International - Who really is at 40%

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MnD
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by MnD »

Floating global market cap allocation, now around 50% ex-US and it will shift automatically to whatever future market cap growth brings it to. New money is small relative to balances so floating global market cap is pretty well "self-adjusting".
I'm not smart enough to allocate and hold X or XX% to tech, China, industrials, ex-US or any other equity asset class.
So I index.
70/30 AA for life, Global market cap equity. Rebalance if fixed income <25% or >35%. Weighted ER< .10%. 5% of annual portfolio balance SWR, Proportional (to AA) withdrawals.
edge
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by edge »

Around 40%
EnjoyIt
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by EnjoyIt »

furwut wrote: Personally I've set my international allocation at 30% - the mid-point of Vanguard's former recommendation. Having followed Vanguard's advice initially I feel I should consider staying THAT course and increase to 40%.
Interesting because that was the reason I chose 30% to begin with. Is it just Vanguard who is recommending higher international or do others offer similar advice? Also, doesn't having international increase risk since you need to deal with monetary risk as well?
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pascalwager
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by pascalwager »

I'm currently at 48% int'l, but may rebalance back to 50% in the near future.

I started out in 1995 with three accounts: 53% int'l, 49% int'l, and 30% int'l. As the third account (deferred comp) grew over the years, the overall int'l AA was reduced from about 52% down to about 44%. Then, a few years ago, I changed everything to 50% int'l largely due to Larry Swedroe's rationale.
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Fclevz
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Fclevz »

I got tired of second-guessing my international allocation choice and finally decided that 'stocks is stocks'. Hence, my equity allocation is 100% VT (Total World Stock Index ETF).

So I guess that means I'm currently 48.3% non-domestic, but going with the 'stocks is stocks' thinking, I don't care. :D
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rob
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by rob »

I didn't manually tally up how many people said yes :D ..... I have been 50 ish non US for more than a decade. As to the good idea - who knows but it's cost me over time.
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gkaplan
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by gkaplan »

40% of what?
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fourwedge
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by fourwedge »

Nope, I'm 35.6% international
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am
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by am »

I was at 40% or so long before "experts" recommended more foreign. Now I guess I am where I need to be :)
Sconie
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Sconie »

Target is 40% of equities. Currently at about 37%.
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daave
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by daave »

I've been at 40% of equities in international since 11 June 2014, when I updated my IPS and moved away from TargetRetire funds.
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sperry8
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by sperry8 »

I am at 40% Int'l now and was higher before Domestic had the recent run up. I've been this way since 2008...
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keith6014
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by keith6014 »

My allocation for my taxable account is:
33% VFIAX (US Equities)
33% VWAHX (Muni Bond)
33% VGTSX (International)

Goal is to have 60% US. 30% International. 20% Muni bond by year end.
Rodc
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Rodc »

renue74 wrote:I see a lot of talk to "going to 40%" for International stock fund allocation, but who is there? Is now a good time to do this?
Not me.

I'm 45% of stocks (or pretty close). 60/40 stocks/bonds.

Is this a good time? Maybe.
We live a world with knowledge of the future markets has less than one significant figure. And people will still and always demand answers to three significant digits.
chessmannextmove
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by chessmannextmove »

renue74 wrote:I see a lot of talk to "going to 40%" for International stock fund allocation, but who is there? Is now a good time to do this?
I've held 40 to 50 percent international equities for a long time.
Paul78
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Paul78 »

37.6% of my stocks are international
my goal is 60/40

25% of my bonds are international
my goal is 80/20
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Peter Foley
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Peter Foley »

I don't know. It isn't time to check yet. I might check in a month or so. I wasn't when I checked last year. I greatly underweight International so I am unlikely ever to get there.
PecuniaryPeccary
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by PecuniaryPeccary »

My wife and I are invested 100% in equities, with that split between U.S. (mostly VFIAX) and international (all VTIAX) at close to market-cap percentages. I want to own the whole global market, and at the global market's values. That holding them at market-cap percentages obviates the need to rebalance is just a nice bonus. :P
Ron Ronnerson
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Ron Ronnerson »

Around 38% currently. I try to keep it under 40% so as not to appear like I've gone rogue but a good couple of days internationally or a bad couple of days for U.S. might knock me on to the other side of the sanity line. I like living on the edge, though.
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watchnerd
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by watchnerd »

50% of my equities are international.
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HomerJ
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by HomerJ »

15% of my Stock portfolio is International

But Stocks only make up 50% of my total portfolio (I'm 50/50 stocks/bonds), so only 7.5% of my total portfolio is in International stocks.

