Do you invest in International funds?
Many people around me are saying US based index funds is enough coverage to FIRE but I want to know if it's worth diversifying even more, maybe 10-20%?
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Yes. I keep 25-30% in international stocks. FZILX in my IRA, I-fund in my old TSP, and whatever the institutional equivalent is in my employer plan.
Yes, I personally do 30%
There is a research paper by Vanguard titled "Global equity investing: The benefits of diversification and sizing your allocation"
On page 5, it shows that for a U.S. investor, the best amount of international exposure for ideal risk adjusted returns is around 25% of your portfolio. Based on their research, I think its wise to have at least a little outside of something like an SP500 fund.
My target allocation has about 25% international stocks. My opinion is that we live in a world economy and my portfolio needs to reflect that.
Yes, I do. There are a lot of massive companies that are not covered in the US based index funds (Samsung, Nestle, Toyota, Unilever, etc). Why would I want to leave them out of my portfolio over others? I personally target 25% of my portfolio for ex US.
Oh good point about those companies. Though I think those massive companies do have major branches in the US too, so the economies are interlinked anyway. US has been outperforming International for awhile which is why I'm a little hesitant about rebalancing my portfolio.
I am and have closer to 30-40% across accounts mostly in the form of FTIHX since thats available in my 401k.
Wow, that is quite a chunk. I'm guessing FTIHX is similar to FZILX? I have the latter available in my IRA brokerage that I'm considering getting.
I am not your financial advisor. Be wary of anyone who recommends against diversififying your portfolio, as they either have an agenda, or have gotten their advice from a chain that begins with someone who does. In general, emerging markets are going to be a lot more volitile, and sometimes can crash entirely (examples include Venezuela and Sri Lanka), but if you invest smartly you should see average performance that exceeds a mature market like the one in the US.
I would recommend checking out robotraders such as Wealthfront, Betterment, Fidelity, etc. These services have algorithms that are more effective than you or I, and they can establish a properly balanced portfolio.
TL;DR: Unless you are a professional (which you are not, since you are asking this question), use a roboadvisor and don’t worry
The issue is that the fees on these usually eat any advantage they provide. As they are marketed to a more uninformed crowd the emitters will not forward the advantages to the investors.
I personally have some out of the US because my job is US based. If the US economy crashes for whatever reason, I don't want all my eggs in one basket.
I do about 30% overseas