How much of your equities in international?

"I have also been a value investor since reading Benjamin Graham long ago, but I think you would have to concede that it is hard work chasing down specific investment candidates and thoroughly evaluating them."

I had a similar start. I stared with Peter Lynch and did the Intelligent Investor a short time later. It is hard work and it is wading through stuff many consider much too boring. I find it entertaining.

I envy your energy and persistence in mastering foreign investing. I have not and don't know if I ever will. It would be a massive undertaking that I am not mentally prepared for nor do I have the time available.

"Ultimately, each of us must do whatever makes us most comfortable."

I agree wholeheartedly.

"I have found it "worth my time and effort" to participate here"

I am glad to hear you find it useful. It seems there are a good number of posters interested in exchanging ideas. I was a little gun shy posting my analysis of CTO so I sent it to Marc1962 in a personal message. I would be to pass it along you may find it entertaining.
 
Marc1962 said:
I think it's also worth noting that at least one of us is too new to be a member of the choir and is interested in hearing what bcinvest is willing to share about his investment approach.
Click to expand...
bcinvest said:
I was a little gun shy posting my analysis of CTO so I sent it to Marc1962 in a personal message. I would be to pass it along you may find it entertaining.
Click to expand...
You'll have to let us know if you find the analysis worthwhile compared to the books & websites in the recommended reading list.

Or, BC, you could post your CTO analysis in the stockpicking forum and let us all decide.
 
I have 21% of my equity portfolio in International---mostly Vanguard International Equity Index. Vanguard changed their recommendation relative to international exposure back in December, from a 10-30% range (20% being in the middle) to a range of 20-40%, with 30% being in the "middle." Since that time, I have been implementing portfolio changes so as to gradually achieve the "30%" number.
 
Good grief, someone looking to set a new record for ignore? :LOL:
 
bcinvest said:
I am too new here to have anything to be found by searching. Just testing the water to see if the community is welcoming or holier than thou.
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that if it is the latter you will be comfortable here.

For those that are reading and interested in his/her investing strategy you will need to wait until he/she can post a verifiable list of all their trades over the years. We can all then compare a risk adjusted return and decide for ourselves whether they are beating a diversified buy:hold:rebalance portfolio and if so whether it is worth the time and energy to try. Until then he/she has nothing substantial to add to this particular thread.

To the OP it appears the allocation to International varies widely. A similar result would be found if you posted at bogleheads. There is no right answer other than you should probably hold some...

DD
 
My returns are public record. If you want to re-create my trades nearly all the information is available for the 7 of the past 8 years. I am not looking to have anyone follow my strategy nor do I have anything to prove. My posts are worth what anyone takes them for. If you find they are not substantial feel free to ignore them.

I can see many easily take offense to someone who doesn't mirror their ideas.
 
Back to the original question:

66.6% Canadian (= domestic to me)
17.76% US
15.58% Other International

Reasons to have 2/3 of domestic:
a. I live here
b. Domestic markets include oil, commodities and profitable banks
c. Favourable tax treatment of domestic dividends

Reasons that half of International is US:
a. US is still the largest world market
b. US stocks are likely to do well in the next few years

Reasons that half of International is elsewhere:
a. Tremendous growth opportunities in BRIC countries
b. Australia is doing pretty well
c. Some good opportunities all over the world
 
I have a newsletter, but message boards are not my target market. I target blue collar workers. I am here because I have expertise as a retirement plan practitioner and am an avid vegatable gardener. I was looking for a community the is open to discussing differing ideas and as a possible source for investment ideas. I have tried numerous message boards some are very welcoming some are very closed and protective of the status quo.

I am also writing an article on message board personality types and social interactions for a national publication. My experience here will make for some good material.
 
Sounds pretty well thought out. How much of the Canadian market is natural resources and have the Canadian markets been plagued with naked short selling like the US markets have been?
 
My international (VG total International) is about 20% of my equity position. It used to be only 10%, but after doing research about 10 years ago I realized that doubling it would be a better long-term position to take. I still feel that way.
 
bcinvest said:
................

I am also writing an article on message board personality types and social interactions for a national publication. My experience here will make for some good material.
Click to expand...


:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: MM is that you?
 
bcinvest said:
I am also writing an article on message board personality types and social interactions for a national publication.
Click to expand...
Too bad you won't objectively include yourself...
 
bcinvest said:
I have tried numerous message boards some are very welcoming some are very closed and protective of the status quo.
Click to expand...

This board is comprised primarily of DIY investors who are highly suspicious of 'professional' investment advisors who show up with a hidden agenda. You may or may not fit that category, but your posting style certainly got you off on the wrong foot. You are apparently intent on continuing down that rather abrasive path, but perhaps that is simply a device to add spice to your message board personality article.

And off we go...
 
You confuse my opinions with my personality. I am extremely opinionated and many may disagree that doesn't bother me one bit. Everyone is welcome to their own investment strategy and I have not criticized anyone's strategy. I have criticized asset allocation, mpt and some of the closed mindedness I have run into already.

I commend you for being highly suspicious, I am too. And, be careful with the use of professional. I publish a small newsletter and charge money to force me to do it. I have no designs on making any money from it or managing anyone's portfolio. I would highly recommend nobody entrust their assets to anyone who can have access to them.

The forums getting started message states "When you are ready, please introduce yourself by starting a new thread in the “Hi, I Am” section". When I was ready I was going to make a post. I am still not familiar with the navigation yet and was waiting to get up to speed to state my case. Imagine how welcoming it is to get a response that says "Our community is more welcoming to new members who post an introduction on our "Hi, I am...." forum, BCInvest" So the welcome message says one thing but the attitude is completely different in practice. And once one poster takes offense to my opinion it becomes like a shark feeding frenzy and everyone takes a shot.