But like others have said, I think most of the big companies I own in the Total Stock Market Index are international companies, and do well when the international economies pick up, so I have international exposure with my domestic stocks as well.
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siamond
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by siamond »

Been at 50% (of equities) for a while... Staying the course...

Can't understand the commotion about Vanguard's change, if anything, the commotion should be about why their international allocation was so low in the past, not about what it became.
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czeckers
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by czeckers »

I've been at 50% of my equities in international for a number of years now. Tilted to international small and value and EM. Also a slice of internatinoal REITs. No idea whether this will be the best decision going forward or not, but its probably within the ballpark of not being unreasonable.
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samuck
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by samuck »

anyone outside the US better be over 40% international - now and always.
comeinvest
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by comeinvest »

pdriese wrote:I'm 65% international and 35% domestic for my equities. Overall I have 25% of my total portfolio in bonds (G Fund).

It's hard for me to believe that if John Bogle happened to be Canadian, British, or something besides American he would still espouse a 100% U.S. equity allocation. If you believe in market cap indexes you should also use the market cap worldwide (which is around 50% U.S.). Many argue that about half of the revenue from U.S. companies comes from outside the U.S. Likewise, international companies get a lot of their revenue from the U.S. so I think having a 0% international allocation based on that is not wise.

I started heavily tilting toward international about 15 months ago. I didn't work out well for me in 2014, but it's working out great in 2015. Besides, CAPE, PB, PE, Dividend Yield and other valuation factors still heavily favor international markets. It's definitely not too late, but get a plan first and stick with it.
I have an about 75% international equities portfolio, a large part of which is a diversified basket of EM countries. My portfolio underperformed the U.S. indices during the last few years. EM are currently undervalued on a relative basis using most valuation metrics, compared to both the U.S. and to historical valuation spreads. But valuations are not everything. Other than valuations, I am aware that there are conflicting opinions on whether or not capital will grow faster in the U.S., or whether valuation discounts are justified or not. There are also conflicting opinions on whether or not higher economic growth leads to higher equity returns. In any case, I believe that my risk return profile is more favorable in the long run, and particularly that my sources of returns are more diversified, than with a largely U.S. index based portfolio.
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Kevin M
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Kevin M »

Target for international stocks has been 40% of equities for some years; nice to have Vanguard on course to catch up with me in its TR and LS funds ;-) My portfolio spreadsheet tells me I'm currently at 39.4%, so although I haven't updated the spreadsheet in awhile, I'm nowhere close to a rebalancing trigger, so I can continue to be lazy about it.

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White Coat Investor
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by White Coat Investor »

renue74 wrote:I see a lot of talk to "going to 40%" for International stock fund allocation, but who is there? Is now a good time to do this?
I can't quite tell if the question is "Should I go down to 40%?" or "Should I go up to 40%?" but I guess it doesn't matter, because the answer is the same. Nobody knows but you.

I've been at 33% since 2005 and plan to leave it there. It seemed smart then. It has seemed both smart and dumb intermittently over the years since then. 40% is a reasonable number. Anything between 15-50% is probably reasonable for a US investor.
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OutInThirteen
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by OutInThirteen »

My target is 50% international, 50% domestic. For the international, 75% is in VXUS and 25% in VSS.
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sans souliers
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by sans souliers »

I've gone almost two months, and...You made me look -- I'm at 32.8% International.
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VAslim16
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by VAslim16 »

Im 50/50 US/Int and 75/25 equities/fixed income.
rustymutt
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by rustymutt »

50% holding.
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Trev H
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Trev H »

My equities are setup..

25% US Large Market
25% US Small Value
25% International Large Value
25% International Small Market

And have been for many years.

