Investing in US markets

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5. Opening an account to deal in US securities

As a UK resident, if you want to deal in US shares, most brokers will require you to open a separate dollar dealing account with a US broker. Where the account is separate from your UK account, it has to be separately funded.

• The account has to be separately funded. You have to arrange for your bank in the UK to transfer a dollar amount to a bank account in the US to establish the funds with which to trade.
• You will probably want to place the stock you buy in your broker's nominee account to reduce settlement hassles.
• You will need to fill out and file a tax form, e.g. W8BEN, confirming to the US Internal Revenue Service that you are non-resident in the US for tax purposes. This is important, as capital gains are not taxed in the US in the hands of non-residents.

This may all sound complicated and tiresome, but in practice it's not. Other than the time difference and some differences in market practice and terminology, variations between the markets are not great. Anyone used to dealing online in shares in the UK should find it fairly easy to adapt to trading US securities.

1. Diversification 2. Opportunity 3. Special features of the US market 4. You are already investing abroad! 5. Opening an account to deal in US securities 6. Inputting orders 7. Cash management 8. Currency factors 9. Tax 10. Trading on margin 11. Short selling 12. Types of investment - introduction 13. Shares (common stocks) 14. Indices 15. Bonds 16. Offshore mutual funds 17. Exchange-traded funds 18. ADRs 19. Options 20. Researching US companies - the basics 21. National newspapers 22. Regional newspapers and specialist magazines 23. Business TV 24. Company annual reports 25. Corporate web sites 26. EDGAR 27. Financial portals 28. Broker research 29. Charts 30. Conclusion

• Investing in Latin America