[New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

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Tylenol Jones
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[New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by Tylenol Jones »

[Thread updated, see below. --admin LadyGeek]

Can you please create section for non-resident issues and general international investing? There are quite a few threads, so it'd be nice to have a section to have them all together and in general to be a bit more inviting forum towards the international investor community.
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galeno
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Re: International investing and non-resident section

Post by galeno »

Bump.
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Re: International investing and non-resident section

Post by grabiner »

I don't think there is enough demand for a separate forum, given the low number of posts on the Personal Investments forum.

However, we do have a separate category on the wiki:
International Domiciles
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Re: International investing and non-resident section

Post by LadyGeek »

For a lot of reasons, like extra work for the moderators and decisions on how to categorize a post, we prefer to keep the number of forums as it currently stands.

I understand that this forum is US-focused. However, investing approaches can be applied world-wide. There are differences in a few areas, such as taxation, regulations, and market diversity.

Consider that those only reading an "international" forum would miss posts that may provide insight from a US thread (and vice versa). Also, where would you categorize a US ex-pat investor (or non-US citizen investing in the US)?

I thinking placing the home country in the thread title would be most helpful. In addition to drawing the attention of the expert members, it might be interesting for others to see how investing is done outside the US.

Use the search engine to find what you're looking for.
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Re: International investing and non-resident section

Post by galeno »

For us non-USA persons, investing like a USA person (citizen or resident) is more difficult and more expensive. I've been doing it for over 30 years now.
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Re: International investing and non-resident section

Post by clast »

I hope this isn't against the rules (I love this forum), but what about starting a separate "International bogleheads" forum? Actually I just checked, and "Bogleheads" is trademarked, so the forum name would probably have to be different, but same concept. This is becoming a bigger issue. There was an article in NYTimes about it just this past week.

With such a forum, I could learn a lot from folks like galeno.
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Re: International investing and non-resident section

Post by LadyGeek »

Sure, you can discuss it; but consider starting a new thread (maybe in the Consumer Issues forum).

You've got your work cut out for you. Take a look in the wiki: Category:International domiciles.

The right-side menu doesn't include a page under development: Investing in Germany - I got stuck and could use some help. Comments can be posted in the referenced thread (How to be a Boglehead in Germany).

Bogleheads is a registered service mark. The details are in the wiki here: Bogleheads®:General disclaimer (Discussion tab)
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EU investing

Post by wec »

[Thread merged into here, see below. --admin LadyGeek]

Wouldn't be better if the forum had a different separate section for "EU - help with personal investments" ?
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Re: EU investing

Post by cfs »

It is all about investing, then you can use the following forum:

-- Investing - Help with personal investments
-- Investing - Theory, News & General

Note that the "Local Chapters and Bogleheads Community" forum is use as a dumping ground for all kind of junk, so, please, post in those two listed above.

Good luck with your investments, and thanks for reading ~cfs~
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Re: EU investing

Post by Epsilon Delta »

No. As a practical matter there is no such thing as EU investing. There is Portuguese investing, French investing, German investing, Greek investing ... . Some of these have things in common. Some of them have as darn near as much in common with US investing as they do with each other.
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Re: EU investing

Post by alex_686 »

Epsilon Delta wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:44 pm No. As a practical matter there is no such thing as EU investing. There is Portuguese investing, French investing, German investing, Greek investing ... . Some of these have things in common. Some of them have as darn near as much in common with US investing as they do with each other.
OK - I kind of buy that. However, there is a common thread when I read most of the threads on non-US investing, specifically taxes and which ETFs/Mutual funds to use.
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Re: EU investing

Post by Epsilon Delta »

I've lived in several countries and some information of a couple more.

There is very little investment advice that applies to all of the non-US countries but not the US. Advice for non-US investors may serve a purpose in reminding people this is a US-centric forum and their mileage may vary, but it should not tell then how to act just because they are not in the US.

If there is anything more parochial than an American that thinks the whole world is like the US it is a [insert demonym] who thinks the entire world is like [insert place name].
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Re: EU investing

Post by Valuethinker »

Epsilon Delta wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 5:32 pm I've lived in several countries and some information of a couple more.


If there is anything more parochial than an American that thinks the whole world is like the US it is a [insert demonym] who thinks the entire world is like [insert place name].
I gather you've lived in England, then? ;-). (I know that you have - simply a rhetorical point). The devotion to the notion of Empire (and its benefits for the subject peoples) is quite striking.
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Re: EU investing

Post by LadyGeek »

wec wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:49 am Wouldn't be better if the forum had a different separate section for "EU - help with personal investments" ?
There won't be a separate forum for EU investing. The best approach is to put the name of your home country in the thread title - it will attract the attention of our EU experts.
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Re: EU investing

Post by hood »

My Spanish wife just found this. Who knows how many local language offshoots are out there already!

https://www.rankia.com/foro/boglehead
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Re: EU investing

Post by LadyGeek »

Gracias! I have added the link to the wiki: Investing from Spain (External links)

Rankia is already listed in the "External links" section; I added the Boglehead forum section.

