Join Early Retirement Today
View Poll Results: What's thr %age of foreign equities in your portfolio
0-10% 12 11.01%
10-20% 31 28.44%
20-30% 32 29.36%
30-40% 18 16.51%
40-50% 12 11.01%
More than 50% 4 3.67%
Voters: 109. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
What %age of foreign equities do you own
Old 12-19-2007, 10:31 PM   #1
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
nun's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,872
What %age of foreign equities do you own

Globalization is all the rage and China and Singapore are buying up US financial firms as fast as they can. So given that the most dynamic economies are abroad what fraction of your portfolio is foreign equities?

I'm at 35%
nun is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 12-19-2007, 10:37 PM   #2
Full time employment: Posting here.
Darryl's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 577
Target is 25% and I'm just a little over that now.
__________________
I highjacked a rainbow and crashed into a pot of gold - Bon Jovi
Darryl is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 12:05 AM   #3
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 255
I'm at 35%. Some people advocate up to 50%, and others only 20%. The 35% level is where I'm comfortable. Given the declining dollar, it has helped my portfolio substantially this year (as have emerging markets). I rebalanced out of some emerging markets a couple of weeks ago, as that fund had exceeded my asset allocation targets by more than my cutoff tolerances.
Surfdaddy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 12:40 AM   #4
Dryer sheet wannabe
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 20
My foreign equities is as follows:

27% U.S. (from Canada)
28% International
2% Emerging Markets (BRIC)

I would like to bring up my U.S. to 30% and EM to 5%

Happy Holidays
spazz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 03:07 AM   #5
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Los Angeles area
Posts: 1,708
0%. Most countries do not have reporting standards or histories necessary for me to analyze the
companies. I also have a hard time getting a sense of the management quality. I rely on the
foreign components of the big US multinationals, which can be substantial.
__________________
learn, work, save, invest, fire
CyclingInvestor is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 06:27 AM   #6
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
nun's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,872
I'm surprised by the initial results of the poll; the %age of foreign equities is higher that I'd imagined. I own 35% foreigh equities as a hedge against the falling dollar as I plan to retire to Europe. Once I ER and emmigrate I plan to move to 40% foreign equity, 30% US equity and 30% bonds
nun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 06:34 AM   #7
Moderator Emeritus
Rich_by_the_Bay's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 8,827
It's not quite the uncorrelated asset class that I once thought it was, but I'm sticking to 25% of stocks, as Vgd Total Intnl fund.
__________________
Rich
San Francisco Area
ESR'd March 2010. FIRE'd January 2011.

As if you didn't know..If the above message contains medical content, it's NOT intended as advice, and may not be accurate, applicable or sufficient. Don't rely on it for any purpose. Consult your own doctor for all medical advice.
Rich_by_the_Bay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 07:31 AM   #8
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: North of Montana
Posts: 2,769
I voted 10 - 20. Since I'm in Canuckistan, that means about 95 to you guys since my US exposure is about 5%.
__________________
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who can extrapolate conclusions from insufficient data and ..
kumquat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 07:41 AM   #9
Full time employment: Posting here.
Retire Soon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 655
Currently 20% of my stock porfolio is in Vangard Total International.
Retire Soon is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 07:47 AM   #10
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 623
24%
__________________
"Making deliberate choices about how to spend your money and your time is the essence of making the most of your life energy." -Bill Perkins, Die With Zero

"I've traded love for pennies, sold my soul for less" -Jim Croce, Age
TickTock is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 08:06 AM   #11
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Dawg52's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Central MS/Orange Beach, AL
Posts: 9,067
Just ran an overall portfolio analysis with Fidelity and it shows 32% U.S. and 14% foreign. So 46% stocks, 54% bonds/cash. About where I want to be.
__________________
Retired 3/31/2007@52
Investing style: Full time wuss.
Dawg52 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 08:19 AM   #12
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
nun's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,872
I'd be interested to hear why some folks have greater than 50% of their portfolio in foreign equity.
nun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 08:59 AM   #13
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 623
nun,

I think you may be getting two different types of responses; % of total portfolio and % of equity portion of portfolio. My answer was % of total.

