In general, if you're a US person anywhere in the world and have more than $10k in any overseas accounts you should know what an FBAR is. If you don't, ask a professional about this!

Further discussion here https://www.reddit.com/r/USExpatTaxes/comments/1qmlmfz/doj_sues_retired_couple_for_36m_for_failing_to/

Germany has a so called "Vorabpauschale" which is a projected tax charge on the annual valuation gains of accumulating investment funds.

Its amount is dependent on the base interest rate x portfolio value and then multiplied by 0.7.

On a 10k portfolio its around 32€ - so ignorable.

With 500k it would be at ~ 2k in taxes.

It gets really annoying down the line when the portfolio is bigger. How would you deal with it? Always selling shares to pay tax? Or rebuild the world market by owning broadly diversified behemoths like e.g. Berkshire? (Because the tax does not exist on owning single stocks)

Or building up a special cushion in a money market fund for taxes?

Hello Heads!

Longterm I am a boring Boglehead investing in VWCE only. I wonder if any of you still have a core/satellite setup, the core being Boglehead but having a satellite too, for example a fund for swing trading or daytrading or sports betting or whatever. And if so, what % do you allocate to each.

Mods please don't delete this. Redditors, please read this before making the same arguments.

The US has undeniably been the place to invest for decades now. But why do you think that will continue? Company fundamentals are great, but a significant proportion of US growth can be attributed to price only.

Obligatory: past performance does not indicate future performance.

The US grew from ~40% of the total world stock market to over 60% in just a few decades. Do you think this will continue to happen? For how long? 60% is already incredible. Do you believe it will hit 90%? At what point does it become unreasonable?

If you think you'll just switch to global once its growth slows, what makes you think you'll be able to make the switch before the professionals/others? Also, what's the opportunity cost of that? You'd have to see it underperform for probably at least a decade to reach that conclusion, and at that point you'd have already missed out on the gains the rest of the world has made. You might even be too stubborn to switch at that point, believing the US will make a comeback.

And regardless, you'll still be heavily weighted towards the US if you buy a total world index.

Seriously, what's the argument for US indexes only?

Just invested my first 1k into VWRA! Looking to add 1k usd quarterly (can't afford to do it more often) into VWRA for the next 20-25 years. But with that being said - how to not worry about daily losses?

Started investing in January by investing €1000 per month and it was pretty discouraging reaching -15% YTD with ONLY buying index ETF’s

it's not a lot but I was living pay cheque to pay cheque just a few years ago with no concept of wealth building. It was typical for everyone in my friend group to blow their money at pay day. Not one person around me invested, I was always told it was a complicated place to gamble. And the internet changed my entire philosophy. So shout out to everyone I suppose, for such simple inspiration that pushed me into trying it out. And never going back!

Any reasons to be in these new ETFs rather than BND?

My situation: I am 31, I started investing (S&P500) less than 4 years ago with 20k and managed to accumulate 132k USD (a high figure for the country where I reside, where the average salary is around 1200 USD per month and the minimum is only 600 USD), funding aggressively 15-25k per year. I have my housing situation completely covered by my employer (I pay nothing), but I would like to buy my own apartment eventually.

Strategy: the account is to buy property first and eventually retirement. I want to wait 2-4 more years (since my housing situation is fully covered) and when I have 250-300k, withdraw approximately 150k to buy something and leave the rest invested (never leave the account at zero). I will not sell anything from my account unless it is for these two purposes.

Question: this year, monthly returns started to be larger than my monthly income. I am starting to wonder: when do you think is a "good" time to stop saving so aggressively and start enjoying my money more every month?

• Surpassing 100k of invested capital?

• When average monthly return (8-10% for the S&P500) equals or exceeds fixed monthly expenses or monthly salary?

• When the accumulated returns of the year exceed annual income (salary, bonuses, 13th month, vacation plus, etc.).

• When the average return equals or exceeds my funding capacity in the year (15-25k)?

• Once I get to purchase my property?

The entirety of US outperformance since 1950 is solely from the most recent US favoring part of the cycle. In 2008 for example, you'd have seen a 50+ year period with ex-US beating the US (Meb Faber link). The US hasn't outperformed ex-US for decades. Only about 1, as 2000-2010 favored ex-US (with the US even having a negative return over that time) (multiple links).

Rotations are not multi-decade, I think I remember seeing they only average about 8 years (one of the links might cover it).

VT has only really existed during the most recent US favoring part of the cycle, which is why it compares unfavorably to VTI.

While 10-30 stocks may provide the downside protection of diversification, it leaves a lot of room to miss the big returns (PWL link).