Simple, Global, 3 Factor Diversification

Bias to Home Country makes no sense to me... To truly be diversified, you will most likely have to get out of your comfort zone.

How you feel about it... will most likely lead you away from truly being diversified.

Good Luck !

Trev H
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tadamsmar
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by tadamsmar »

EnjoyIt wrote:
furwut wrote:Is it just Vanguard who is recommending higher international or do others offer similar advice? Also, doesn't having international increase risk since you need to deal with monetary risk as well?
Malkiel started increasing his recommended international allocation for quite a while in new editions of A Random Walk Down Wall Street. He's recommending 50% these days I think.

I think older recommendations were based on efficient frontier calculations that were influenced by the fact that the trailing risk-adjusted returns from the US were better, and new recommendations are more influenced by either capitalization or estimates of relative future earning growth. But honestly, I am not sure why recommendations are changing.
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HalfMillionaire
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by HalfMillionaire »

My target allocation - EM:DM:Bonds:US::1:2:3:4
That gives me a 70:30 Stock:Bond ratio and 30% of portfolio in International. I have stayed 50:50::US:Int for some time. Using new contribution to nudge it towards the target.
USStks:IntlStks:Bonds::1:1:1, Tilts US Mid/SmallCap and EM.
normaldude
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by normaldude »

tadamsmar wrote:But honestly, I am not sure why recommendations are changing.
It's just going with changes in the global indexes. 20 years ago, countries like China were just beginnng to emerge from communism, and weren't even on the global investing map. Back then, virtually all the big publicly traded stocks were from USA, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia.

Over the last 20 years, more stocks from emerging market countries - like China - have gone IPO. So as those companies get added to global indexes, it squeezes down the percentages for USA, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia. If China allocation goes from 0% to 3%, then those percentage points have to be taken away from existing countries. Same deal with many emerging market countries over the last 20 years. Korea has grown so much, that it went from being classified as "emerging market" to "developed".
Logan T
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Logan T »

When I started reading boglheads last year, I wrote myself an IPS and decided on 40% of my stocks being international through a combination of Total International (VXUS), International Small-Cap (VSS), and Emerging Markets (VWO).
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givewell
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by givewell »

Having rebalanced at the beginning of the year to my default of 50/50 - simple and roughly world market cap weighting - right now I am at 51.5% international. At the beginning of next year, I will rebalance to
50%.
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bertie wooster
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by bertie wooster »

My retirement portfolio is 50% international (the stock portion that is). I tried doing the same w/ my partner's, but she is quite content with Wellington so that's where it all is. So I guess we are closer to 25%.

I think if you are between 20-50% you are good to go.
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sergeant
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by sergeant »

I'm really at 40%.
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Kaufmanrider
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Kaufmanrider »

50% International equities, sliced and diced, the past few years. 60/40 asset allocation.
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Noobvestor
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by Noobvestor »

nisiprius wrote:(Well... I haven't been, either. This is not any kind of advice or recommendation, and people shouldn't pay attention to me merely because I post a lot. I did decide to nudge my personal allocation up to 25%, a) because I wanted Vanguard's portfolio tool to quit nagging at me, b) I don't like to be too far from the mainstream conventional wisdom when I don't have strong personal convictions about something, and c) last but not least, posters like Noobvestor influenced me. The allocation then sunk all by itself down to perhaps 23%, and I'm willing to let it do whatever it wants to).
Glad my mad ravings are making a difference! I also chuckled that you wanted their tool to stop nagging you, too - unfortunately it still nags me about having too much international potentially, but at least it no longer tells me I might also be over global weights (I'm around global weights). From PortfolioWatch(TM): "The percentage you've invested in foreign stocks is above our recommended range, but may be below global market capitalization."
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gkaplan
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by gkaplan »

I am 50/50, International/Domestic.
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joe8d
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by joe8d »

20% International.
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peetsperk
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Re: International - Who really is at 40%

Post by peetsperk »

Not I. At this time U.S. Equities are 55% of total, U.S. REITS 8.5% (combined U.S. 63.5%) and International Equities 36.5%.
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