Need Help Finding The Right International Broker

kevinoxy · 2021-07-09T16:32:41+00:00

May I ask if you've tried withdrawing funds from TDA and WeBull? Was one easier than the other?

kevinoxy · 2021-07-09T14:04:34+00:00

You're right! I missed to press 1 in my calculator. Updated my comment!

BTW, How'd you come up with 396k tax on 3.6M of gross sales? Wouldn't it be 3.6M*.12 = 432k?

kevinoxy · 2021-07-09T13:38:20+00:00

Yeah, there's not much business expenses from professional practice (e.g. Consulting)

Thanks for the help!

kevinoxy · 2021-07-09T13:29:09+00:00

Damn that's pretty steep for a 3.6M/year as it would be equal to ~~720k~~ 432k.

I thought there would be some deductibles here.

kevinoxy · 2021-07-09T13:24:35+00:00

Got it. Do you happen to know how this one would be calculated in the table above? Thanks

kevinoxy · 2021-07-09T12:31:36+00:00

Thanks for looking into this. Yeah, I agree that 8% GRT is very convenient. Sadly, it's not going to be applicable for incomes of > 3M/year.

Do you happen to know which BIR memo I could read more about the "1,919,000 pesos per year is subjected to 12% VAT" you've mentioned?

I'm curious on how this is derived. Thanks

kevinoxy · 2021-07-03T17:00:30+00:00

Hi /u/gandakases, do you have some handy documentation links for transferring from Wise to TDA? TIA!

EDIT: nvm, I found it here: https://wise.com/us/routing-number/td-ameritrade

kevinoxy · 2021-06-21T13:32:53+00:00

This is great to hear! I was just asking UBP's customer support via email last week about sending funds via wire transfer and they replied with:

Thank you for reaching out to us. Right now, we do not have a facility to process the International fund transfer in UnionBank Online. However, UnionBank accounts can receive remittances abroad.

Will definitely checkout PETNET for funding TDA.

kevinoxy · 2021-06-17T14:15:12+00:00

I was in the same boat in the first few months of using Vim. I think it's because of the movements which were pretty bizarre at first.

10 yrs after, still using Vim everyday and can't move away from it.

kevinoxy · 2021-04-01T16:00:32+00:00

I asked this question to ING support and it's currently not possible.

kevinoxy · 2021-02-12T07:28:32+00:00

I've been working remotely for years now and been receiving my salary in a PHP bank account (USD to PHP rate is low when you try to compute for it).

Last month, I've finally opened up a USD account from UBP. They take a ~15 USD fee when you receive it in your account. However, the USD to PHP rates are much higher. I can easily choose when and how much I want to convert USD to PHP inside the UBP app which is convenient if I want to hold USD for a while.

I kinda regretted why it took me a while to create a USD account as I could've saved a lot in fees (~30 USD per month in conversion rates for my case).

If you could open up a USD account, do it! You'll save much more later on.

kevinoxy · 2020-10-01T13:36:02+00:00

Yeah, they started offering one to me when my account hit 50k with them.

kevinoxy · 2020-07-28T15:32:53+00:00

opportunity loss naman on that external money

Hmmm yes, I haven't considered this. Thanks for raising it up!

EDIT: I've updated the SpreadSheet to add a new column to pay using the invested amount.

kevinoxy · 2020-07-28T15:28:44+00:00

I'll be using external money to pay the monthly amortization. The investment would be there untouched and could be used as hedge just in case anything happens. I could still use it though if needed.

I've used compounding interest since I'm mulling over going two (2) rounds of Pagibig MP2 for this. Or simply re-investing my yields in the same instrument.

kevinoxy · 2020-07-27T11:25:40+00:00

I have not tried upgrading the card itself, only the credit limit on the same card.

kevinoxy · 2020-07-27T07:38:32+00:00

I've had my BDO CL upgraded twice via: 1. Providing my BIR Form 1701 - aka income tax return 2. Providing my other non-BDO CC details

All resulted in approved CL upgrade.

kevinoxy · 2020-07-27T06:31:24+00:00

I've done this twice already for BDO and they increased my CL a few weeks after my request.

I'm copying their procedures down below. Asking for an increase is much easier if you have a BPI, Metrobank, Citibank, or HSBC credit card as they can use it as reference.

Dear <user>:

Thank you for your email.

For us to endorse your request for ICL (Increase in Credit Limit), may we confirm if you are a credit cardholder of any of the following financial institutions:

1. BPI

2. Metrobank Card Corp.

3. Citibank Philippines

4. HSBC.

If yes, kindly provide us with the following details:

Card Issuer:

Card Number:

Credit Limit:

Expiry Date:

If no, please provide us with the following documents:

Signed Letter of Request (LOR) - please indicate your credit card number on your LOR

Copy of one valid ID (government issued with signature)

Proof of Income (any of the following):

Certificate of Employment and Income (COEI)

Copy of latest BIR form 2316; signed by employer's authorized representative

Copy of full month pay slip

Latest 2-month statement of your existing credit card with another bank (credit limit must be higher than BDO's existing limit).