If you (or your wife) have any suggestions regarding Spain, please them post in the discussion thread: Boglehead investing in Spain -- a forum thread

Other wiki suggestions can be posted in Suggestions for the Wiki
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Re: EU investing

Post by halfnine »

Personally, I think the forum would benefit with a section for those "Investing - Help with Personal Investments - living outside the US". This would cover expats and other nationalities combined. This would be beneficial for a couple of reasons. First those with the knowledge to respond to these types of posts would be able to find them quickly. I suspect many of these posts are just missed either due to infrequent logins or simply finding the relevant posts of interest. Secondly, this would greatly reduce the signal to noise ratio within these posts themselves as often responses to these posts have no awareness of reporting requirements, PFIC issues, estate taxation, etc.
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Re: EU investing

Post by TedSwippet »

halfnine wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2018 8:16 amPersonally, I think the forum would benefit with a section for those "Investing - Help with Personal Investments - living outside the US".
I'm inclined to agree.

One possible danger is a loss of cross-pollination of ideas, where US investors never visit the non-US section and perhaps vice-versa, but the benefit may outweigh this. I am sure that I have missed non-US posts I could have replied to because their non-US-ness was not clear from the subject line. And a sticky at the top pointing firmly to the wiki pages that outline the absurd US tax laws for NRAS would be a benefit. I have lost count of the number of times I have referred a new non-US poster to these.
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Re: EU investing

Post by wec »

LadyGeek wrote: Mon Jan 15, 2018 4:09 pm
wec wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:49 am Wouldn't be better if the forum had a different separate section for "EU - help with personal investments" ?
There won't be a separate forum for EU investing. The best approach is to put the name of your home country in the thread title - it will attract the attention of our EU experts.
Why though ? :(
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and non-resident section

Post by LadyGeek »

Sorry, I should have provided you a complete answer. You are not the first member to make this request. My comment was from an earlier discussion.

I have located an earlier discussion (from 2014) and merged your thread into here. I have also retitled the thread.
LadyGeek wrote: Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:09 pm For a lot of reasons, like extra work for the moderators and decisions on how to categorize a post, we prefer to keep the number of forums as it currently stands.

I understand that this forum is US-focused. However, investing approaches can be applied world-wide. There are differences in a few areas, such as taxation, regulations, and market diversity.

Consider that those only reading an "international" forum would miss posts that may provide insight from a US thread (and vice versa). Also, where would you categorize a US ex-pat investor (or non-US citizen investing in the US)?

I thinking placing the home country in the thread title would be most helpful. In addition to drawing the attention of the expert members, it might be interesting for others to see how investing is done outside the US.

Use the search engine to find what you're looking for.
Thinking harder, the arguments presented in this thread are persuasive.* The wiki's non-US content has increased and I do see an increase in the number of non-US posts.

I have requested the site owners (who make the final decision) to review this thread.

* persuasive - provide a clear, strong argument to drive a decision.
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by Tylenol Jones »

That'd be great!
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and non-resident section

Post by wec »

LadyGeek wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2018 6:41 pm Sorry, I should have provided you a complete answer. You are not the first member to make this request. My comment was from an earlier discussion.

I have located an earlier discussion (from 2014) and merged your thread into here. I have also retitled the thread.
LadyGeek wrote: Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:09 pm For a lot of reasons, like extra work for the moderators and decisions on how to categorize a post, we prefer to keep the number of forums as it currently stands.

I understand that this forum is US-focused. However, investing approaches can be applied world-wide. There are differences in a few areas, such as taxation, regulations, and market diversity.

Consider that those only reading an "international" forum would miss posts that may provide insight from a US thread (and vice versa). Also, where would you categorize a US ex-pat investor (or non-US citizen investing in the US)?

I thinking placing the home country in the thread title would be most helpful. In addition to drawing the attention of the expert members, it might be interesting for others to see how investing is done outside the US.

Use the search engine to find what you're looking for.
Thinking harder, the arguments presented in this thread are persuasive.* The wiki's non-US content has increased and I do see an increase in the number of non-US posts.

I have requested the site owners (who make the final decision) to review this thread.

