There are no secrets to smart investing. 

Best practices are simple.  Diversify your assets and keep costs low.  Low cost funds, over time, beat high cost funds. Don’t look to yesterday’s winners when trying to pick funds. Morningstar, the largest fund rating company in the world, says that a fund’s expense ratio is the best predictor of future performance.

 The lower the expense ratio, the better.

TD Direct International is a brokerage based in Luxembourg.  It’s growing more popular with non-American expats (Americans cannot open accounts with them). Investors can purchase ETFs (exchange traded index funds) at minimal cost. I explained which ETFs investors of different nationalities could buy in my book, The Global Expatriates Guide To Investing.

For investors who don’t want the hassle of ETFs (they charge commissions to buy and sell and the dividends can’t be automatically reinvested) there’s the option of index mutual funds. TD Direct International has a good selection of stock market index funds. 

But they don’t offer any bond market indexes.  That’s a shame.  One day, let’s hope that they do.Those wanting to build a low cost portfolio could opt for an actively managed bond fund, until TD Direct International offers bond index funds.

There are no commissions to buy any of TD Direct International’s funds.  There are no commissions to sell them after a 6-month period. There’s an early redemption fee of 50 euros to sell before six months are up.

Below, I’ve listed two hypothetical investment portfolios that people could build using TD Direct International. Each portfolio assumes a moderate risk profile.

The first is for European investors who may one day repatriate to Europe (if they live abroad).

The second is for investors who don’t know where they’ll eventually retire. 

Portfolio for Europeans

Portfolio for Global Citizens