New Israeli Local Chapter Established

[Hashkaah]

I am an American who moved to Israel a couple of years ago. If you are a fellow Boglehead living in the Holy Land, please contact me. I would love to setup a group that could meet periodically in real life and more regularly via an e-mail group for discussing our mutual interest in investing.

Look forward to your PMs!

~Yehoshua

[shmadas]

Hi Yehoshua-

This is a shot into the dark of history, but yes, I'm an aspiring Israeli boglehead.

I don't think I can sent PMs for some reason (joined only recently), so can you PM me or somehow send me your contact info?

Thanks,
Shmadas

[Cintrapark]

I too am in Israeli investor. Not sure if this post is still relevant....

[katon]

HI,
also from Israel

[Mel Lindauer]

If you get one more Israeli Boglehead who's interested, we can establish a Boglehead Local Chapter in Israel. Let me know either here or via PM if one of you is interested in being the Local Chapter Coordinator and we'll get your group established.

[katon]

If you get one more Israeli Boglehead who's interested, we can establish a Boglehead Local Chapter in Israel. Let me know either here or via PM if one of you is interested in being the Local Chapter Coordinator and we'll get your group established.

Okey, sounds interesting.
I think lot of people are surfing this forum from Israel.
I can't be the coordinator because i am not specifically using ETF based investing strategy but dividend specific stocks. Anyway, I would be glad to be part of the group.

[Hashkaah]

If you get one more Israeli Boglehead who's interested, we can establish a Boglehead Local Chapter in Israel. Let me know either here or via PM if one of you is interested in being the Local Chapter Coordinator and we'll get your group established.

Happy to learn about what we can do together.

[Mel Lindauer]

You're almost there!

[ivk5]

There was a post in the last month or two by an Israeli investor with some questions about hedging shekel/NIS exposure vs USD. Might want to search, he/she might not be a regular reader but might respond to a PM

[avuri]

I'm from Israel too.
Would be glad to join the chapter once established.

[ivk5]

There was a post in the last month or two by an Israeli investor with some questions about hedging shekel/NIS exposure vs USD. Might want to search, he/she might not be a regular reader but might respond to a PM

Here's the thread I had in mind: Portfolio rebalancing - different currencies

I have a portfolio divided into two currencies - ILS and USD, 30 and 70 per cent, respectively.
My local currency is ILS, so that is how I view my portfolio.
...

[Mel Lindauer]

OK, there's definitely enough interest in getting an Israeli Local Chapter going. All we need now is for one of you to step up and agree to be the Local Chapter Coordinator. You can use this thread to communicate with other members regarding meeting dates, locations, times, agendas, etc.

Drop me a PM if you're willing and let's get your group up and running.

[Mel Lindauer]

OK, it's official. We now have a Bogleheads Local Chapter in Israel.

Hashkaah (Yehoshua) has stepped up and agreed to the the Coordinator for our newest Local Chapter, located in Israel.

Here's the contact info: israeli-bogleheads@googlegroups.com
and https://groups.google.com/d/forum/israeli-bogleheads

I'll be adding your group to the Local Chapters Map so others can find and contact you.

You can continue communicating with each other right here on this thread.

Best of luck to our newest Local Chapter.

[Hashkaah]

Thanks, Mel!

I encourage everyone who posted here and any other Bogleheads in Israel to join the e-mail forum at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/israeli-bogleheads. We can set a date and time for the first meeting of Bogleheads in the Holy Land, and see what we can do together.

Looking forward.

[Mel Lindauer]

Thanks, Mel!

I encourage everyone who posted here and any other Bogleheads in Israel to join the e-mail forum at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/israeli-bogleheads. We can set a date and time for the first meeting of Bogleheads in the Holy Land, and see what we can do together.

Looking forward.

There have been a number of posts from Israeli Bogleheads. You might want to contact some of these folks and let them know about the new Local Chapter.

https://www.google.com/search?sitesearc ... bogleheads

[automatic]

I have an Israeli friend living in the US currently and he has expressed interest in learning about personal finance and investing. The fundamentals cross borders very easily, but I have no idea what are good brokerage recommendations to implement the plan (mutual funds, ETFs, etc). Does anyone have recommendations or good resources to help in my research?

[Valuethinker]

I have an Israeli friend living in the US currently and he has expressed interest in learning about personal finance and investing. The fundamentals cross borders very easily, but I have no idea what are good brokerage recommendations to implement the plan (mutual funds, ETFs, etc). Does anyone have recommendations or good resources to help in my research?

Hello.

AFAIK Israel does not levy taxation on non-residents. Unless your friend has a firm intention to move back to Israel in the near future, his best strategy is to invest like an American Boglehead.

So the wikis here about getting started as a Boglehead. Also "The Bogleheads Guide to Investing".

There is a bit of thinking to do re returning to Israel. In the worst case, your friend may have to liquidate all their investments (to crystallise capital gains) and start again with Israel-appropriate investments. However I believe Israelis have no particular tax problems in holding US funds and ETFs?

That has to be thought about. I think there is a wiki here re Israeli investing?

Conversely due to a horrible piece of IRS rules called PFICs, an American resident or citizen is advised never to hold a fund which is not US-domiciled (basically: legally constructed under US securities law, will trade on a US exchange). So European-domiciled funds (almost always Ireland or Luxembourg) are a complete no-no.

The actual investment strategy is easy. Some combination of Total Stock Market & Total Bond Market (to use the Vanguard US fund names). One could add an International Fund. This will provoke huge arguments here - many American investors feel there is no need to hold the stocks of other developed countries. Depending on which start and end date you pick, you can prove that to be True or prove it to be False. We argue for threads with hundreds of posts, and neither side will budge.

I argue for holding an International Fund (remember, this is from an American perspective (I actually live in the UK)). The US stock market accounts for about 60% of world stock markets (developed countries). So something like a proportion of 60 US: 40 non-US but 70:30 would work as well.

The only really important question is how much bonds, how much stocks? We''ve been in an unusual period where they both go down together, so it's been painful. But broadly, bonds are for risk reduction, stocks are for long term gains.

So if I have $US 100 I might decide to be

$40 US stocks
$20 non-US stocks
$40 bonds

In other words, a 60:40 fund, or a Vanguard Target Date fund (targetted on intended retirement date).

It gets more fiddly if we are considering retirement accounts & I defer to my American colleagues. Your friend may well have a 401k (company sponsored Defined Contribution pension scheme) with a limited range of funds - so one has to make do with what one can find.