Hi folks, This is my first posting here on ET so I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rudolf, I am German and managed to get 43 without any serious damage. (Think that will put me in the Grandfather´s league here on ET) Got a charming wife (Thank God she isn't German ) and two wonderful kids. I will be moving to Naples, FL as soon as I will receive my B1/B2-Visa. Does anyone know of any smart solution that will make it easy to get the E- or L-Visa? I can take care of myself but dislike to be forced to employ people. I will have 200k to invest. Must be trading related. Any ideas? Any input welcome! Have a great Memorial Day.
Rudolph: In order to make a thoughtful suggestion, I would like to know what type of skills you have. For instance, do you have a track record of successful trading? If you can trade your own account successfully, you can simply start a brokerage account. If not, then you may need to look for a money manager or someone to trade an account for you. With only 200K you may need to find additional ways to generate income outside trading. Tell us more about yourself and your background. steve46
@Steve I set up a futures trading account (100k) 5 months ago which systematically trades 5 different carefully selected systems over several markets and several time frames. I am monitoring the trades on a daily basis and I am satisfied with the results. I will double the money and the contracts as soon as I am twice the historical drawdown in the black. In three years I will (or won't ) have a track record to show. This mechanical trading is a very conservative drawdown-optimized approach and might be the right vehicle to trade OPM in the future. But I am not interested so much in OPM. I am fine with what I've got so far. Besides this systematic trading, I trade my second account on a semi-systematic Basis (special patterns on three-line-break charts, three corresponding time frames). I have a third source of steady income. This all will keep me and my family pretty above the water. This B1/B2-Visa only allows me to stay for a continuos period of 6 months in the US. That´s fine with me and my wife, but with two kids going to school it can't be done this way. It is not so difficult to get an E2-Visa with 200k Investment, but I don´t want to run any boring mom-and-pop small business operation just to maintain a Visa. Any trading related investment area would be fine. Could be more than 200k, but would want to start with this amount. Hope that helps. Regards Rudolf
@vhehn generalization is fantastic isn't it? Don't all americans hate germans now as we didn't support them .. bullshit ;( @Rudolf I'm in a similar situation as you are. Living in Germany now and plan to move to San Francisco soon ... however the visa is still making me headache
As a German, a brave Citizen and reliable tax payer I have all rights to say the following: Two thirds of the Germans are damned Idiots. They are the first who will light candles in churches and hold hands together singing, dancing and praying with tears on their faces. But they will be the last ones who will take action. It's the "German Angst". If a child is found death in annother German city far away everyone will be touched. But if a child is crying for help behind the next closed door, don´t expect anything to happen. I once experienced an old man falling on his head right before my feeds bleeding all over his face. I ran to the next house to phone for an ambulance. Guess what the first reaction of the woman opening the door was? "Will this cause me any inconvinience, do I have to pay anything for this ambulance call?" And this woman had experienced World War II. I am very sad of it, but I won't bet any single cent that this mentality will change in the future. That´s why my kids are joining a british school here in Germany and that´s why we all would like to move and contribute to annother society.
Rudolf, Good to have you on this side of the Atlantic! As you probably know, there are many European traders on this board, and also many (like myself) who came from overseas (I was born in Greece and have lived most of my life in ths great country.) I can't help you with specifics on visas - having been an American citizen for a long time - but I know there are many good lawyers who specialize in this sort of need, and Florida has lots of them. Imo, it is worth investing a few $$ to get it right. I also resonnate with your comments about your compatriots. I don't really think there's anything wrong with the Germans or the Greeks etc. The phenomenon can best be understood backwards: many the open-minded/active/confident citizens of other countries gravitate here because of the fundamental opennness, admiration for risk taking and willingness to foster diversity that this country is based on. At any rate, have a great time becoming an American and best of luck with your trading.
The way the new european constitution is shaping up, you will be able to turn up in the usa and claim politial asylum as it is not democratic and just recreates the soviet union without the gulag.