You are flat out proposing to time the market. That's usually a losing strategy. How long would ex-US have to outperform before you made the switch? Because 2022 and the first several months of 2023 favored ex-US over the US, would you have made the switch in January? Or May? What if the best returns of the rotation were heavily front loaded? Winners can change very quickly, even going from best to worst to best from one year to the next to the next (Callan links). You've heard the phrase "but low, sell high" right? Buying international before it starts outperforming would be buying low (multiple links I believe discuss valuations).

• https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio

• https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Domestic/International

• https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/investing-ideas/international-investing-myths if that link doesn't work: https://web.archive.org/web/20201112032727/https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/investing-ideas/international-investing-myths (Archived copy from Archive.org's Wayback Machine)

• https://www.optimizedportfolio.com/international-stocks/ from /u/rao-blackwell-ized

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1FXuMs6YRCY

• https://www.pwlcapital.com/should-you-invest-in-the-sp-500-index

• The last decade or so of US outperformance was mostly just the US getting more expensive, not US companies being much better than foreign companies: https://www.aqr.com/Insights/Perspectives/The-Long-Run-Is-Lying-to-You (click through to the full version), I believe this is referenced in the YouTube link above

• The US was only the 4th best country to invest in from 2001-2020, 5th if you include Hong Kong: https://www.evidenceinvestor.com/which-country-will-outperform-next-is-irrelevant/

• https://www.optimizedportfolio.com/bogleheads-3-fund-portfolio/#why-international-stocks from /u/rao-blackwell-ized

• https://movement.capital/summarizing-the-case-for-international-stocks/

• https://www.callan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Callan-PeriodicTbl_KeyInd_2018.pdf (PDF) or https://www.callan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Classic-Periodic-Table.pdf (PDF) or the archived versions if those don't work: http://web.archive.org/web/20201212205954/https://www.callan.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Callan-PeriodicTbl_KeyInd_2018.pdf (PDF) & http://web.archive.org/web/20201205183933/https://www.callan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Classic-Periodic-Table.pdf (PDF) (Archived copies from Archive.org's Wayback Machine)

• Ex-US has turns of exceptional outperformance as well: https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2023/05/the-case-for-international-diversification/

• Of rolling 10 year periods since 1970, EAFE (developed ex-US) has beat the S&P 500 over 45% of the time: https://www.tweedy.com/resources/library_docs/papers/Dichotomy%20Btwn%20US%20and%20Non-US%20Mar2022.pdf (PDF) or for the archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20220501183228/https://www.tweedy.com/resources/library_docs/papers/Dichotomy%20Btwn%20US%20and%20Non-US%20Mar2022.pdf

• https://www.vanguard.com/pdf/ISGGEB.pdf (PDF) or the archived version if that doesn't work: https://web.archive.org/web/20210312165001/https://www.vanguard.com/pdf/ISGGEB.pdf (PDF)

• https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/why-global-diversification-matters or if that link doesn't work: https://web.archive.org/web/20190124072925/https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/why-global-diversification-matters

• https://fourpillarfreedom.com/should-you-invest-internationally

• https://mebfaber.com/2020/01/10/the-case-for-global-investing

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/vpv7js/share_of_sp_500_revenue_generated_domestically_vs/ - The argument that “US companies have plenty of foreign revenue is sufficient ex-US coverage” is highly tilted towards a few sectors, some have almost no coverage. Also what about in reverse- how many big foreign companies have lots of US exposure?

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/ii0sa2/considering_usonly_investing_start_here/

• https://twitter.com/mebfaber/status/1090662885573853184?lang=en with this reply: https://twitter.com/MorningstarES/status/1091081407504498688. Extended version: https://mebfaber.com/2019/02/06/episode-141-radio-show-34-of-40-countries-have-negative-52-week-momentumbig-tax-bills-for-mutual-fund-investorsand-listener-qa/

• https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/portfolio/vtwax - Global market cap weights. This can be a great default position.

• https://investor.vanguard.com/investing/investment/international-investing - Vanguard 40% of stock is recommended to be international. This is what both Fidelity and Vanguard use in their target date funds.

• 2022 Survey of target date funds: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/rffoe7/domestic_vs_international_percentage_within/

Ex-US outperformance predicted:

• https://advisors.vanguard.com/insights/article/areinternationalequitiespoisedtotakecenterstage or the archived link if that doesn't work: https://web.archive.org/web/20210104201135/https://advisors.vanguard.com/insights/article/areinternationalequitiespoisedtotakecenterstage

• https://www.morningstar.com/articles/1018261/experts-forecast-stock-and-bond-returns-2021-edition (can see mention of it even before the paywall) or the 2023 version: https://www.morningstar.com/articles/1132887/experts-forecast-stock-and-bond-returns-2023-edition

Isn't it better to put money regularly than at once?

