What's a Bitcoin Worth? In 2017 alone, the price of Bitcoin rose from a little under $1,000 at the beginning of the year to close to $19,000, ending the year more than 1,400% higher. Bitcoin's price is also quite dependent on the size of its mining network since the larger the network is, the more difficult – and thus more costly – it is to produce new bitcoins. As a result, the price of bitcoin has to increase as its cost of production also rises. The Bitcoin mining network's aggregate power has more than tripled over the past twelve months.
How Bitcoin Began
Aug. 18, 2008: The domain name bitcoin.org is registered. Today, at least, this domain is "WhoisGuard Protected," meaning the identity of the person who registered it is not public information.
Oct. 31, 2008: Someone using the name Satoshi Nakamoto makes an announcement on The Cryptography Mailing list at metzdowd.com: "I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party. The paper is available at http://www.bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf." This link leads to the now-famous white paper published on bitcoin.org entitled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System." This paper would become the Magna Carta for how Bitcoin operates today.
Jan. 3, 2009: The first Bitcoin block is mined, Block 0. This is also known as the "genesis block" and contains the text: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks," perhaps as proof that the block was mined on or after that date, and perhaps also as relevant political commentary.
Jan. 8, 2009: The first version of the Bitcoin software is announced on The Cryptography Mailing list.
Jan. 9, 2009: Block 1 is mined, and Bitcoin mining commences in earnest.
Who Invented Bitcoin?
No one knows. Not conclusively, at any rate. Satoshi Nakamoto is the name associated with the person or group of people who released the original Bitcoin white paper in 2008 and worked on the original Bitcoin software that was released in 2009. The Bitcoin protocol requires users to enter a birthday upon signup, and we know that an individual named Satoshi Nakamoto registered and put down April 5 as a birth date. And that's about it.
Before Satoshi
Though it is tempting to believe the media's spin that Satoshi Nakamoto is a solitary, quixotic genius who created Bitcoin out of thin air, such innovations do not happen in a vacuum. All major scientific discoveries, no matter how original-seeming, were built on previously existing research. There are precursors to Bitcoin: Adam Back’s Hashcash, invented in 1997, and subsequently Wei Dai’s b-money, Nick Szabo’s bit gold and Hal Finney’s Reusable Proof of Work. The Bitcoin white paper itself cites Hashcash and b-money, as well as various other works spanning several research fields.
Why Is Satoshi Anonymous?
There are two primary motivations for keeping Bitcoin's inventor keeping his or her or their identity secret. One is privacy. As Bitcoin has gained in popularity – becoming something of a worldwide phenomenon – Satoshi Nakamoto would likely garner a lot of attention from the media and from governments.
The other reason is safety. Looking at 2009 alone, 32,489 blocks were mined; at the then-reward rate of 50 BTC per block, the total payout in 2009 was 1,624,500 BTC, which at today’s prices is over $900 million. One may conclude that only Satoshi and perhaps a few other people were mining through 2009 and that they possess a majority of that $900 million worth of BTC. Someone in possession of that much BTC could become a target of criminals, especially since bitcoins are less like stocks and more like cash, where the private keys needed to authorize spending could be printed out and literally kept under a mattress. While it's likely the inventor of Bitcoin would take precautions to make any extortion-induced transfers traceable, remaining anonymous is a good way for Satoshi to limit exposure.
The Suspects
Numerous people have been suggested as possible Satoshi Nakamoto by major media outlets. Oct. 10, 2011, The New Yorker published an article speculating that Nakamoto might be Irish cryptography student Michael Clear or economic sociologist Vili Lehdonvirta. A day later, Fast Company suggested that Nakamoto could be a group of three people – Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry – who together appear on a patent related to secure communications that were filed two months before bitcoin.org was registered. A Vice article published in May 2013 added more suspects to the list, including Gavin Andresen, the Bitcoin project’s lead developer; Jed McCaleb, co-founder of now-defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox; and famed Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki.
In December 2013, Techcrunch published an interview with researcher Skye Grey who claimed textual analysis of published writings shows a link between Satoshi and bit-gold creator Nick Szabo. And perhaps most famously, in March 2014, Newsweek ran a cover article claiming that Satoshi is actually an individual named Satoshi Nakamoto – a 64-year-old Japanese-American engineer living in California. The list of suspects is long, and all the individuals deny being Satoshi.
Can Satoshi's Identity Be Proven?
It would seem even early collaborators on the project don’t have verifiable proof of Satoshi’s identity. To reveal conclusively who Satoshi Nakamoto is, a definitive link would need to be made between his/her activity with Bitcoin and his/her identity. That could come in the form of linking the party behind the domain registration of bitcoin.org, email and forum accounts used by Satoshi Nakamoto, or ownership of some portion of the earliest mined bitcoins. Even though the bitcoins Satoshi likely possesses are traceable on the blockchain, it seems he/she has yet to cash them out in a way that reveals his/her identity. If Satoshi were to move his/her bitcoins to an exchange today, this might attract attention, but it seems unlikely that a well-funded and successful exchange would betray a customer's privacy.
Receiving Bitcoins As Payment
Bitcoins can be accepted as a means of payment for products sold or services provided. If you have a brick and mortar store, just display a sign saying “Bitcoin Accepted Here” and many of your customers may well take you up on it; the transactions can be handled with the requisite hardware terminal or wallet address through QR codes and touch screen apps. An online business can easily accept bitcoins by just adding this payment option to the others it offers, like credit cards, PayPal, etc. Online payments will require a Bitcoin merchant tool (an external processor like Coinbase or BitPay).
Working For Bitcoins
Those who are self-employed can get paid for a job in bitcoins. There are several websites/job boards which are dedicated to the digital currency:
Work For Bitcoin brings together work seekers and prospective employers through its websiteCoinality features jobs – freelance, part-time and full-time – that offer payment in bitcoins, as well as Dogecoin and LitecoinJobs4Bitcoins, part of reddit.comBitGigs
Bitcoin From Interest Payments
Another interesting way (literally) to earn bitcoins is by lending them out and being repaid in the currency. Lending can take three forms – direct lending to someone you know; through a website which facilitates peer-to-peer transactions, pairing borrowers and lenders; or depositing bitcoins in a virtual bank that offers a certain interest rate for Bitcoin accounts. Some such sites are Bitbond, BitLendingClub, and BTCjam. Obviously, you should do due diligence on any third-party site.
Bitcoins From Gambling
It’s possible to play at casinos that cater to Bitcoin aficionados, with options like online lotteries, jackpots, spread betting, and other games. Of course, the pros and cons and risks that apply to any sort of gambling and betting endeavors are in force here too.
Investing in Bitcoins
There are many Bitcoin supporters who believe that digital currency is the future. Those who endorse it are of the view that it facilitates a much faster, no-fee payment system for transactions across the globe. Although it is not itself any backed by any government or central bank, bitcoin can be exchanged for traditional currencies; in fact, its exchange rate against the dollar attracts potential investors and traders interested in currency plays. Indeed, one of the primary reasons for the growth of digital currencies like Bitcoin is that they can act as an alternative to national fiat money and traditional commodities like gold.
In March 2014, the IRS stated that all virtual currencies, including bitcoins, would be taxed as property rather than currency. Gains or losses from bitcoins held as capital will be realized as capital gains or losses, while bitcoins held as inventory will incur ordinary gains or losses.
Like any other asset, the principle of buying low and selling high applies to bitcoins. The most popular way of amassing the currency is through buying on a Bitcoin exchange, but there are many other ways to earn and own bitcoins. Here are a few options which Bitcoin enthusiasts can explore.
Risks of Bitcoin Investing
Though Bitcoin was not designed as a normal equity investment (no shares have been issued), some speculative investors were drawn to the digital money after it appreciated rapidly in May 2011 and again in November 2013. Thus, many people purchase bitcoin for its investment value rather than as a medium of exchange.
However, their lack of guaranteed value and digital nature means the purchase and use of bitcoins carries several inherent risks. Many investor alerts have been issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and other agencies.
The concept of a virtual currency is still novel and, compared to traditional investments, Bitcoin doesn't have much of a long-term track record or history of credibility to back it. With their increasing use, bitcoins are becoming less experimental every day, of course; still, after eight years, they (like all digital currencies) remain in a development phase, still evolving. "It is pretty much the highest-risk, highest-return investment that you can possibly make,” says Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, which builds and invests in Bitcoin and blockchain companies.
Bitcoin Regulatory Risk
Investing money into Bitcoin in any of its many guises is not for the risk-averse. Bitcoins are a rival to government currency and may be used for black market transactions, money laundering, illegal activities or tax evasion. As a result, governments may seek to regulate, restrict or ban the use and sale of bitcoins, and some already have. Others are coming up with various rules. For example, in 2015, the New York State Department of Financial Services finalized regulations that would require companies dealing with the buy, sell, transfer or storage of bitcoins to record the identity of customers, have a compliance officer and maintain capital reserves. The transactions worth $10,000 or more will have to be recorded and reported.
Although more agencies will follow suit, issuing rules and guidelines, the lack of uniform regulations about bitcoins (and other virtual currency) raises questions over their longevity, liquidity, and universality.
Security Risk of Bitcoins
Bitcoin exchanges are entirely digital and, as with any virtual system, are at risk from hackers, malware and operational glitches. If a thief gains access to a Bitcoin owner's computer hard drive and steals his private encryption key, he could transfer the stolen Bitcoins to another account. (Users can prevent this only if bitcoins are stored on a computer which is not connected to the internet, or else by choosing to use a paper wallet – printing out the Bitcoin private keys and addresses, and not keeping them on a computer at all.) Hackers can also target Bitcoin exchanges, gaining access to thousands of accounts and digital wallets where bitcoins are stored. One especially notorious hacking incident took place in 2014, when Mt. Gox, a Bitcoin exchange in Japan, was forced to close down after millions of dollars worth of bitcoins were stolen.
This is particularly problematic once you remember that all Bitcoin transactions are permanent and irreversible. It's like dealing with cash: Any transaction carried out with bitcoins can only be reversed if the person who has received them refunds them. There is no third party or a payment processor, as in the case of a debit or credit card – hence, no source of protection or appeal if there is a problem.
Insurance Risk
Some investments are insured through the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. Normal bank accounts are insured through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to a certain amount depending on the jurisdiction. Bitcoin exchanges and Bitcoin accounts are not insured by any type of federal or government program.
Risk of Bitcoin Fraud
While Bitcoin uses private key encryption to verify owners and register transactions, fraudsters and scammers may attempt to sell false bitcoins. For instance, in July 2013, the SEC brought legal action against an operator of a Bitcoin-related Ponzi scheme.
Market Risk
Like with any investment, Bitcoin values can fluctuate. Indeed, the value of the currency has seen wild swings in price over its short existence. Subject to high volume buying and selling on exchanges, it has a high sensitivity to “news." According to the CFPB, the price of bitcoins fell by 61% in a single day in 2013, while the one-day price drop in 2014 has been as big as 80%.
If fewer people begin to accept Bitcoin as a currency, these digital units may lose value and could become worthless. There is already plenty of competition, and though Bitcoin has a huge lead over the other 100-odd digital currencies that have sprung up, thanks to its brand recognition and venture capital money, a technological break-through in the form of a better virtual coin is always a threat.
Bitcoin's Tax Risk
As bitcoin is ineligible to be included in any tax-advantaged retirement accounts, there are no good, legal options to shield investments from taxation.
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Related Terms
Satoshi
The satoshi is the smallest unit of the bitcoin cryptocurrency. It is named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the protocol used in block chains and the bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Chartalism Chartalism is a non-mainstream theory of money that emphasizes the impact of government policies and activities on the value of money.
Satoshi Nakamoto The name used by the unknown creator of the protocol used in the bitcoin cryptocurrency. Satoshi Nakamoto is closely-associated with blockchain technology.
Bitcoin Mining, Explained Breaking down everything you need to know about Bitcoin Mining, from Blockchain and Block Rewards to Proof-of-Work and Mining Pools.
Understanding Bitcoin Unlimited Bitcoin Unlimited is a proposed upgrade to Bitcoin Core that allows larger block sizes. The upgrade is designed to improve transaction speed through scale.
Blockchain Explained
A guide to help you understand what blockchain is and how it can be used by industries. You've probably encountered a definition like this: “blockchain is a distributed, decentralized, public ledger." But blockchain is easier to understand than it sounds.
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By Satoshi Nakamoto
Read it once, go read other crypto stuff, read it again… keep doing this until the whole document makes sense. It’ll take a while, but you’ll get there. This is the original whitepaper introducing and explaining Bitcoin, and there’s really nothing better out there to understand on the subject.
“What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party