* persuasive - provide a clear, strong argument to drive a decision.
Whatever the conclusion might be, I want to say, thank you so much for your work LadyGeek !! :sharebeer :sharebeer
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by lynneny »

I'm an American who will be retiring to either Mexico or Portugal in the next year. I love Bogleheads, and learn so much here. I can already tell that I'll have questions as I try to wrap my head around leading a very different financial life outside the U.S., and it would be wonderful to tap into the wisdom and expertise of international Bogleheads. Such questions don't seem to get a lot of responses, though, and I wonder if it's because they're easily missed among the mostly U.S. content (as others have suggested).

Great to hear that you're considering a possible international section. I wouldn't read it in place of the existing sections of the forum -- I agree that there is a lot of valuable information in the U.S. posts regardless of where you live -- but would be thrilled to have an international section as an additional resource.

And as more Americans contemplate living and/or retiring abroad, I think it would interest even people in the U.S. to know, for instance, how moving abroad affects your Vanguard account. I know there have been threads about that, but the whole area of Americans and investing/banking/financial services abroad has been changing a lot, and can be hard to figure out.

Thank you!
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by galeno »

I usually start the title to my posts with "USA-NRA w/o Treaty". That tells uninterested readers to stay away.

We USA-NRAs w/o Treaty have come a long way.

Buy switching brokers to IB and using 3 Ireland Vanguard ETFs (80% of port), and 1 Ireland I-share ETF (15% of port) we were able to construct an EXCELLENT Boglehead port that cut our portfolio costs (ER + taxes) in HALF.
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by siamond »

Tylenol Jones wrote: Wed Aug 13, 2014 4:00 amCan you please create section for non-resident issues and general international investing? There are quite a few threads, so it'd be nice to have a section to have them all together and in general to be a bit more inviting forum towards the international investor community.
This seems like a great idea to me. The last point (more inviting) is the real key imho. So far, the forum is just NOT terribly friendly to non-US-residents, not by design, just as a consequence of its roots. International investors being explicitly welcome would go a long way to solve that. And this in turn would go a long way in promoting the general Bogleheads message to a broader audience (hopefully bringing new moderators to the fold, new wiki editors, etc).

Furthermore, reading threads from international investors could help some US investors to broaden their perspectives a little bit. Just think to an SWR discussion between Spanish, Italian and Japanese investors being knowledgeable about the history of their respective countries, and providing their own perspective. That would put the 4% views in quite a new light for many, I suspect.

Come on, isn't promoting diversification a key tenet of Bogleheads philosophy? Well, let's apply it to the forum itself...
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Re: EU investing

Post by in_reality »

halfnine wrote: Tue Jan 16, 2018 8:16 am Personally, I think the forum would benefit with a section for those "Investing - Help with Personal Investments - living outside the US". This would cover expats and other nationalities combined. This would be beneficial for a couple of reasons. First those with the knowledge to respond to these types of posts would be able to find them quickly. I suspect many of these posts are just missed either due to infrequent logins or simply finding the relevant posts of interest. Secondly, this would greatly reduce the signal to noise ratio within these posts themselves as often responses to these posts have no awareness of reporting requirements, PFIC issues, estate taxation, etc.
I agree a separate forum might help interested people to find the less frequent posts related to non-US investors. That said, I don't think it's a complete cure and has drawbacks.

Also, "living outside the US" seems irrelevant as a criteria. So does nationality. The main issue is taxation which comes down to a combination of residency and nationality. So I think the section really be foreign taxation. (costs and fund choices are all secondary to availability which is determined by taxation -that is the first consideration all investors have when considering their portfolio. It's even comes before AA and I've seen cases where people's desired slice and dice just isn't feasible given the funds that are available and make sense for them tax wise)

And do understand even the most expert here, people who invested in tax sheltered in the US and moved back home, and have a high level of understanding from experience, research, and being involved still have challenges with the myriad tax treaties. I've seen correct information one place incorrect in another. Unless you are a native speaker and can wade through volumes of information quickly, it's hard to find.

So I support a separate forum for those reasons.

The downside of separation which makes finding information easier for people with different considerations, is that separation divides information that is common. For instance, in a recent post about AA for a non-US resident, there wasn't much reaction to the question about a considerable investment in real estate. I think US investors just ignored the [non-US investor] tag as they would probably ignore the separate section. There are people on this forum who have made a significant amount from managing real estate and are enthusiastic about it (if you are willing and able to do the work), but the non-US investor won't hear that. So it's a little disadvantageous for non-US investors to mark their discussions about AA which actually have common elements as being for a [non-US] investor.

