You must pay for any purchase of NYSE stocks in US dollars (there may be exceptions - ignore).
If you make the purchase from within your Cdn$ account, the brokerage will take out the equivalent Loonies PLUS charge you their fee for doing the conversion to US$ (expect 1.5% ot 2%). You will not see the charge. They bury it in the exchange rate they quote. When you sell the stock the reverse happens and you are charged that 1.5% again. So this is a VERY BAD IDEA.
When you open a US$ account you move Loonies into it in one big FX transaction. They charge a lower % for big transactions. The $$ to pay for the stock comes from the already existing US$$. And then when you sell the stock, the proceeds (in US$$) will simply stay sitting in that US$ account. So there are no more FX transactions until late in your life when you start repatriating value.
RRSP accounts cannot hold US dollars (with only one brokerage being the exception). So they work like the the first example. See this discussion.
Your exposure to currency effects is a different issue. Read details.
If you make the purchase from within your Cdn$ account, the brokerage will take out the equivalent Loonies PLUS charge you their fee for doing the conversion to US$ (expect 1.5% ot 2%). You will not see the charge. They bury it in the exchange rate they quote. When you sell the stock the reverse happens and you are charged that 1.5% again. So this is a VERY BAD IDEA.
When you open a US$ account you move Loonies into it in one big FX transaction. They charge a lower % for big transactions. The $$ to pay for the stock comes from the already existing US$$. And then when you sell the stock, the proceeds (in US$$) will simply stay sitting in that US$ account. So there are no more FX transactions until late in your life when you start repatriating value.
RRSP accounts cannot hold US dollars (with only one brokerage being the exception). So they work like the the first example. See this discussion.
Your exposure to currency effects is a different issue. Read details.
