Quote:
Originally Posted by batman911
If you invest in S&P500 companies, you are already exposed to the international market. A lot of these companies get a significant part of their earnings and sales in other countries. Think Philip Morris, Apple, etc.
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That does not solve why you invest in international markets. I agree the US market large cap has exposure do to the fact many of those companies have a global business. However the real reason to spread you equity exposure across the globe is to protect the impact of any single event causing losses. The international market also has companies that have US exposure. Think what happens when a 911 event hit the US, or the tsunami hit Japan, or any of 100 other financial impacts. I personally would like to be as diversified as possible. So having an exposure to all global markets at an amount equal to their % of the total market maintains the least exposure to any single market going down. Just as a split between stocks and bonds flattens the volatility of the markets, global balance does the same for your equity portfolio.
Just go to morningstar and back test each scenario for 10, 20, and 30 years and you will become a believer. Everyone who invests in the market needs to have an IPS, an AA that fits there willingness to accept risk, and a strategy to re-balance when required. Doing anything else is pure guess work and you will lose at some point.