So to me as a US expat and someone who often responds to non-US investor posts, the main issue is foreign taxation and think issue specifically related to that should go in one section (or be marked in the subject line). Asset allocation questions should go in the normal investing thread. It's not always possible to separate the two and non-US investors should be aware that questions marked as [non-US] or put in a separate section might not get full consideration, so common elements are better off in the normal investing thread.

In other words, I don't see a perfectly clean solution no matter what. Still, taxation is just math and so questions on something like real estate investing could just state foreign tax rates if it's relevant to the post and be placed in the normal investing forum (I'm mean we US investors do this will munis or bond placement already). If there is a question about the foreign tax rate or tax strategies, that would beg for being marked [non-US] or in a separate forum. Just an idea anyway for a way to approach it I guess.
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by halfnine »

I would agree that "living out of the US" isn't the best way to describe the section. But I don't believe "foreign taxation" would be the best way to separate it out as the issues go beyond taxation. Whatever the section is called, I think we would agree that the section would be of benefit to those:

- NRAs who invest entirely outside of the US
- NRAs who have assets domiciled within the US
- US expats with or without foreign domiciled assets
- US citizens or residents who have foreign domiciled assets

The section should be geared towards "help with personal investments" and not "theory, news and general". While not a perfect solution I think it would be better to redirect those with more asset allocation and theory questions to the relevant section then to have questions see limited responses because they were lost amongst all the other threads.
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Re: EU investing

Post by halfnine »

in_reality wrote: Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:51 pm In other words, I don't see a perfectly clean solution no matter what. Still, taxation is just math and so questions on something like real estate investing could just state foreign tax rates if it's relevant to the post and be placed in the normal investing forum (I'm mean we US investors do this will munis or bond placement already). If there is a question about the foreign tax rate or tax strategies, that would beg for being marked [non-US] or in a separate forum. Just an idea anyway for a way to approach it I guess.
I would concede that point if talking about equities, fixed income, even alternatives. However, I can only disagree about real estate. There are such significant differences in real estate investment/ownership across different countries the signal to noise ratio would be disastrous.
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by in_reality »

halfnine wrote: Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:03 am I would agree that "living out of the US" isn't the best way to describe the section. But I don't believe "foreign taxation" would be the best way to separate it out as the issues go beyond taxation. Whatever the section is called, I think we would agree that the section would be of benefit to those:

- NRAs who invest entirely outside of the US
- NRAs who have assets domiciled within the US
- US expats with or without foreign domiciled assets
- US citizens or residents who have foreign domiciled assets
Well I'm not sure it'd be that advantageous for US expats to post in a forum mostly read by non-US investors. Sure there are aspects of taxation that are important (using US domiciled funds, FEIE, tax sheltered eligibility etc), but many aspects such as what is a good duration for fixed income, rebalancing, stock vs bond allocations, tilting, saving for college, inflation protected bonds, withdrawal strategies, etc. etc. would probably be best addressed in the general forum where more people, including those most expert, will see it.

And in any post, it's likely those things are mixed.

So I don't see a new section as a clean and easy solution. I clear guide for what goes where could help but drawing one up and enforcing it's use doesn't seem particularly simple.
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by siamond »

Bump. Would be good to see a decision on it. Personally, I continue to view the idea expressed in the OP as excellent. This would benefit US investors as well as non-US investors.
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Re: EU investing

Post by Valuethinker »

alex_686 wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 2:02 pm
Epsilon Delta wrote: Thu Jan 11, 2018 1:44 pm No. As a practical matter there is no such thing as EU investing. There is Portuguese investing, French investing, German investing, Greek investing ... . Some of these have things in common. Some of them have as darn near as much in common with US investing as they do with each other.
OK - I kind of buy that. However, there is a common thread when I read most of the threads on non-US investing, specifically taxes and which ETFs/Mutual funds to use.
1. tax has 2 issues:

- the country you are in

- whether you are of US (or Eritrean) citizenship - US citizens living outside the USA still have to pay attention to US tax, particularly PFIC rules. That's generally (but not specifically) true of residents of other countries. A US citizen in Switzerland has a very different set of investing issues to what I would living in Switzerland

2. ETFs & Mutual Funds is totally dependent upon 1. For example, an Irish resident should not, I understand, make use of Irish domiciled ETFs, generally. UK residents can do so quite freely.
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by Valuethinker »

siamond wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:27 pm Bump. Would be good to see a decision on it. Personally, I continue to view the idea expressed in the OP as excellent. This would benefit US investors as well as non-US investors.
You are asking the Moderators to do more work, for nothing in return.

So if you agree to do the Moderating, that might sway the case. Otherwise moderating these Forums is a volunteer job, and a frequently unrewarding one.