I thought about linking or sharing a legalish letter I wrote the CFTC in the hopes to gain some exposure and eyes on the issue, but it would go over the heads of a lot here and wouldn't get to the point.
I don't know how else to make this clear, anyone who is a trader in crypto who is american who relies on leverage and complex trading and hedging and management of their portfolios, we are as American Investors, and American US Citizen completely under threat regulatoryily from our own SEC and CFTC and a hostile Trump administration.
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They are fully aiming to shut us out of foreign exchanges. They are actually taking a more harsh stance than they did with retail forex. They are basically going to break the industry at this point. A industry without derivatives is not sustainable, it's going to wreck the domestic market and push US citizens into other asset classes.
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They have no plans of offering us a fair market or letting a domestic exchange provide proper leverage. Their motives for shutting down binance and all the other exchanges to US citizen are ulterior, bad faith, anti competitive, and absolutely draconian. Don't tell me, and don't let them tell you that it is to protect American investors. that is profound bullshit.
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Every single asset class has derivatives. Everything that isn't a security can and is highly leveraged in order to manage portfolios. And Securities have Options. Modern finance cannot work without this. The US governments refusal to allow domestic American derivatives is unacceptable. Their neglect to this market and hyper regulation and lack of clarity is unacceptable. If you know ANY pro crypto policy maker and legislator, and lobbyist please reach out to them about the regulatory overreach and please list their name in this thread. You guys need to take this serious.
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Stop running on and on about the meme leverage of Bitmex. This isn't about that. Study other finance and asset classes. This is about Bitcoin and Crypto having a fair normal comparative market infrastructure to all the other commodities and futures in the United States. And we should be allowed to use foreign brokers. This ECP shit has to end. IF you can get a foreign stock account, a foreign commodity account in Europe with KYC, it should be that way with crypto. this is unfair bullshit and unfair discrimination of Crypto just like retail forex, under the same rules. The US government is unduly applying Forex regulatory law to Bitcoin. That's why we get banned from every foreign exchange, thats why we aren't allowed. Because of Dodd Frank Act.