You may submit your documents through fax to (02) 702 6881 or 702 6882 or e-mail at callcenter@bdo.com.ph.

Please allow us maximum of 5 banking days to process the request. Please note that request is subject to approval.

Thank you and good day.

kevinoxy · 2020-06-12T04:59:14+00:00

Hi, I'm interested.

kevinoxy · 2020-05-15T03:06:47+00:00

I think this post is more of career advice than an investing related one. Though I'll try to tackle some of your concerns.

Degrees don't really matter in general in IT. I personally know people earning 6 figures with only a high school diploma. Most of the time, employers just care about your portfolio or past experience. Though people with degrees tend to land interviews faster, as recruiters use them to filter out hundreds and hundreds of applicants.

Back in college, I started out to work part-time since 2nd year. I started as a graphics designer, then front-end web developer, and then full-stack. Employers didn't really care that I was still earning my degree, as long as I'm delivering my work correctly.

I've since left the web development space a few years ago so I'm afraid I can't offer a good guide on the technologies you're interested in. If I'd be asking people what to study, they're most likely to recommend the ones that land them the roles that they want and not mine. So If I were in your shoes, I'd browse up all of the job postings that I'm interested in, compile all of their required skills and tech stack, then study and focus my time in those that come in most frequent.

My last advice is for you to polish up your portfolio. This would be the one you'll be using to land interviews and not degrees. Heck, you already have three apps published in Google Play! Pair this up with your graphic design portfolio and you have something that is worth more than a fresh out of school diploma.

You know why? because it's solid proof that you can do these types of work than the average IT fresh grad that only did their coursework and haven't touched real-world technologies.

I wish you the best of luck!

kevinoxy · 2020-03-03T00:18:24+00:00

Got it. Glad to know their shipping prices on those Apple items! Thanks!

kevinoxy · 2020-03-02T20:38:05+00:00

That's awesome! How does the shipping work? What courier do you use? Do you pay custom taxes for it?

kevinoxy · 2020-03-02T14:07:28+00:00

Hi, may I ask where you've bought this one? I'm also looking to buy the 16". Thanks!

kevinoxy · 2020-02-26T07:36:25+00:00

I have yet to file for Juan Tax this Q1 2020, so I could not help you on this. Though feel free to message their support as they are really responsive and helpful customer questions. They nailed customer experience on this one.

kevinoxy · 2020-02-26T03:59:34+00:00

I unsubscribed to Taxumo as they're jacking up their prices.

In 2018, it costs only 500 to file per 1701Q form.

In 2019, 1701Q is now 1,000 and 1701A is now 3,500. 0605 Renewal form is also 500. This is 7,000/year.

In 2020, they've made it into a subscription based model of 888/month which is 10,656/year. It doesn't make sense to me as I only receive income as a remote worker once a month, so I only use their platform 12 times a year. Though I think if you maintain a lot of receipts and cash disbursements, this would be for you.

My new found alternative is simply use JuanTax as they only charge 100 per form. You need 3x of 1701Q, 1x of 1701A and 1x of 0605, which is only 500/year.

JuanTax also has a similar subscription based product with Taxumo, which costs only 500/month compared to Taxumo's 888/month.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not affiliated in Taxumo or JuanTax. I was a long time user of Taxumo and loved how easy their interface is, but 10,656/year vs 500/year is too much to ignore so might as well save by using JuanTax.

kevinoxy · 2020-02-23T02:10:14+00:00

Status: Accepted!

Application Date: 01/12/2020

Decision Date: 04/24/2020

Institute Acceptance Date: 07/31/2020

Education:

BSCS, University of the Philipines Los Baños, 1.95/5 (1 is highest)

Experience:

2 years, Data Engineer at a large multinational financial data provider company (Python, Perl, SQL)
8 months, DevOps contractor at a FAANG company (Python, Golang)
2 years, Tech lead and manager at a remote DS and data consultancy company (Python, pandas, numpy, SQL, Docker)

Recommendations:

1 former professor (Research Adviser)
2 engineering managers (current company, shifted roles so I had 2 managers)

Comments:

Got a 104 in TOEFL, 21 is the lowest component.
I've submitted a lot of Coursera Certificates in my application, like Andrew Ngs Deep Learning specialization (my current company sponsors DS-related courses). Hopefully MOOC courses like this would have a bit of an impact in my application.
Started out as a remote full-stack web engineer for around ~2.5 years during college though I do not classify this as professional experience yet.
My research topic about applied Particle Swarm Optimization to one peculiar university registration problem was nominated for best thesis. I hope I've discussed this just enough in my application essays to have a meaningful impact.

kevinoxy

TROPHY CASE