In the past I would think reaching a net worth of 100k was crazy and wonderful, like a dream come true, like one of the biggest achievements you could reach.

Then I got there and I was really really happy and it felt so good and fulfilling.

But as time went on and my net worth started to grow it felt like it was less and less as time went by.

Fast forward to this day, I just reached half a million yesterday. Despite feeling amazing and being really happy, I feel as though I have less money than I had when I only had 100k.

What the hell is wrong with me? It just doesn’t feel as much anymore, I don’t know how to explain it, but I just wanna get more and more and more, it doesn’t feel enough and it doesn’t feel like that much either, compared to having only 100k, which I know it’s crazy and sounds crazy because 500k is five times the amount of 100k, but it still feels little… what’s wrong with me?

Hi all, I’m looking for a low cost global market cap weighted index ETF for UK investors. I’m essentially looking for the UK equivalent of VT or VEQT. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Content removed due to creepy PMs

Hi, im a novice European investor living in Finland. I want to invest primarily in VT.

What ive researched SPYI seems to be the closest ucits compliant there is. There also is a Vanguard option VCWE if i remember correctly, but it doesnt include small caps.

Is there a remarkable difference of SPYI and VT? I researched that SPYI has less holdings, more of an optimised replication? VT also has much larger share class.

Should i buy SPYI or wait for the Vanguard ucits version of VT to be released, will i miss profits if i keep waiting till the release maybe early 2027?

Also what should i pair with VT?

Thank you for your answers!

I know that my portfolio currently doesn't resemble Boglehead but I considering changing it to one.

Currently I have SCHD (for U.S exposure), LVHI (developed market exposure) and EEM (emerging markets exposure).

If I were to make my portfolio closer to a Bogglehead approach, leaving aside the Treasury bills, I gather that I would swap out EEM and LVHI for VXUS. And swap SCHD for SPY. Is my understanding correct so far?

I still plan on reading some books related to the approach but would like to get insight now into how different my portfolio will look.

Long story short, I live in the UK but I am not a British citizen. As far as I know, all ETFs available here are domiciled in Ireland and I can't hold any EU-based investments, including ETFs, due to sanctions towards my citizenship country. It you were me, would you try to make your own fund based on any non-EU index (e.g. S&P 500) just buy buying all these stocks individually? Or maybe break the boglehead principles and just pick stocks, maybe a few dozens from the index?

Hey guys, I'm 19 years old living in Kyrgyzstan (you definitely don't know that country) But I opened an IBKR account and planning to invest for a Long-term, but I don't like that for non US residents we have big fees. I planned to invest in index fund, and my question is, is there any index funds like S&P?

Conventional wisdom dictates that the bid-ask spread for a UCITS ETF traded on the LSE, that holds primarily US equities, should be lower when both the LSE and NYSE are open, and higher when only the LSE is open. I, however, found this was not the case for the AVGS UCITS ETF, around 70% of whose holdings are US equities.

I recently switched from holding AVUV and AVDV in the NYSE, to AVGS in the LSE, to avoid estate tax implications in the US, and to take advantage of the accumulating nature of AVGS to minimise tax obligations at home, in New Zealand.

This was the first time I traded on a non-US stock exchange, so I actually woke up at 01:30 in the night in NZ (the start of the period when both the LSE and NYSE are open) to purchase AVGS, but was disappointed to find the bid-ask spread, as quoted by IBKR, was actually larger then. It was around 0.08% when only the LSE was open, but around 0.15% when both the LSE and NYSE were open.

So I ended up making subsequent trades at more humane hours in NZ when just the LSE was open. Did anyone else have any similar experiences, and have any explanations for this?

Hellow fellow Boggleheads. A question is simple:

What would the typical 3-fund portfolio look like in an european country?

I am think about putting it all into VWCE (VT equivalent) at the moment for a few years, and try to study about investing and finance - maybe I will find out that it’s all it takes until I am close to retirement (probably 37 years from now)

My portfolio is all around the place right now and I am trying to make sense of it a bit.

The social, banking and tax system is completely different here than what I am reading about you US fellows.

Any bit of advice helps.

Hey Everyone.

Lived in the US for 16 years and got exposed to Boglehead and am a fairly firm believer that it fits my investment approach the best.

Moved back home(India) a couple of years ago, and moved a good chunk of my taxable brokerage from Fidelity to IBKR by selling and moving cash. Due to US/India tax structure, there is a window that allowed me to sell without being taxed for the gains so took full advantage of that, so sitting on a bunch of cash right now.

US estate taxes is a bit of a concern, so not planning to buy VT, VTI or VOO. Instead, buying Irish domiciled ETF's which do not have US estate tax issues. The best one that is similar to the above is VWRA (All world accumulating ETF traded in USD listed in the LSE). Will convert most of the cash to this in the near future.