A few months ago I came across a way to hold crypto in my RRSP/TFSA and have been answering questions about how to do that in comments, DM's, and Skype consults. I figured it would be helpful to put together one big comprehensive FAQ. Cryptocurrency is treated as a commodity by the CRA and you must pay capital gains taxes on any profits if held outside a TFSA. If bitcoin goes to $1m as some are predicting, the Canadian government is going to be taxing a huge windfall in capital gains taxes.
BACKGROUND
Bitcoin & other crypto cannot be held directly in a RRSP/TFSA, and there are no eligible ETF's in North America yet. However, the ETN COINXBT which trades on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in Sweden (Nasdaq Stockholm) is eligible.
ABOUT COINXBT
COINXBT holds bitcoin directly and its price per share is based on a 0.005 multiple of the current bitcoin price.
For example, if the current price of bitcoin is $10000USD, a share of COINXBT will be worth $50USD (ie: $493 Swedish Kroner)
Company's website and full prospectus at: https://xbtprovider.com/
Price quote / chart: https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/COINXBT:SS
HOW-TO TRADE
Only some Canadian brokerages allow you to trade on eligible international exchanges in your TFSA. Some do not.
Typically placing trades on international exchanges online is not an option and must be made over the phone broker-assisted at a much higher cost than typical North American securities.
CANADIAN BROKERS
I've called pretty much every brokerage to inquire if international securities can be held in a TFSA and what the fee is to transact. You may want to call yourself to see if policies have changed, but here's a summary:

• National Bank: $75 per trade + $0.06 per share (confirmed works)
• TD: Fee dependent on amount traded. Up to $5K is $187, $80K would be $520 per trade (confirmed works)
• CIBC: $250 minimum, based on trade amount. $50K would be about $350 to buy and $350 to sell (confirmed works)
• Scotia iTrade: $250 CAD per trade CAD, unlimited shares & order size (should work)
• BMO Investorline: Fee-based on total trade amount. $50K would be $325 to buy $225 to sell, $50-$60K would be $350 to buy $240 to sell (should work)

Not available, or not available in RRSP/TFSA:

• Interactive Brokers, can trade it, but not in RRSP/TFSA
• Questrade
• Royal Bank
• Credential Direct
• HSBC (has access to almost every exchange other than Stockholm)
• Qtrade
• Virtual Brokers

FAQ's
Are you sure it's legal? I'm quite sure it's illegal.

• This is 100% legal. The Stockholm Stock Exchange is a RRSP/TFSA eligible exchange. Source: https://www.fin.gc.ca/act/fim-imf/dse-bvd-eng.asp

Who is your broker? CAD account?

• I used National Bank Direct Brokerage. The fee's came out to $75 per trade + $0.06 per share.
  For example, the commission for a trade I did for 885 shares of COINXBT was $75 + $53.10 for a total of $128.10. Canadian funds were used to make the purchase and there were no forex fees for converting to Swedish Kroner (SEK)
  

How do I make a trade once I'm ready?

• Call your brokerage and say you want to place a trade on the Stockholm stock exchange. You may be forwarded to a person that specializes in that, and eventually to a broker that deals with placing order on international exchanges. Tell them the symbol to trade is COINXBT and the name of the ETN is "Bitcoin Tracker One".

How do I calculate the number of shares to trade to max out my TFSA?

• The price of COINXBT is in SEK. In my case using NB I took my balance minus anticipated fees divided by the current price to see how many shares I could buy.
  For example: For a $10,000 TFSA, current COINXBT price = $554.77SEK (84.27CAD), would be 117 shares at a cost of $9859.59 + $82.02 commission for a total of $9941.61CAD
  

Market or Limit order?

• The first time I placed an order for COINXBT I tried to place a limit order a little below the market price. Over the next week the price of bitcoin ran up a lot and didn't come down. I ended up buying a lot higher. Since then I've been placing limit orders slightly above the current price or just market orders so that they go through right away. I've had no issues doing it either way.

When can I trade? Is it only possible to make the trade while the Swedish market is open and the TSX are open at the same time? Or can you place the order at any time of day?

• You should be able to place the trade anytime your Canadian broker is open (~9:00 - 17:30 EST). However, it the time is outside Stockholm's trading hours, it will be entered as an after-hours trade and will go live when Stockholm opens the next day. My understanding is that the Stockholm exchange closes at 5:30PM (11:30 EST). Here's a comparison of timezones showing Stockholm trading hours: https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/?qm=1&lid=2673730,6077243,5946768&h=2673730&date=2017-10-3&sln=9-18.5

Which number did you use to contact the brokerages?

• Contact numbers for various Canadian brokers: http://www.moneysmartsblog.com/canadian-online-discount-stock-brokerage-comparison/

What happens when there is a fork?

• XBT Provider has said they will monitor forks for 3-months and then decide what action to take. In the case of Bitcoin Cash, they sold the forked coins and distributed it as a dividend to anyone that held ETN shares on the fork date.

What about other cryptocurrencies?

• An ethereum ETN was recently launched: COINETH that also trades on the Stockholm exchange. https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/COINETH:SS
  Other than that, I am not aware of any other eligible crypto securities that can be held in a RRSP/TFSA
  

How is the price of COINXBT determined?

