I’m Officially a Millionaire After Trump’s Win

S&P 500 vs DOW
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I finally reached the millionth milestone after Republican Donald Trump’s win. This is unexpected because I was expecting a market crash. It’s a testament that one should never time the market.

Just a week ago, I jokingly suggested to my coworkers to move all their investments to cash, wait for the market to plummet when Trump wins, and then buy everything back. Fortunately, none of them took my “advice” seriously, or I would have been chased down the hallway at work with an ax.

I’m sure, a million dollars is just a chump change for these two people (especially the one sipping my iced coffee). But I’m still proud of this accomplishment considering that I never started investing until I turned 30. Besides, how many people can boast about coming to America to become a millionaire in his forties?

Of course, I couldn’t have reached this milestone without my wife. Follow this blog post if you want to read more about how we did it.

Related: What 20 Years In America Has Taught Me About Money

Wow! Grats on the mill! I'm a Filipino about to migrate to Australia and hoping to do lots of saving and stock investing. I was wondering about investing in US stocks as well but worry about not knowing enough. Do I need to declare taxes in the US? Do I need to have a US bank account? Hope you can shed some light on this matter.

Hi Joseph,

I'm sure that there are many online brokerages in Australia that will let you buy mutual funds or ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds)
that are U.S. based, among the popular ones:

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares (VTI)
Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF Class (VOO)
PowerShares QQQ

I don't recommend that you buy individual stocks until you've accumulated enough assets to be able to diversify your holding.
No, you don't need a US bank account. But you'll have to pay a premium for investing internationally in the form of higher
expense ratios. I suggest that you don't limit your investing to just US-based stocks. US market performance may be leading,
but may not be true in the future. The Australian market is just as healthy.

As far as taxes is concerned, please refer to the following link:

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/International-tax-for-individuals/Investing-in-Australia/

As with most developed countries, you will have to pay capital gains tax when you sell the stock with a profit and income tax
from dividends that you receive on a periodic basis.

Good luck. I hope you achieve your goal!

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