Picture the rows we'd get into over Brexit ;-).
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by TedSwippet »

Valuethinker wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:51 amYou are asking the Moderators to do more work, for nothing in return...
Presumably, by "more work" here you mean policing one extra forum? If that's the case, I'm not sure it is necessarily more work. It is easy to imagine that the site would get the same number of posts, just now spread across four investing forums rather than three.

And my sense is that mods (LadyGeek?) currently end up adding quite a few or the [UK], [Singapore], [Europe] and so on tags that appear on subject lines. In which case, allowing posters to conveniently sort themselves into US and non-US by picking the appropriate forum might actually mean a bit less mod work. It also allows for a country-agnostic 'posting questions' template or set of instructions -- the current ones are very US-specific, making them hard-to-impossible for non-US persons to use.

As for any new forum name, if we are to have one... the wiki uses 'International Domiciles' to cover all things non-US. While imperfect for a number of reasons, it seems that 'Investing - International Domiciles' might be enough to attract both US and non-US investors with cross-border investment issues.
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by siamond »

Valuethinker wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:51 am
siamond wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:27 pm Bump. Would be good to see a decision on it. Personally, I continue to view the idea expressed in the OP as excellent. This would benefit US investors as well as non-US investors.
You are asking the Moderators to do more work, for nothing in return.

So if you agree to do the Moderating, that might sway the case. Otherwise moderating these Forums is a volunteer job, and a frequently unrewarding one.

Picture the rows we'd get into over Brexit ;-).
I am keenly aware of the burden of moderating. Been one myself for years on a much more rowdy forum, and I had enough of it. As I indicated in this post, it seems likely that being more welcoming to the International community would bring additional moderators though, with the proper sensibility to be effective. In other words, when you do the right thing, things tend to self-adjust. Admittedly, this is only an educated guess.

As to Brexit, I don't mind excluding the redcoats from this forum. :wink: (nah, this is just a bad joke)
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by LadyGeek »

TedSwippet wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2018 7:56 am
Valuethinker wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2018 5:51 amYou are asking the Moderators to do more work, for nothing in return...
Presumably, by "more work" here you mean policing one extra forum? If that's the case, I'm not sure it is necessarily more work. It is easy to imagine that the site would get the same number of posts, just now spread across four investing forums rather than three.

And my sense is that mods (LadyGeek?) currently end up adding quite a few or the [UK], [Singapore], [Europe] and so on tags that appear on subject lines. In which case, allowing posters to conveniently sort themselves into US and non-US by picking the appropriate forum might actually mean a bit less mod work. It also allows for a country-agnostic 'posting questions' template or set of instructions -- the current ones are very US-specific, making them hard-to-impossible for non-US persons to use.

As for any new forum name, if we are to have one... the wiki uses 'International Domiciles' to cover all things non-US. While imperfect for a number of reasons, it seems that 'Investing - International Domiciles' might be enough to attract both US and non-US investors with cross-border investment issues.
Yes, moderators frequently edit post titles. If I can't understand the underlying purpose, e.g. "I need help", I'll reword the thread title, e.g. "I need help [with Portfolio]". Having a clear title helps everyone.

Moderator are permitted to edit posts for this reason. See: General Etiquette
We also require that you be considerate of our readers and:

* use meaningful titles on new topics

... Moderators may edit, reformat or even delete titles and posts that do not follow these guidelines.
Since this is a US-focused forum, adding the country name to the thread title will (1) show up in a forum search and (2) attract the attention of our experienced readers who can help.
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by bpp »

TedSwippet wrote: Sat Jan 27, 2018 7:56 am As for any new forum name, if we are to have one... the wiki uses 'International Domiciles' to cover all things non-US. While imperfect for a number of reasons, it seems that 'Investing - International Domiciles' might be enough to attract both US and non-US investors with cross-border investment issues.
While I don't have an opinion on whether a new forum is needed, if one is created I think it would be less confusing if it were titled "Investing - Non-US Domiciles," rather than "Investing - International Domiciles."

The long-standing conflation of "international" with "non-US" is already confusing enough, no need to perpetuate this intentionally.
Rom1b
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Re: [New forum request] International investing and US non-resident section

Post by Rom1b »

Hi,

I'm quite new here but if I could vote I'ld vote for a Non-US Investment section.

It is clear that it is extra work, but we'd be very thankful for it;

And I believe it was one of Jack Bogle's life missions to help small investors all over the world ? as a non-US I did contribute in my own microscopic way (donate), and wish I could contribute more.
Dr Bernstein - If You Can / free PDF, google it | 3Fund Portfolio www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=88005 | CollectiveThought www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=7353
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