• It's based on the average price of the top 3 exchanges

Why not just buy GBTC?

• GBTC is traded on the OTC exchange in the US and is not RRSP/TFSA eligible

Why can't I place a trade online myself?

• For now, there are no crypto ETF's on North American exchanges. They have been in the works for years in the US, but no approvals yet. Evolve funds recently said they plan to launch a Canadian Bitcoin ETF.
  Trading COINXBT is a bit of a hassle, but you're getting in ahead of everyone else that are not willing to put in the time/effort.
  Once the Canadian/US ETF launches, it will probably be worth it to sell COINXBT and switch to the North American one which should be easy to trade online just like other ETF's.
  

Feedback
If you've managed to get crypto into your RRSP/TFSA in any other ways than listed above please do leave a comment and I'll update the post. Thanks!

The RBI may face legal challenges to its rule on the age limit for bank CEOs, unless it is changed. The RBI caps the age limit for banks at 70. But under the Companies Act, banks that are also registered companies can have chief executives who are over 70 years of age by passing a special resolution. IndusInd Bank and HDFC Bank have their current chiefs reaching the RBI age cap over the next year and half, said analysts. -Economic Times
Finance Industry Development Council wants the RBI to allow deposit-taking NBFCs with an asset size of more than ₹500 crore to be eligible for grant of Category II Forex licence. -Business Line
None of the ATMs of Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank and Bank of Baroda will be closed down or deemed redundant for the next 1-2 years following the merger, according to Rajesh Malhotra, general manager, BoB. -The Hindu
A 93-year-old bank in Tamil Nadu is moving to Mumbai. The boards of Lakshmi Vilas Bank and Indiabulls Housing Finance this week approved the merger between the two to create what would be known as the ‘Indiabulls Lakshmi Vilas Bank’.Now the merged entity - Indiabulls Lakshmi Vilas Bank - will shift headquarters to Mumbai. -Economic Times
SBI is targeting over 15% growth in its real estate portfolio and 12-14% overall growth in the retail book in the coming financial year, Parveen Kumar Gupta, MD-retail and digital banking, told. -Financial Express
HDFC Bank reported a 5% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in advances for March 2019 at Rs 8.1 lakh crore, while its deposits grew by 17% to Rs 7.8 lakh crore. -Financial Express
David Malpass, US President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the World Bank, won unanimous approval from the institution's executive board on Friday, continuing the 73-year tradition of an American running the world's largest development lender. -Business Line
The recent Supreme Court order relating to EPS may open the doors for employees who were till now excluded from EPS to join the scheme. Also, the pension calculation formula may change resulting in increase in pension for employees who have already contributed to pension on full pay in the past. Going forward, the pension may be calculated on the basis of average salary of last 12 months and not 60 months which was the basis till now. Apart from these, the ruling has also opened doors to all existing members of EPFO to avail option of contributing on higher salary for a higher pension in the future. However, the above is in the realm of 'possible' because EPFO is yet to come out with its view on the impact of the SC ruling. -Economic Times
Amit Shah, who was a stock broker by profession before jumping into active politics, owns hundreds of listed and unlisted stocks, key among them being RIL,TCS, Bajaj Auto, Colgate-Palmolive, Grasim, HUL, L&T Finance and UltraTech Cement, among others. His affidavit, filed with the Election Commission of India as part of his nomination papers Lok Sabha seat, shows he held listed shares worth Rs 17.56 crore as of March 22, 2019. Unlike his opponent though, Rahul Gandhi has equity exposure mainly through mutual funds. His affidavit for the Wayanad constituency shows his investments are in mutual funds only instead of directly holding stocks. Rahul Gandhi has investments worth Rs 5.19 crore in 10 mutual fund schemes. -Economic Times

 -#060419 

The financial advisory full definition

A Monetary Advisor's Many Roles

A monetary advisor is your planning associate. To illustrate you need to retire in 20 years or ship your youngster to a non-public college in 10 years. To perform your objectives, it's possible you'll want a skilled professional to assist make these plans an actuality, and that’s the place a monetary advisor is available in.
Collectively, you and your advisor will cowl many subjects, together with the amount of cash you need to save, the sorts of accounts you want, the sorts of insurance coverage you need to have (together with long-term care, time period life, and incapacity) and property and tax planning.
The monetary advisor can be an educator. A part of the advisor's job is that will help you perceive what's concerned in assembly your future objectives. The schooling course of could embrace detailed assist with monetary subjects. At first of your relationship, these subjects could possibly be budgeting and saving. As you advance in your data, the advisor will help you in understanding advanced funding, insurance coverage, and tax issues.
The 1st step within the monetary advisory course is knowing your financial health. You'll be able to correctly plan for the long run without understanding the place you stand immediately. Sometimes, you can be requested to finish an in-depth written questionnaire. Your solutions assist the advisor to perceive your state of affairs and make sure you do not overlook any essential data.
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The Monetary Questionnaire

The advisor works with you to get an entire image of your property, liabilities, revenue, and bills. On the questionnaire, additionally, you will point out future pensions and revenue sources, venture retirement wants and describes any long-term monetary obligations. In brief, you’ll checklist all present and anticipated investments, pensions, items and sources of revenue.
The investing element of the questionnaire touches upon extra subjective subjects, reminiscent of your risk tolerance and risk capacity. An understanding of threat assists the advisor when it’s time to find out your funding asset allocation. You may let the advisor know your funding preferences as nicely.
The preliminary evaluation additionally contains an examination of different monetary administration subjects reminiscent of insurance coverage points and your tax state of affairs. The advisor wants to pay attention to your present estate plan (or lack thereof) in addition to different professionals in your planning group, reminiscent of accountants and legal professionals. When you and the advisor perceive your current monetary place and future projections, you’re able to work collectively on a plan to fulfil your life and monetary objectives.

Creating The Monetary Plan

The monetary advisor synthesizes all of this preliminary data right into a comprehensive financial plan that may function a roadmap to your monetary future. It begins with an abstract of the important thing findings out of your preliminary questionnaire and summarizes your present monetary state of affairs, together with internet price, property, liabilities, and liquid or working capital. The monetary plan additionally recaps the objectives you and the advisor mentioned.
The evaluation part of this prolonged doc drills down into a number of subjects, together with your threat tolerance, estate-planning particulars, household state of affairs, long-term care risk, and different pertinent current and future monetary points.
Primarily based upon your anticipated internet price and future revenue at retirement, the plan will create simulations of doubtless best- and worst-case retirement eventualities, together with the scary risk of outliving your cash, so steps may be taken to forestall that end result. It's going to have a look at cheap withdrawal charges in retirement out of your portfolio property. Moreover, if you're married or in a long-term partnership, the plan will contemplate survivorship points and monetary eventualities for the surviving associate.
After you assessment the plan with the advisor and modify it as mandatory, you’re prepared for motion.

