Should I include international stocks in my portfolio?
International stocks have two main advantages: diversification and the potential to perform better than U.S. stocks over certain periods. In the past, non-U.S. stocks have had relatively low correlations with their U.S. stock counterparts, leading to better risk-adjusted returns for a globally diversified portfolio.
International shares can be a good investment as they offer diversification benefits, growth potential, and exposure to global economic trends. However, they also come with risks, such as currency fluctuations and geopolitical uncertainties, so it's essential to research and consider these factors before investing.
Despite lagging in recent years, when you look historically: in the last 50 years, international stocks outperformed U.S. stocks in over 40% of all 10-year rolling time periods.
Stock allocations by age
Investors in their 20s, 30s and 40s all maintain about a 41% allocation of U.S. stocks and 9% allocation of international stocks in their financial portfolios. Investors in their 50s and 60s keep between 35% and 39% of their portfolio assets in U.S. stocks and about 8% in international stocks.
International portfolios give you more diversification, let you access liquidity in other markets, and can help you reduce the risks of the market you invest in the most.
Fidelity's Asset Allocation Research Team (AART) forecasts that international stocks will outperform US stocks over the next 20 years. Indeed, they expect even mature, developed markets such as Europe to outperform the US over that time.
U.S. stocks have outperformed global equities over the past 15 years, leading many investors to believe there is no good alternative. However, non-U.S. stocks may be attractive due to lower valuations, higher dividend yields and growth potential in select regions.
Start by allocating 15% to 20% of your equity portfolio to foreign stocks. That's the percentage I typically maintain in the Vanguard portfolios. It's meaningful enough to make a difference in your overall returns, but not so much that it will ruin your portfolio when foreign markets temporarily fall out of favor.
Potential drawbacks of investing in the S&P
The S&P 500 weighting system gives a small number of companies major influence, which could have an undue negative effect on the index if one or a few of them run into trouble.
This is fairly low, especially for investors who rely on the income generated by their portfolios. The good news is that investors can find much higher dividend yields outside the United States, for those willing to accept the risks of investing in international equities.
What is the best mix of US and international stocks?
For the best risk/reward tradeoff, a mix of about 60-70% US and 30-40% international has historically been a good combination.
The common rule of asset allocation by age is that you should hold a percentage of stocks that is equal to 100 minus your age. So if you're 40, you should hold 60% of your portfolio in stocks. Since life expectancy is growing, changing that rule to 110 minus your age or 120 minus your age may be more appropriate.
Our research suggests that a 70% U.S./30% non-U.S. mix may boost long-term portfolio performance and may enhance return consistency over time; however, investing consistent with a model allocation does not protect against losses or guarantee future results.
One key reason the US equity market has performed so well relative to peers is that there are a disproportionate number of the world's most productive companies based in the United States. When we rank global companies based on returns on capital, US companies consistently stand out.
Rebalancing too frequently can sacrifice returns. Rebalancing less often can bolster returns and increase portfolio volatility. Vanguard recommends checking your portfolio every six months, and rebalancing if the values drift 5% or more from target.
FPI Disadvantages include Market volatility, short-term focus, lack of control, currency risk, and market distortions. The key difference between FDI & FPI is that FDI involves ownership and control with a long-term commitment, while FPI is about short-term financial gains with no control over the business.
However, to get the full diversification benefits, consider investing about 40% of your stock allocation in international stocks and about 30% of your bond allocation in international bonds. For most people, investing internationally through mutual funds or ETFs is the easiest option.
Or is a strong dollar good? While a strong dollar may hurt US stocks, it also makes international stocks a bargain for US investors who want to diversify their portfolios.
In essence, the U.S. has not been as expensive as perceived, and the rest of the world has not been as cheap. That may be the case again in 2024. Therefore, a strategy that includes U.S. and international stocks may continue to outperform one that excludes U.S. equities, even though non-U.S. markets appear cheaper.
For an average investor, small-cap funds should not exceed 20-25 per cent of the overall portfolio. In an equity-only portfolio, as per Kochar, around 40-50 per cent can be in large cap, 40-45 per cent in mid-cap and 10 per cent in small-cap funds.
Is international diversification really beneficial?
Second, worldwide diversification allows the stock-bond ratio of a portfolio to be increased without raising the overall risk of the portfolio because returns between the broad US and International markets are not perfectly correlated.
Diversification. International investing may help U.S. investors to spread their investment risk among foreign companies and markets in addition to U.S. companies and markets. Growth. International investing takes advantage of the potential for growth in some foreign economies, particularly in emerging markets.
Many financial advisors recommend a 60/40 asset allocation between stocks and fixed income to take advantage of growth while keeping up your defenses.
The moderately conservative allocation is 25% large-cap stocks, 5% small-cap stocks, 10% international stocks, 50% bonds and 10% cash investments. The moderate allocation is 35% large-cap stocks, 10% small-cap stocks, 15% international stocks, 35% bonds and 5% cash investments.
Assuming you do go down the road of picking individual stocks, you'll also want to make sure you hold enough of them so as not to concentrate too much of your wealth in any one company or industry. Usually this means holding somewhere between 20 and 30 stocks unless your portfolio is very small.