US equity is less than half of total world equity, and a world indexing strategy calls for >50% of equities to be ex-US. I'm guessing that's where you're getting the >50% from. Or, it may be from non-US investors.
__________________
"Making deliberate choices about how to spend your money and your time is the essence of making the most of your life energy." -Bill Perkins, Die With Zero

"I've traded love for pennies, sold my soul for less" -Jim Croce, Age
TickTock is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 09:10 AM   #14
Moderator Emeritus
Bestwifeever's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 17,773
We keep 10 percent in FDIVX. Which category do you want me to check ?
Bestwifeever is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 09:45 AM   #15
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
RunningBum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 13,202
Some of the respondees have already indicated they aren't from the US. If you're from a small enough country, it probably makes a lot of sense to be > 50% foreign, especially with foreign including the US. I don't really have a good idea how much a typical foreign investor is in US stocks.
RunningBum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 10:31 AM   #16
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 10,252
Quote:
Originally Posted by nun View Post
I'd be interested to hear why some folks have greater than 50% of their portfolio in foreign equity.
Because the US is going down the tubes? Well, not quite, but the leadership position enjoyed by many US companies is waning. If I look around my house, neighborhood, city and state, I see lots of evidence of foreign goods and services. With the world being flat nowadays, why shouldn't I invest in emerging markets, Japan, the UK and Europe?
LOL! is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 10:35 AM   #17
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
nun's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 4,872
Quote:
Originally Posted by LOL! View Post
Because the US is going down the tubes? Well, not quite, but the leadership position enjoyed by many US companies is waning. If I look around my house, neighborhood, city and state, I see lots of evidence of foreign goods and services. With the world being flat nowadays, why shouldn't I invest in emerging markets, Japan, the UK and Europe?
I completely agree
nun is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 10:37 AM   #18
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
jIMOh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: west bloomfield MI
Posts: 2,223
25%

T Rowe International Growth and income TGRIX (15% of rollover for me, 100% of wife's Roth)
T Rowe International Discovery PRDIX (10% of my rollover, 15% of my Roth)
T Rowe Overseas Stock TROSX (100% of wife's rollover)
American funds Europacific Fund REREX (25% of wife's 401k)
Vanguard International Value VTRIX (25% of my 401k)

also own T Rowe Spectrum Income RPSIX, which owns T Rowe International Bond fund and T Rowe Emerging Markets Bond fund.
__________________
Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. One person's stupidity is another person's job security.
jIMOh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 10:39 AM   #19
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: S.W. Minnesota
Posts: 134
Was 60% two years ago. Been taking profits this year. Now down to 30%
the dollar has been going up now for a while. Probably time to get out.
waltwill8 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2007, 10:45 AM   #20
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
jIMOh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: west bloomfield MI
Posts: 2,223
Quote:
Originally Posted by nun View Post
I'm surprised by the initial results of the poll; the %age of foreign equities is higher that I'd imagined. I own 35% foreigh equities as a hedge against the falling dollar as I plan to retire to Europe. Once I ER and emmigrate I plan to move to 40% foreign equity, 30% US equity and 30% bonds
It should be noted that around 50% of the returns for most Foreign equity funds are because of the falling dollar- the holdings of the funds are doing OK, probably no better than their US counterparts (my US funds did well in 2007, the falling dollar, IMO, made the foreign funds do MUCH better).

As I look forward, I am going to add a foreign currency position to my portfolio. For example a fund which invests in swiss francs or currencies of other countries (foreign money market if you will).

One such fund is PRPFX (Permanent Portfolio)- but that fund is not a pure currency play, it just holds around 10-20% of it's NAV in swiss francs.

I think the falling dollar is the next bubble to pop. So I keep my foreign funds at 25% overall, and keep taking profits when I rebalance 2X per year.
__________________
Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak. One person's stupidity is another person's job security.
jIMOh is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
I'm up 11.1% this year, with 100% equities AirJordan FIRE and Money 4 07-06-2007 07:59 AM
I'm young - why not 100% equities now??? accountingsucks FIRE and Money 43 03-07-2007 11:39 AM
International Equities al4trade FIRECalc support 8 11-26-2006 09:34 PM
International equities allocation LRAO FIRE and Money 1 04-21-2005 10:00 AM
Equities and terrorists oldcrowcall FIRE and Money 76 06-24-2004 04:36 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:20 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.