Advisors Plan Motion Steps

A monetary advisor is not only somebody who helps with investments. Their job is that will help you with each facet of your monetary life. In truth, you may work with a monetary advisor without having them handle your portfolio or advocate investments in any respect.
For many individuals, nevertheless, funding recommendation is a significant purpose to work with a monetary advisor. If you happen to select this route, right here’s what to anticipate.
The advisor will arrange an asset allocation that matches each your threat tolerance and threat capability. The asset allocation is solely a rubric to find out what proportion of your complete monetary portfolio might be distributed throughout varied asset lessons. An extra risk-averse particular person can have a better focus of presidency bonds, certificates of deposit and cash market holdings, whereas a person who's extra snug with the threat will tackle extra shares and company bonds and maybe funding actual property. Your asset allocation might be adjusted to your age and for a way lengthy you could have earlier than retirement. Every monetary advisory agency will act in accordance with the regulation and with its firm funding coverage when shopping for and promoting the monetary property.

Monetary Advisors and Investments

It’s essential for you, as the buyer, to grasp what your planner recommends and why. You shouldn't blindly comply with an advisor’s suggestions; it’s your cash, and you need to perceive the way it’s being deployed. Preserve an in-depth eye on the charges you're paying, each to your advisor and for any funds purchased for you.
Ask your advisor why they advocate particular investments and whether or not they're receiving a fee for promoting you these investments. Be alert for potential conflicts of interest.
A commonality amongst corporations is that monetary merchandise is chosen to suit the shopper’s threat profile. Take, for instance, a 50-year-old man who’s already amassed sufficient internet price for retirement and is predominantly fascinated with capital preservation. He could have a really conservative asset allocation of 45% in inventory property (which can embrace particular person shares, mutual funds and/or ETFs) and 55% in fixed-income assets reminiscent of bonds. Alternatively, a 40-year-old girl with a smaller internet price and a willingness to tackle extra threat to construct up her monetary portfolio could go for an asset allocation of 70% inventory property, 25% fixed-income property and 5% alternative investments.
Whereas bearing in mind the agency’s funding philosophy, your private portfolio will suit yours wants primarily based on how quickly you want the cash, your investment horizon, and your current and future objectives.

Common Monetary Monitoring

As soon as your funding plan is in place, you’ll obtain common statements out of your advisor updating you in your portfolio. The advisor can even arrange common conferences to assessment your objectives and progress and to reply to any questions you could have. Assembly remotely by way of cellphone or video chat will help make these contacts occur extra typically.
Along with common, ongoing conferences, it’s essential to seek the advice of together with your monetary advisor once you anticipate a significant change in your life that might impact your financial picture, reminiscent of getting married or divorced, including a toddler to your loved ones, shopping for or promoting a house, altering jobs or getting promoted.

Indicators You Might Want an Advisor

Anybody can work with a monetary advisor at any age and any stage of life. You don’t should have an excessive internet price; you simply have to seek out an advisor suited to your situation.
The choice to enlist skilled assist together with your cash is an extremely private one, however, any time you’re feeling overwhelmed, confused, wired or scared by your monetary state of affairs could also be a very good time to search for a monetary advisor.
It’s additionally advantageous to strategy one once you’re coming from a place of energy however need somebody to make sure that you’re heading in the right direction and recommend potential enhancements to your plan which may make it easier to obtain your objectives extra successfully.
Lastly, should you don’t have the time or curiosity to handle your funds, that’s one other good purpose to rent a monetary advisor.
These are some basic causes you would possibly want an advisor’s skilled assist. Listed below are some extra particular ones.

None of Your Financial savings Is Invested or You Don’t Know How you can Make investments

As a result of we dwell in a world of inflation, any cash you retain in money or in a low-interest account declines in worth annually. Investing is the one technique to make your cash develop, and until you could have exceptionally excessive revenue, investing is the one approach most individuals will ever come up with the money to retire.

You Have Investments, however, You’re Constantly Dropping Cash

Even the perfect buyers lose cash when the market is down or once they decide that doesn’t prove as they’d hoped, however general, investing ought to improve your internet price significantly. If it’s not doing that, hiring a monetary advisor will help you discover out what you’re doing incorrect and proper your course earlier than it’s too late.

You Don’t Have a Present Property Plan

A monetary advisor may make it easier to put collectively a property plan to ensure your property are dealt with in response to your needs after you die. And should you aren’t correctly insured (or aren’t positive what insurance coverage you want), a monetary advisor will help with that, too. Certainly, a fee-only monetary advisor could possibly supply a much less biased opinion than an insurance coverage agent can.

Serving to You Attain Your Objectives

Monetary advisors can help you with investing and reaching your long-term objectives in so some ways. Listed below are 5:

1. Experience. Monetary advisors know extra about investing and managing cash than most individuals. They'll information you to higher selections than you would possibly make by yourself.
2. Accountability. Monetary advisors assist hold you on the monitor by speaking you out of constructing emotional choices about your cash, like shopping for an inventory that’s been skyrocketing or promoting all of your inventory funds when the market plummets.
3. Recommendation. It’s within the title: Monetary advisors could make strategies about the perfect methods to implement to enhance your funds, from what to investments to make to what insurance coverage to purchase.
4. Evolution. As your life circumstances change, a monetary advisor will help you modify your monetary plan in order that it at all times suits your present state of affairs.
5. Motion. Many individuals don’t take the steps they need to handle their funds as a result of they’re too busy or too unsure about what to do. Working with a monetary advisor means another person can deal with what you don’t have time for and ensure your cash is being deployed in one of the simplest ways.

