But US market is actually about 50% of the world, so why do you want to put less?
1 Like
tesla
To be fair kenny specifically said the market was expensive. I might agree or disagree with that, but by definition if you think a market is overpriced then it makes sense to overweight elsewhere.
1 Like
With my “safer” investments that’s essentially what I do. Intrinsic value is however easier to determine the more mature a business is,
Many would have said the US Market was expensive 5 or even 10 years ago. Yet it kept rising. But many didn’t invest as they thought the US was too expensive yet they missed out on large growth.
The reality is no one knows which markets will grow or not, hence VWRL solves the issue with trying to guess, as it gives you an overall market fund and you will track the growth or decline in aggregate, which many studies have suggested to be the best strategy on average - but not always.
The thing is that the US market is not just a market for the US, it’s the largest and deepest capital market in the world and many companies listed there are really global companies with global earnings (albeit with the US as their biggest market).
When companies like Alibaba are listed abroad they go for the US market as that has the biggest pool of investors. This isn’t me saying the US market will continue to do well, or not, but that it’s not a single country index, unlike many other markets.
4 Likes
You mean by value right now? Sure, but do you expect that to continue in coming decades?
It has over the last decades. And people asked the same question as you did 10, 20 or 50 years ago.
The fact is that we don’t know which country will perform best, which is why the only unbiased estimator is a size-weighted investment. 
@JimSmith put it quite well.
1 Like
I own vwrl and am happy with it, I guess what I’m trying to say is market cap weighted indexes are essentially backwards looking because they take the value the market and assume that will continue, which is fine but not the only way to pick a basket of stocks - for example equal weighted often beats it even with higher transaction fees.
We are in a rather unusual period with massive sustained global stimulus over the last decade and financial repression combining to boost asset markets, and US markets in particular are massively overvalued by any traditional measure (more so than 2000). It’s hard to tell if that will continue and if so for how long but it means formerly diversified indexes are becoming more and more overweight specific US tech stocks. If you want a reason to spread risk from vwrl that would be my reason.
5 Likes
Thank you Kenny for all the insigtful help.
1 Like
What tool / website are you using to compare those?
Morningstar - for the fund information or ETF information .
Just ETF.com also very good .
and Investing.com for candlestick graph and a shorter investment view .
2 Likes
If you’re holding Nasdaq tracker then surely you’re doubling down even more on tech?
You can hold some active funds like SMT to offset any concerns with VWRL 
2 Likes
I think @kenny makes his point clearly. All these things are a matter of personal judgement and comfort. @kenny reasonably expresses the ‘worry’ that one particular region is, in his opinion, over represented in the relevant world index.
Now others make take a different view or not be worried about this. And some of those others may counter argue that if other stocks start to rise the index will appropriately adjust which of course won’t happen if one chooses a particular theme (be it geographical or industry or ‘flavour of the month’).
Of course … if the stock markets all around the world crash then you might not see a recovery of your portfolio in your lifetime. So others will argue that diversification in investment should be more than just diversification in stocks. But it is for you to make that call.
2 Likes
For me it comes down to interest and engagement, I set up a s&s Lisa 3 years ago and it’s been doing well but it’s sparked an interest and I wanted to see more. I’ve still set up my portfolio in the majority on index funds but it still allows me to do research and invest in certain companies if I see something I like the look of.
2 Likes
Be careful. This research is normally focused on mutual funds and the lose due to high Fees and the fact that most institutional managers have such a wide diversity they can only really mimic the market at best and therefor underperform due to the fees. Lots of value investors have outperformed the market over very long periods of time. It’s not easy but it is certainly possible as an individual investor to beat the market.
Already know all about his $1m bet with the hedge funds. You should read Buffets essay the Super Investors of Graham & Doddsville. Buffets point is exactly as my point. He does not believe in efficient markets
Some have definitely, but that’s luck. There are so many investors that some are bound to outperform by chance.
But no, the research is not just focussed on mutual funds, there are plenty of back-tested studies on ETFs that show that individuals as well as fund managers underperform the market in the long-run - like @kuger correctly mentioned.
I was fortunate enough to be forced to read all these studies and perform these backtests myself at university. 
2 Likes
Let’s not forget than in many cases Buffett buys the whole company that we see the value in also them isn’t stuck relying on the whims of the inefficient market for his own valuations.
2 Likes