Bypassing IB minimum deposit by opening account in wife's name

Discussion in 'Interactive Brokers' started by Pizda, Jul 26, 2015.

  1. Pizda

    Pizda

    The $10,000 minimum deposit to open an account at IB is a bit of a stretch for me right now but they'll lower it to $3,000 if you're 25 or younger. My wife qualifies. I opened and make trades in her IRA account at Fidelity so I'm guessing it wouldn't be a big deal but just wanted to check here first. The only thing I'm nervous about is this being my first taxable account and somehow filing taxes wrong or something and getting audited by the government in some sort of worse case scenario.

    Am I fine?
     
  2. i960

    i960

    You may be fine from an opening an account aspect but you're not remotely fine from a capitalization standpoint. This is a bad idea IMO.
     
  3. loyek590

    loyek590

    no, you're cool, no problem...just be careful with less than 10k...or less than 100k for that matter...or any amount...you can blow through 10k really fast...you just file everything legally, it's her account, doesn't matter who is making the trading decisions, all perfectly legal
     
  4. d08

    d08

    From personal experience, if they find out someone else is trading the account and not the owner, they will close the account immediately - as in within hours.
    So in a scenario where you call customer service and have clearly a male voice while the account holder is female, that might result in account closure.

    I think you can open it in her name and add yourself as an account manager (it's worded differently on their website).
     
  5. xandman

    xandman

    The IBKR account management portal allows you to define Users and User Roles.
     
  6. newwurldmn

    newwurldmn

    She can sign power of attorney. It's just a form she and he have to fill out.
     
    MoreLeverage likes this.
  7. SteveH

    SteveH

    In the power of attorney document, there is this line in the Agent's Authority section:

    "Customer understands that a commission will be charged to the account each time a trade is effected"

    Does this just mean the normal transaction fees associated with a trade (duh) or is there an additional fee every time the one whose been given the power of attorney (e.g., husband) makes a trade on behalf of the customer (e.g., wife)?
     
  8. tiddlywinks

    tiddlywinks

    Stacy Keach
    Robin Leach
    Caitlyn Jenner
    Pitbull

    Many celebs and non-celebs are ineligible to be clients of IB.
     
  9. newwurldmn

    newwurldmn

    It's the "duh" meaning.
     
    SteveH likes this.

  10. I would go with TD Ameritrade. They have no minimum and have a good offer on a $3000 account.

    TD Ameritrade 60 days commission free
    Fine print: Contract, exercise, and assignment fees still apply.



    :)
     
    #10     Jul 26, 2015
    xandman likes this.