The Prices of a Monetary Advisor

A rule proposed by the Division of Labor (DOL) would have required all monetary professionals who work with retirement plans or give retirement plan recommendation to supply recommendation that's within the shopper’s greatest curiosity (the fiduciary standard), versus merely appropriate for the shopper (the suitability standard). The rule was handed, its implementation was delayed after which a courtroom killed it.
However within the roughly three-year interval between President Obama's proposal of the rule and its eventual demise, the media shed extra mild than it had beforehand on the other ways monetary advisors work, how they cost for his or her companies and the way the suitability commonplace may be much less useful to shoppers than the fiduciary commonplace. Some monetary advisors determined to voluntarily transfer to a fiduciary commonplace or extra closely promote that they already operated underneath that commonplace. Others, reminiscent of licensed monetary planners™, already adhered to this commonplace. However, even underneath the DOL rule, the fiduciary standard wouldn't have utilized to the non-retirement recommendation – an ordinary certain to trigger confusion.
Below the suitability commonplace, monetary advisors work on a fee for the merchandise they promote to shoppers. This implies the shopper could by no means obtain an invoice from the monetary advisor. Then again, they might find yourself with monetary merchandise that charger greater charges than others available on the market – however, pay the advisor an excessive fee for placing shoppers into them.
Below the fiduciary commonplace, advisors cost shoppers by the hour or as a proportion of the property underneath administration. A typical proportion charge is 1%, whereas a typical hourly fee for monetary recommendation ranges from $120 to $300. Charges range by location and the advisor’s expertise. Some advisors could supply decrease charges to assist shoppers who're simply getting began with monetary planning and mightn't afford a lot. A preliminary session is commonly free and supplies an opportunity for each the shopper and the advisor to see in the event that they’re a very good match for one another.
Financial advisors can also earn a mixture of charges and commissions. A fee-based monetary advisor is not the same as a fee-only financial advisor. A fee-based advisor could earn a charge for growing a monetary plan for you, however nonetheless earn a fee for promoting you a sure insurance coverage product or funding. A fee-only monetary advisor earns no commissions.
The Securities and Alternate Fee proposed its personal fiduciary rule referred to as Regulation Best Interest in April 2018. In some methods, it will be much less strict than the DOL’s fiduciary rule would have been, doubtlessly addressing the considerations of a number of the DOL rule’s critics. In one other approach, it will be broader: It might not be restricted to retirement investments.

Contemplating a Robo-Advisor

A digital monetary advisor, or robot-advisor, is an organization that makes use of pc algorithms to handle your cash primarily based in your solutions to questions on your objectives and threat tolerance. Robo-advisors don’t require you to have a lot of cash to get began they usually price lower than human monetary advisors. Examples embrace Betterment and Wealthfront. These companies can save you time and take the emotion out of investing.
However, a robust-advisor can’t communicate with you about one of the simplest ways to get out of debt or fund your youngster’s schooling. It can also speak you out of promoting your investments out of concern when you have to be holding on to them for the long term. Nor can it make it easier to construct and handle a portfolio of particular person shares. Robo-advisors usually make investments shoppers’ cash in a portfolio of ETFs and mutual funds that present inventory and bond publicity and monitor a market index. And if in case you have a posh property or tax problem, you want the extremely personalised recommendation that solely a human can supply (for now, anyway).
Some corporations, nevertheless, mix digitally managed portfolio funding with the choice for human interplay – at an extra price. One such service is Personal Capital. Some individuals name these companies digital advisors as a result of interactions occur by cellphone or video chat as an alternative of an individual; others use the phrases “robot-advisor” and “digital advisor” synonymously.

What's a Monetary Advisor

A monetary advisor supplies monetary recommendation or steerage to clients for compensation. Monetary advisors, or advisers, can present many various companies, reminiscent of funding administration, revenue tax preparation and estate planning. They have to carry the Series 65 license to conduct enterprise with the general public; all kinds of licenses can be found for the companies offered by a monetary advisor.

BREAKING DOWN Monetary Advisor

"Monetary advisor" is a generic time period with no exact business definition, and plenty of various kinds of monetary professionals fall into this basic class. Stockbrokers, insurance coverage brokers, tax preparers, investment managers and monetary planners are all members of this group. Property planners and bankers can also fall underneath this umbrella.

Completely different Examples of Monetary Advisors

What could cross as a monetary advisor in some situations could also be a product salesperson, reminiscent of a stockbroker or a life insurance coverage agent. A real monetary advisor needs to be a well-educated, credentialed, skilled, monetary skilled who works on behalf of his shoppers versus serving the pursuits of a monetary establishment. Typically, a monetary advisor is an unbiased practitioner who operates in a fiduciary capability through which a shopper’s pursuits come earlier than his personal. Solely Registered Investment Advisors (RIA), who're ruled by the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, are held to a real fiduciary commonplace. There are some brokers and brokers who attempt to follow on this capability, nevertheless, their compensation construction is such that they're certain by the contracts of the businesses the place they work.

The Fiduciary Distinction

For the reason, that enactment of the Funding Adviser Act of 1940, two sorts of relationships has existed between monetary intermediaries and their shoppers. These are the “arms size” relationship that characterizes the transactions between registered representatives and shoppers within the broker-dealer area, and the fiduciary relationship that requires advisors registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as Registered Funding Advisors to train duties of loyalty, care and full disclosure of their interactions with shoppers. Whereas the previous is predicated on the precept of “caveat emptor” guided by self-governed guidelines of “suitability” and “reasonableness” in recommending a funding product or technique, the latter is grounded in federal legal guidelines that impose the best moral requirements. At its core, the fiduciary relationship depends on the need {that a} monetary advisor should act on behalf of a shopper in an approach the shopper would act for himself if he had the requisite data and abilities to take action.

What's a Monetary Adviser

A monetary adviser (or advisor) is knowledgeable who supplies monetary steerage to shoppers primarily based on their wants and objectives. Sometimes, they supply shoppers with monetary merchandise, companies, planning or recommendation associated with investing, retirement, insurance coverage, mortgages, school financial savings, property planning, taxes and extra. Another name for monetary adviser embraces "funding advisor" and "registered representative." Monetary advisers can be insurance coverage brokers, accountants or attorneys.

Breaking Down Monetary Adviser

A big problem to think about when evaluating a monetary adviser or deciding on what sort of adviser to me is how they're paid. Some monetary advisors are paid a flat charge for his or her recommendation and are thought-about fiduciaries, whereas others earn commissions from the merchandise they promote to their shoppers. Some advisors, reminiscent of within the case of a hybrid adviser or dually registered advisor, cost charges in addition to earning commissions relying on the product they're promoting or the service they're offering. Charge-only preparations are broadly thought-about to be higher for the shopper.
Monetary advisers are required to fulfil a fiduciary commonplace. In keeping with the Securities and Alternate Fee, advisers should:

• Make cheap funding suggestions unbiased of outdoor influences;
• Choose broker-dealers primarily based on their capability to supply the perfect execution of trades for accounts the place the adviser has authority to pick the broker-dealer;
• Make suggestions primarily based on an inexpensive inquiry right into a shopper’s funding aims, monetary state of affairs and different elements;
• All the time place shopper pursuits forward of its personnel.

