Perpetual Traveler Style Investing...

[vagabundoman]

Hello everyone,

I've been working hard and saving money for many years,
and finally I'm ready to retire and take off as a PT from
next year! (PT = Perpetual traveler)

Currently all of my money is in savings account, just earning 2% interest,
so I need to invest this fund into no-load index fund or ETF in order to
start living off of interest.

I have few questions;

1: What is the difference between index fund and ETF?

And Which is better? and Why? I read that ETF has less cost, but
some people are saying index fund is still better... don't understand..


2: Which brokerage firm should I use?

I'm thinking "vanguard.com" or "internaxx.lu" in Luxembourg.

(Basically "American firm" or "European offshore firm")

I'm not an american citizen nor resident, so I don't need to pay tax in US.
I'll be traveling around the world like PT.
But if I use vanguard.com, do I need to pay tax on dividents? If so,
it might be a good idea to use internaxx in Luxembourg, but they charge
more for keeping the account (480Euro/year) also commision when I buy/sell the stock(0.1%).

I basically want to invest in:

ACWI (All country world index)
if I chose American firm.

or

IWRD (iShares MSCI World) and EEM (Emerging Markets Index)
if I chose European firm.

Not sure which one might be better, can you please tell me if you are
knowledgeable with choosing the right firm for someone with PT status.

3: Are there better brokerage firms in Offshore?

I found "internaxx" in Luxemboug but if you know better firm in offshore
like Luxembourg for someone like me (PT) please let me know the name of
the firm...

4: Is this the right time to invest now?

Is this the right moment to put all my money into stock, or should I wait until market comes back...?

It's my very first time to invest in stock, and I'm very nervous...
I just saved saved and saved so many years for this retirement, so
I don't want to ruin my fund and plan by making stupid mistake...

So if you know something.. please help me understand it little bit better.

Thank you very much for your kindness,

Regard

[dex]

Mutual Funds vs. Exchange Traded Fund | Fund Comparison


you want to put 100% of your money in ACWI (All country world index)?

[vagabundoman]

Yes... well... I thought that was a good idea, because no matter what happens to certain countries, world in over all always grow economically.

Please let me know if this is not a good idea.. because I really don't know!!!

Thank you very much!

[dex]

Do some reading on this site on investing and cash flow.

[Want2retire]

Here are some books on investing that have helped me a lot. These books can help with things like determining a good asset allocation and investment plan:

Investment Books

The first four have been especially helpful to me.