It's never been easier to invest across borders from the Caribbean. With platforms such as Interactive Brokers (IBKR) you can open an account, fund it from your local US bank account through wire transfer and start investing in the US market within days. We will share the steps to opening an account at the end of this article.

For this article, we will outline some of the benefits of including the US markets in your investment portfolio. To provide context, the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) gained 3% in 2024, while the S&P 500 was up 23% and the Nasdaq was up nearly 29%. This shows the potential of the US markets for investors. 

Firstly, with the exchange rate from Jamaican Dollars (JMD) to United States Dollars (USD) being $160.50 JMD to $1 USD at the point of writing this article, the most obvious benefit is protection from devaluation of the dollar in terms of your investments. Five years ago in July 2020, the USD exchange rate was $138.25, that's a 16% increase. That increase alone is better than the performance of some funds within that time period, certainly better than Savings interest rates. What this means for you is a hedge of your portfolio to gain international exposure, while also receiving the benefit of cash flows/dividends in USD. 

The second benefit is a wider range of investment options through Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, ETFs, Certificates of Deposit (CDs), Options, Derivatives, Commodities, and more. This wide range of options provides great opportunities to invest in diverse asset classes instead of simply only focusing on Stocks. Most of these options are available again through Interactive Brokers (IBKR) which is our recommended platform for investing in the US markets from the Caribbean. This benefit is especially important for those who would like to have investments across the globe instead of being concentrated in Jamaica. 

The third benefit is access to information on investments. There is an abundance of resources, tools, platforms, content creators, etc. that cover different asset classes on the US markets. In terms of recommendations of what resources you can use, here are a few:

• Yahoo Finance: provides Stock Market coverage, live quotes, along with business and finance news
• Corporate Finance Institute (CFI): CFI provides courses and content for finance professionals. In addition to their learning platform they provide articles and content via their YouTube channel.
• TIKR: TIKR is a stock market research tool that allows for analysis and research of companies. 
• Interactive Brokers (IBKR): IBKR allows for opening brokerage account for International investors, stock screening tool and a wide range of investment products and vehicles.
• Long Term Mindset: a YouTube channel by former guest and speaker at Grow Your Wealth 2022 Conference, Brian Feroldi has a YouTube channel which speaks on US companies, investment principles and more

The above are just some of the tools and resources you have access to for information and guidance on how to invest in the US markets. 

The three reasons stated (1) hedge against devaluation of the Jamaican Dollar (2) wide range of options for Investing and (3) the abundant resources and tools, makes it very compelling to invest in the US markets especially when the Jamaica Stock Exchange has not shown similar growth for investors. 

To address the obvious, we recommend having exposure to both markets as this allows you to build an overall strong portfolio. As to how much to allocate, what to invest in and how to get started, you can get support from us via our 1:1 Consultation 

To open an Interactive Brokers (IBKR) account, you can watch this video: https://youtube.com/live/jabfT3jGql0 or review the following article: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/general/what-you-need-inv.php

Of course, we also recommend speaking with your licensed financial advisor before making any investment decisions. After making that decision, if you need coaching or consultation support we are here to help.