How Monetary Advisors Are Compensated

The commonest approach advisers are paid is predicated on a proportion of complete property underneath advisory, normally about 1-2% (or decrease the bigger that sum will get). Some advisors are paid by way of commissions from insurance coverage or monetary merchandise they promote, although this could result in a battle of curiosity due to the motivation to advocate the perfect product commission-wise and never essentially the only option for the shopper. Such an individual is appearing as a salesman and should merely meet a suitability commonplace slightly than an extra-stringent fiduciary commonplace. Hybrid advisors, a fast-growing phase of the advisory enterprise due to its flexibility, are paid by way of fee for promoting some merchandise and likewise charges for companies and recommendation as a fiduciary. This association is also known as "fee-based" (versus "fee-only," which refers to a 100% fiduciary). Some advisers are paid by way of an hourly charge, or a flat charge for particular companies or tasks, or by way of every day (typically quarterly) retainer charge.

How you can Discover a Monetary Adviser

Except for asking family and friends for referrals, skilled organizations just like the Monetary Planning Affiliation (FPA) and the Nationwide Affiliation of Private Monetary Advisors (NAPFA) will help a person discover an adviser. When selecting a monetary adviser, it is essential to ask if they've any FINRA licenses or official credentials. Licensed Monetary Planner® (CFP®), chartered monetary analyst (CFA), chartered monetary guide (ChFC), and registered funding advisor (RIA) are good indicators of an adviser's {qualifications}.

How you can Change into a Monetary Adviser

Many international locations require people to finish coaching or receive a license to turn into a monetary advisor. In America, monetary advisors should carry a Sequence 65 or 66 licenses as stipulated by the Monetary Trade Regulatory Authority (FINRA). In keeping with FINRA, funding advisors, brokers, accountants, insurance coverage brokers and monetary planners can use the time period "monetary adviser." The North American Securities Directors Affiliation supplies a very good brief overview of financial adviser requirements.

Monetary Adviser vs. Advisor

Whereas 'adviser' spelt with an 'e' is the official spelling as per the Funding Advisers Act of 1940, 'advisor' with an 'o' is appropriate to confer with somebody who supplies recommendation. Nonetheless, when utilized in reference to the authorized designation 'adviser' needs to be used.

What Is a Fiduciary?

A fiduciary is an individual or group that acts on behalf of one other individual or individuals to handle the property. Primarily, a fiduciary owes to that different entity the duties of good faith and belief. The best-authorized obligation of 1 social gathering to a different, being a fiduciary requires being certain ethically to behave within the different's greatest pursuits.
A fiduciary may be answerable for basic well-being, however, typically the duty includes funds—managing the property of one other individual, or of a bunch of individuals, for instance. Cash managers, monetary advisors, bankers, accountants, executors, board members, and company officers all have fiduciary accountability.

Fiduciary Defined

A fiduciary's obligations or duties are each moral and authorized. When a celebration knowingly accepts the fiduciary duty on behalf of one other social gathering, they're required to behave in the perfect curiosity of the principal, the social gathering whose property they're managing. That is what is called a "prudent individual commonplace of care," an ordinary that initially stems from an 1830 courtroom ruling.
This formulation of the prudent-person rule required that an individual appearing as fiduciary was required to behave at the start with the wants of beneficiaries in thoughts.
The fiduciary is anticipated to handle the property for the advantage of the opposite individual, slightly than for their very own revenue, and can't profit personally from their administration of property.
Usually, no revenue is to be constituted of the connection until express consent is granted on the time the connection begins. For example, in the UK, fiduciaries can not revenue from their place, in response to an English Excessive Court docket ruling, Keech vs. Sandford (1726). If the principal supplies consent, then the fiduciary can hold no matter profit they've acquired; these advantages may be both financial or outlined extra broadly as an "alternative."
Fiduciary duties seem in all kinds of widespread enterprise relationships, together with:

• Trustee and beneficiary (the most typical kind)
• Company board members and shareholders
• Executors and legatees
• Guardians and wards
• Promoters and inventory subscribers
• Attorneys and shoppers
• Funding firms and buyers

Fiduciary Trustee/Beneficiary

Property preparations and applied trusts contain a trustee and a beneficiary. A person named as a belief or property trustee is the fiduciary, and the beneficiary is the principal. Below a trustee/beneficiary obligation, the fiduciary has authorized possession of the property or property and holds the ability essential to deal with property held within the title of the belief.
Nonetheless, the trustee should make choices which might be in the perfect curiosity of the beneficiary because the latter holds equitable title to the property. The trustee/beneficiary relationship is a crucial facet of complete property planning, and particular care needs to be taken to find out who's designated as trustee.
Politicians typically arrange blind trusts with the intention to keep away from conflict-of-interest scandals. A blind belief is a relationship through which a trustee is accountable for the funding of a beneficiary's corpus (property) without the beneficiary understanding how the corpus is being invested. Even whereas the beneficiary has no data, the trustee has a fiduciary obligation to speculate the corpus in response to the prudent individual commonplace of conduct.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Fiduciary acts on behalf of one other individual, or individuals, to handle the property. Their duties are each moral and authorized.
• Fiduciary duties seem in a variety of enterprise relationships, together with a trustee and a beneficiary, company board members and shareholders, and executors and legatees.
• A funding fiduciary is anybody with obligation for managing any person else's cash, reminiscent of a member of the founding committee of a charity.
• Registered funding advisors have a fiduciary obligation to shoppers; broker-dealers simply have to fulfil the less-stringent suitability commonplace, which does not require placing the shopper's pursuits forward of their very own.

Board MembeShareholder

An identical fiduciary obligation may be held by company administrators, as they are often thought-about trustees for stockholders if on the board of a company, or trustees of depositors if service as director of a financial institution. Particular duties embrace:

The Obligation of Care

This is applicable to the best way the board makes choices that have an effect on the way forward for the enterprise. The board has the obligation to completely examine all potential choices and the way they could impression the enterprise; If the board is voting to elect a brand new CEO, for instance, the choice shouldn't be made primarily based solely on the board's data or opinion of 1 potential candidate; it's the board's accountability to analyze all viable candidates to make sure the perfect individual for the job is chosen.

The Obligation to Act in Good Religion

Even after it moderately investigates all of the choices earlier than it, the board has the accountability to decide on the choice it believes greatest serves the pursuits of the enterprise and its shareholders.

The Obligation of Loyalty

This implies the board is required to place no different causes, pursuits or affiliations above its allegiance to the corporate and the corporate's buyers. Board members should chorus from private or skilled dealings which may put their very own self-interest or that of one other individual or enterprise above the curiosity of the corporate.
If a member of a board of administrators is discovered to be in breach of their fiduciary obligation, they are often held liable in a courtroom of regulation by the corporate itself or its shareholders.

