US Stocks: True Cost from PH

Three layers: (1) FX spread — your peso must become USD before you can buy, and brokers earn 20–150 bps on each peso-to-dollar conversion (and again coming back). (2) US dividend WHT — the US IRS withholds 30% on dividends paid to non-resident investors. (3) Custodian / nominee fees — many local brokers hold the shares in a nominee/omnibus account and pass through a $50–$60/year custodian fee. None of these exist for a US-resident investor on Robinhood.

For ₱500K+ amounts and 5+ year holds, Interactive Brokers (direct, not via local intermediary) usually wins: 20bps FX spread, $1/trade commission, no custodian fee. For smaller amounts, GoTrade is friction-light but bakes ~100bps into the FX spread. eToro is the most expensive on FX (~150bps). COL Halo and BPI Trade are convenient but stack flat commissions + higher FX. Run your numbers in the calculator — the 'right' broker depends on amount, hold period, and trade frequency.

Partially. The Philippines and US have a tax treaty that reduces WHT to 25% on most dividends — but you need to file a W-8BEN form with your broker before the dividend is paid. Brokers that don't process W-8BEN (or where you missed it) default to 30%. A better workaround: buy non-dividend-paying growth stocks (TSLA, GOOG, BRK.B) or accumulating UCITS ETFs domiciled in Ireland (which retain the dividend internally) instead of US ETFs.

Nothing — it's the long-run real-USD nominal return since 1928. But it's noisy. Over any 10-year window, real S&P 500 returns have ranged from -3%/yr (2000–2010) to +14%/yr (2010–2020). For a personal forecast, the calculator is most useful for comparing brokers and holding periods at a fixed assumed return, not for predicting your actual wealth. The cost drag % is robust; the ending peso value depends on assumption.

Maybe. FMETF (Philippine ETF tracking PSEi) has ~0.5% expense ratio, no WHT on Philippine dividends, no FX. Sun Life Equity feeder funds run 1.5–2.0% TER and 0.3% sales load but give US/global exposure without the FX/custodian overhead. The trade-off is currency exposure: holding US assets in USD gives you a peso hedge if the peso weakens. Run both scenarios in this calculator and the investment-vehicles tool to see the side-by-side.

Philippine residents owe Philippine income tax on capital gains from foreign stocks at regular graduated rates (up to 35%). This is not modeled — the calculator returns the PHP proceeds before PH income tax. In practice, many retail investors don't report (which is illegal but rarely audited at small scale). If you're at ₱2M+ annual realized gains, talk to a CPA — BIR has been more active on foreign-asset disclosure since 2020.

Because the cost layers compound against your return. If you input 8% expected return over 10 years on a ₱560K deposit, the no-cost ending value is ₱1.21M. After 20bps × 2 FX, $1 × 2 commissions, and 30% dividend WHT on 1.5% yield, you end up around ₱1.16M — an effective CAGR of ~7.5% instead of 8%. The 50–60 bps drag IS your true 'cost of access' to US stocks from PH.

No. Everything runs in your browser. Account values, broker choice, and assumptions never leave your device.