What is the best way for an SMSF to hold cash in US dollars, as Charlie Aitken suggested today?
A: Thanks for the question.
You can get exposure to the USD a number of ways – directly and indirectly.
- You can open a USD bank account and hold physical USD. All the major Australian banks offer these accounts – as do the international banks such as CitiBank and HSBC. Don’t expect any interest!
- You can get exposure to the USD by investing on the ASX in Betashares US Dollar Exchange Traded Fund – ASX Code USD;
- You could buy some US shares directly – for example, Apple, GE, Pfizer. You will need to open a foreign share trading account – CommSec and ETrade are brokers who offer these facilities;
- You could buy an ETF over the US stock market on the ASX – for example, iShares IVV (tracks the S&P 500); or
- Indirectly, you could invest in Australian listed companies that earn most of their revenues in the US and report in USD – companies such as CSL, Resmed, Computershare and Amcor.