Fiduciary as ExecutoLegatee

Fiduciary actions may apply to particular or one-time transactions. For instance, a fiduciary deed is used to switch property rights in a sale when a fiduciary should act as an executor of the sale on behalf of the property proprietor. A fiduciary deed is helpful when a property proprietor needs to promote however is unable to deal with their affairs as a consequence of sickness, incompetence, or different circumstances, and wishes somebody to behave of their stead.
A fiduciary is required by regulation to confide in the potential purchaser the true situation of the property being offered, they usually can not obtain any monetary advantages from the sale. A fiduciary deed can be helpful when the property proprietor is deceased and their property is a part of a property that wants oversight or administration.

Guardian/Ward Fiduciary

Below a guardian/ward relationship, authorized guardianship of a minor is transferred to an appointed grownup. Because the fiduciary, the guardian is tasked with making certain the minor youngster or ward has acceptable care, which may embrace deciding the place the minor attends faculty, that the minor has appropriate medical care, that they're disciplined in an inexpensive method, and that their everyday welfare stays intact.
A guardian is appointed by the state courtroom when the pure guardian of a minor youngster just isn't capable of taking care of the kid any longer. In most states, a guardian/ward relationship stays intact until the minor youngster reaches the age of majority.

Legal professional/Consumer Fiduciary

The legal professional/shopper fiduciary relationship is arguably one of the stringent. The U.S. Supreme Court docket states that the best degree of belief and confidence should exist between a legal professional and shopper—and that a legal professional, as fiduciary, should act in full equity, loyalty, and constancy in every illustration of, and coping with, shoppers.
Attorneys are held accountable for breaches of their fiduciary duties by the shopper and are accountable to the courtroom through which that shopper is represented when a breach happens.

Fiduciary Principal/Agent

An extra generic instance of fiduciary obligation lies within the principal/agent relationship. Any particular person individual, company, partnership, or authorities company can act as a principal or agent so long as the individual or enterprise has the authorized capability to take action. Below a principal/agent obligation, an agent is legally appointed to behave on behalf of the principal without the battle of curiosity.
A standard instance of a principal/agent relationship that means fiduciary obligation is a bunch of shareholders as principals electing administration or C-suite people to behave as brokers. Equally, buyers act as principals when choosing funding fund managers as brokers to handle the property.

Funding Fiduciary

Whereas it might appear as if a funding fiduciary could be a monetary skilled (cash supervisor, banker, and so forth), a funding fiduciary is anyone who has the obligation for managing any person else's cash. Which means should you volunteered to take a seat on the funding committee of the board of your native charity or different group, you could have fiduciary accountability. You will have been positioned able of belief, and there could also be penalties for the betrayal of that belief.
Additionally, hiring a monetary or funding professional doesn't relieve the committee members of all of their duties. They nonetheless have an obligation to prudently choose and monitor the actions of the professional.

Suitability vs. Fiduciary Customary

In case your funding advisor is a Registered Investment Advisor, they share fiduciary accountability with the funding committee. Then again, a dealer, who works for a broker-dealer, could not. Some brokerage corporations don't need or permit their brokers to be fiduciaries.
Funding advisors, who're normally fee-based, are certain to a fiduciary commonplace that was established as a part of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. They are often regulated by the SEC or state securities regulators. The act is fairly particular in defining what a fiduciary means, and it stipulates an obligation of loyalty and care, which implies that the advisor should put their shopper's pursuits above their very own.
For instance, the advisor can not purchase securities for his or her account prior to purchasing them for a shopper and is prohibited from making trades that will end in greater commissions for the advisor or their funding agency.
It additionally implies that the advisor should do their greatest to ensure funding recommendation is made utilizing correct and full data—principally, that the evaluation is thorough and as correct as potential. Avoiding conflicts of curiosity are essential when appearing as a fiduciary, and it implies that an advisor should disclose any potential conflicts to put the shopper's pursuits forward of the advisor's.
Moreover, the advisor wants to put trades underneath a "greatest execution" commonplace, that means that they have to try to commerce securities with the perfect mixture of low price and environment-friendly execution.

The Suitability Rule

Dealer-dealers, who are sometimes compensated by a fee, usually solely have to satisfy a suitability obligation. That is outlined as making suggestions which might be in keeping with the wants and preferences of the underlying buyer. Dealer-dealers are regulated by the Monetary Trade Regulatory Authority (FINRA) underneath requirements that require them to make appropriate suggestions to their shoppers.
As an alternative of getting to put their pursuits under that of the shopper, the suitability commonplace solely particulars that the broker-dealer has to moderately consider that any suggestions made are appropriate for the shopper when it comes to the shopper's monetary wants, aims, and distinctive circumstances. A key distinction when it comes to loyalty can be essential: A dealer's major obligation is to their employer, the broker-dealer for whom they work, to not their shoppers.
Different descriptions of suitability embrace ensuring transaction prices aren't extreme and that their suggestions aren't unsuitable for the shopper. Examples that will violate suitability embrace extreme buying and selling, churning the account merely to generate extra commissions, and often switching account property to generate transaction revenue for the broker-dealer.
Additionally, the necessity to disclose potential conflicts of curiosity just isn't as strict a requirement for brokers; funding solely must be appropriate, it would not essentially be in keeping with the person investor's aims and profile.
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A broker-dealer follows the suitability commonplace: Funding selections have to be appropriate for the shopper, however, can nonetheless be extra helpful to the dealer than the easiest choice; the dealer's major accountability is to their agency, not their shopper.
The suitability commonplace can find yourself inflicting conflicts between a broker-dealer and shopper. The obvious battle has to do with compensation. Below a fiduciary commonplace, a funding advisor could be strictly prohibited from shopping for a mutual fund or different funding for a shopper as a result of it will garner the dealer the next charge or fee than a choice that will price the shopper much less—or yield extra for the shopper.
Below the suitability requirement, so long as the funding is appropriate for the shopper, it may be bought for the shopper. This could additionally incentivize brokers to promote their very own merchandise forward of competing for merchandise that will price much less.

The Brief-Lived Fiduciary Rule

Whereas the time period "suitability" was usual for transactional accounts or brokerage accounts, the Department of Labor Fiduciary Rule, proposed to toughen issues up for brokers. Anybody with retirement cash underneath administration, who made suggestions or solicitations for an IRA or different tax-advantaged retirement accounts, could be thought-about a fiduciary required to stick to that commonplace, slightly than to the suitability commonplace that was in any other case in impact.
The fiduciary rule had a protracted—and in the end unsuccessful—implementation. Initially proposed in 2010, it was scheduled to enter impact between April 10, 2017, and January 1, 2018. After President Trump took workplace it was postponed to June 9, 2017, together with a transition interval for sure exemptions extending via January 1, 2018.
Subsequently, implementation of all components of the rule was pushed again to July 1, 2019. Earlier than that would occur, the rule was vacated following a June 2018 decision by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court.