We watch American TV shows, we make use of their products and services daily, and we laugh at their politics.

Hey, sometimes it’s just a little relief from what’s going on here at home.

Another welcome distraction, and one that has no doubt seen your workplace productivity crash, is Facebook. If you had your wits about you back in 2012, and you got in Facebook’s IPO when shares publicly listed at $38, you’ll be pretty stoked with your foresight.

The shares are trading at well over $200, and you’re stalking exes and laughing all the way to the bank.

No need to feel like you missed the boat, though – the tech boom is still going, and it’s not too late to get involved.

If you’re looking at tech stocks to invest in, there are a couple of SA companies on the JSE, like Naspers, in which you might dabble. But the real tech giants like Tesla, Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet (Google) are based in America, and listed on the US exchanges.

Here’s the thing – once you convert the cost of investing offshore in a company like Facebook into Rand terms, it starts looking pretty expensive.

Buying one share for $200 converts to around R2 600, and now you’re hedging your bets on just one company for your portfolio. Nah, diversity is king, so here’s a little word of advice.

It’s worth reading all this, too, because we’ll reward those who hang around with a freebie at the end.

You can now invest in a smaller piece of a US stock, and spread your investment amount across a number of different companies. Take that $200 and diversify with some Facebook, McDonald’s, and even Manchester United shares.

Yes, you can own a piece of Manchester United, and remind everyone of that when you’re screaming about Paul Pogba not reproducing his World Cup form during the upcoming Premier League season.

All of those brands are listed and available to invest in, as whole shares or as a fraction of a share, on EasyEquities.

Here’s how fractional shares work:

To invest offshore, you would typically need to set up an offshore bank account or convert Rands into foreign currency via a SWIFT payment through your bank.

But these mechanisms mean extra bank fees and, to be honest, are a bit of a hack. Using EasyFX, however, means you can transfer your Rands to Dollars, within the EasyEquities platform, with just a few clicks.

With special permission to facilitate individual transfers together, EasyEquities converts funds at three separate times each week, and then releases those funds into your EasyEquities USD account.

There is also an opportunity to cancel your transfer at any point within the two-day window period, should you not be happy with the initial exchange rate you received at the time you initiated the transfer.

Here’s a demo of how that works.

Why show international shares some love?

• Diversification on another level
  Investing in different markets, with different commercial variables, makes for a great risk reduction practice, and opens up the profit potential of your portfolio to bigger and/or emerging wealth avenues.
• Own a recognisable brand
  You can take ownership in a brand that you use regularly and love. In doing so, your consumption habits become dividend expectations, and profits in your pockets in just a matter of seconds.
• Backing the big guys
  Your wealth will be on the backs of some of the biggest organisations that have ever existed.

Sorted. So about that freebie we promised you, hey…

Start with a little boost to your investing balance – register an EasyEquities account HERE, select ‘2OceansVibe’ under the ‘How did you hear about us’ drop-down menu on sign-up, and you’ll score a sweet $5 on the house to fast track your journey to Warren Buffet status.

That’s signing up, selecting us as the option in the drop-down menu, and scoring $5 in your account.

Basically, it’s money for jam.

Feel free to do with that money as you please, and be sure to remind everyone that you’re an #investor now in your social media bios.

#investor #iownapple #nextjeffbezos #mourinhoworksforme #tech #imdonehere