Global Stock ETFs

[stpeter]

I've been thinking about adding a global (non-U.S.) component to my Golden Butterfly portfolio, because hey it's a big world out there and it wasn't nearly as big when Harry Browne defined the Permanent Portfolio back in the 1990s. (Yes, I know, on the one hand there is currency risk, but on the other hand non-U.S. equities might not be highly correlated with U.S. equities.) Things change and maybe I need to change with them!

Revisiting my well-worn copy of Rowland and Lawson, I see that they're not as negative about international equities as I had remembered - although they do suggest that if you want to go this route you should limit the exposure to 5-10% of your portfolio.

Not being a Vanguard investor, I've been looking into the iShares MSCI Global Minimum Volatility Factor ETF (ACWV). Does anyone on the forum have experience with that one or with ACWI? What are folks here using for global exposure? Is this something that you'd recommend, or do you think we get enough global exposure through U.S. companies that have a global economic presence?

[coasting]

Is this something that you'd recommend, or do you think we get enough global exposure through U.S. companies that have a global economic presence?

I think that US companies provide enough global exposure. I prefer to stick with only US equities primarily due to the currency risk. Stocks are in the PP for when the dominant economic theme is prosperity. I don't want returns from prosperity to be adjusted by currency differences. I pay for things with US dollars. The US dollar is my unit of measure. The weak US dollar in 2025 boosted returns of non-US equities relative to US equities, but the 60% return on gold more than covered for the weak dollar.

[stpeter]

Is this something that you'd recommend, or do you think we get enough global exposure through U.S. companies that have a global economic presence?

I think that US companies provide enough global exposure. I prefer to stick with only US equities primarily due to the currency risk. Stocks are in the PP for when the dominant economic theme is prosperity. I don't want returns from prosperity to be adjusted by currency differences. I pay for things with US dollars. The US dollar is my unit of measure. The weak US dollar in 2025 boosted returns of non-US equities relative to US equities, but the 60% return on gold more than covered for the weak dollar.

That's always the way I thought about it, too, but I'm beginning to wonder. Prosperity might not be evenly distributed or highly correlated - e.g., India might be doing great while the U.S. is struggling, so why not benefit from prosperity happening there?

Also I'll admit that 2025 returns outside the U.S. were pretty impressive, as "I Shrugged" pointed out recently in another thread: viewtopic.php?p=259655#p259655

[boglerdude]

ex-US just HAD a big run up. Foreign tax credit is a nuisance. Gold is global exposure. India and China dont necessarily let you have a slice. https://old.reddit.com/r/ValueInvesting ... e_chinese/

https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=409214

But I'm 0% stock https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe

[Jack Jones]

Fama: A global market portfolio is kind of a risky venture because the problem is that countries go to war with one another. We thought we were past that, but now we’re finding out we aren’t. And wartime is subject to expropriation risks. So in other words, each side expropriates the investors of the other side, and they never get made whole after that. Everybody forgets about investors.

So, that’s the fundamental risk. In my view, the fundamental risk of international investing is if you get expropriated by the other side, those numbers never appear in the historical data. They’re just not there.

I mostly stick to US securities, except in a couple momentum strategies I follow.