So judge by the quality of my input not by how closely my views align with yours. I am a pretty easy going guy with very little ego. So don't worry nothing you say on a message board is gonna hurt my feelings. If some value my input I'll hang around. If not I have plenty of competing interests for my time. Oh and I do taxes, but it is all pro bono so no I don't need any new customers. So I have no interest in selling that either (the pay is really bad).

Once I figure out how to start a new thread I'll start one discussing investment strategy to avoid cluttering an international asset allocation thread with this material.
 
Count me among the people who have to sprinkle the cash among several stocks and countries because I do not know what will be the next FFIV to put all of my stash.

I don't know if Quicken screen is reliable, but it says I have 20% international. I know I hold BASF (the chemical giant), POT (of Saskatchewan), BHP Billiton (Australia), Vale (Brazil), etc..., in addition to various ETFs and a couple of mutual funds. I thought I have more than 20%.

And of course, as earlier posters have pointed out, so many of US companies are really multinational, and many have more than 50% of their sales abroad. I have Caterpillar, Cummins, Bunge, etc... So many stocks, so little money... I want to buy more...
 
Do you do a fundamental analysis of each company? If so, how do you keep track of the accounting differences and do you analyze the impact currency changes could have on your portfolio?
 
bcinvest said:
I can see many easily take offense to someone who doesn't mirror their ideas.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I found bcinvest's CTO analysis to be both informative and inspiring. Currently I am reading all of the material on Consolidated Tomoka Land Company - Daytona Beach, FL in an effort to develop my own value investment skills. If I can understand it well enough to see how the publicly available source material allowed bcinvest to produce that analysis, I'll have some hope of doing similar work for myself. His analysis has also piqued my interest in reading foundational material like Graham's The Intelligent Investor.

I'm a long way from abandoning the indexing investment strategy I settled on after being referred by members of this board to Bernstein, Ferri, Swedroe, et al, but I also have an interest in making more focused investments based on deeper knowledge of fundamentals. After all, my own financial independence did not come from diversified investments in our capital markets; it arose from an all-in investment of 15 years in a single business. I now see that value investing may be another way for me to address the general interest that has lead me to learn about angel investor groups (Angel Capital Association) and to consider a substantial investment in a company that I know well (as a board member and as the son of the founder).

As an E-R.org newcomer who has been treated well and who has benefited greatly from the kindness and generosity of this community, I am disappointed by the prickly, defensive way in which he is being treated. After re-reading every one of his posts, I think we're being awfully rough. In my opinion, E-R.org would be even better than it is if we were willing to welcome experienced retirees and investors with strong opinions as graciously as we do incompetent, humble beginners.
 
bcinvest said:
You confuse my opinions with my personality. I am extremely opinionated and many may disagree that doesn't bother me one bit. Everyone is welcome to their own investment strategy and I have not criticized anyone's strategy. I have criticized asset allocation, mpt and some of the closed mindedness I have run into already.

I commend you for being highly suspicious, I am too. And, be careful with the use of professional. I publish a small newsletter and charge money to force me to do it. I have no designs on making any money from it or managing anyone's portfolio. I would highly recommend nobody entrust their assets to anyone who can have access to them.

The forums getting started message states "When you are ready, please introduce yourself by starting a new thread in the “Hi, I Am” section". When I was ready I was going to make a post. I am still not familiar with the navigation yet and was waiting to get up to speed to state my case. Imagine how welcoming it is to get a response that says "Our community is more welcoming to new members who post an introduction on our "Hi, I am...." forum, BCInvest" So the welcome message says one thing but the attitude is completely different in practice. And once one poster takes offense to my opinion it becomes like a shark feeding frenzy and everyone takes a shot.

So judge by the quality of my input not by how closely my views align with yours. I am a pretty easy going guy with very little ego. So don't worry nothing you say on a message board is gonna hurt my feelings. If some value my input I'll hang around. If not I have plenty of competing interests for my time. Oh and I do taxes, but it is all pro bono so no I don't need any new customers. So I have no interest in selling that either (the pay is really bad).

Once I figure out how to start a new thread I'll start one discussing investment strategy to avoid cluttering an international asset allocation thread with this material.
Click to expand...

Just Googling your username I came across this website, BlueCollarInvestments.com

Is this you or just a coincidence? Just wondering.
 
Back to the original topic...

The PDF from the link

https://advisors.vanguard.com/VGApp...search/article?File=IWE_InvResIntlEquConsider

Recommends 20 - 40% of one's equity portion in internationals.

(Page 11 of the doc is the conclusion for those who want to jump straight there).

I'm in the process of bumping up my percentage of equities from about 33% to 40%. Even at 40% that's only about 20% of my investments as I use the "age" approach for how much to keep in bonds.
 
My international equity percentage has dropped to 9% so I am going to move it back up to 15%. Given that many of my large individual holding derive more than 1/2 of their revenue and much more than 1/2 their profits overseas, I am comfortable holding a smaller international equity stake than others.
 
clifp said:
My international equity percentage has dropped to 9% so I am going to move it back up to 15%. Given that many of my large individual holding derive more than 1/2 of their revenue and much more than 1/2 their profits overseas, I am comfortable holding a smaller international equity stake than others.
Click to expand...

This gets interesting and works both ways.

I have almost nothing in the US since I live in Canada and don't want exposure to your inheritance tax. My Canadian portfolio is tilted towards those companies that do a lot of business in and with the US.
 
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