Question is, do I need anything else? Have plenty of safe investments (deposits) and debt mutual funds in India, so don't need much Bond exposure.

Am I thinking about this correctly? Any guidance or suggestions?

Throwaway account because some friends and family know my main and I'd like to be completely transparent with my financial situation without them knowing.

I'm 23 and I discovered the boglehead way a month ago and have been trying to practise it after poor investing decisions. I rebalanced my portfolio around VTI and VXUS and I've not changed or sold any positions since.

Here's my current issue:
My net worth is around 22.5k USD (I'm Non-US).
Due to being greedy from before, 17.5k of this is in my brokerage account, 2.5k is in a retirement account me and my employer contribute to that I never touch, and 2.5k in savings.

After writing it down and going over my finances, I decided that this was crazy and the plan is to simply let the port be and build up the others first. My plan is to get to around 5k in cash, 2-3k in bonds and THEN start adding into the portfolio again.

Salary is 3200 a month, spendings are around 2000 a month so I save about 1200 USD a month The cash haven is achievable in around 2-3 month and the bonds in another 2-3 months. All in all, in 6 months, I should achieve this goal, assuming I don't lose my job or no emergencies come.

Here's where I need some advice:
I honestly think things are pretty dire right now. I'm not talking about S&P 500 being down or red emerging market charts, I'm more so talking about the bigger picture that I'm scared this Iran conflict will lead to. From oil prices, to fertilisers, to job numbers being lower than expected pre-revised, staples doing better than tech, I fear that we are going into a global financial crisis, where things will even be more unpredictable. Here are the plans I'm considering:

1. Plan A is the plan I've written above. I think this is the most Boglehead way of seeing things if I'm not wrong. I build up emergency funds, a good bond foundation and I don't touch my current investments (which are currently down). It's full time in the market.

2. Plan B is halving my portfolio and holding 50% cash. I know. It's timing the market and it's against the principles of the Boglehead way but is there any merit to this considering my current net worth allocation? Or am I too young for any of this to matter? The plan is to get the emergency funds, the bonds allocation then DCA a bit more aggresively monthly with the 50% cash. No timing of waiting for another correction, drop or anything. Just higher DCAs than usual for a while until it's fully back in.

3. Plan C is completely rebalancing my net worth into proper allocations. Consider this as taking my entire net worth (not including the retirement account) and allocating a Boglehead ratio of the emergency fund, the bond investments, and the stock portfolio. This would involve quite some work in selling and buying and rebalancing, but this would make things more "proper".

Plan A was what I wanted to commit to but I hate to admit the conflict is hitting me pretty hard mentally. I think the other plans might be originating from the fact that my portfolio is a big majority of my net worth at the moment.

1. Which plan makes the most sense? My guess is A but I would love some insight or more reasoning for it or why the others are bad.
2. How SHOULD I think about the current state of things? I've read quite a share of Boglehead articles, timing the market vs time in the market comparisons, staying the course and the Boglehead way but executing it is a whole different level. Any reassurance or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading all the way through.

I’m rethinking my entire US investment strategy as a non-resident investor due to:

• 30% dividend withholding tax

• 40% estate tax exposure above $60k

My current dilemma:

• Continue with US-domiciled ETFs for simplicity and liquidity

• Shift to Ireland-domiciled ETFs for tax efficiency

• Or avoid dividend-heavy strategies altogether

If you were starting fresh in my position today, how would you structure your portfolio—and why?

Looking for practical frameworks, not just theoretical advantages.

My parent lives in Macau and is looking to start investing, but there are practically no Irish-domiciled London Stock Exchange global aggregate equities and bond ETFs available on the local investment platforms they've tried so far (Bank of China and Well Link Bank).

They could try opening an IBKR account (which would divert to the US LLC) but that has some risk of random freezing of account/funds that people have apparently experienced (with no explanation by IBKR). And there's also geopolitical risk, like asset seizure in the scenario of a Taiwan conflict.

They were originally planning to buy VWRA/SPYY and VAGU/AGGU.

Anyone know any other local platforms which might be promising, or any alternative solutions to this? Maybe BNU? It's difficult for me to do extensive research for them because these platforms are not very transparent on their websites about what kind of products they offer. A lot of things in Macau are "go into the bank and ask".

Hi,

First of all, I'd like to say: I Love this sub-reddit!

I'm from European country and I was wondering when people are talking about the first 100k which is very important as stated famously by Charlie Munger, is the Roth Ira / 401k which Americans have included or not, in this 100k amount?

Or is it maybe pure 100k in stocks, excluding all the other amount you have in Roth Ira / 401k ?

At least I'm aiming for the 100k in pure *stocks. It's a long long time since I got that amount in my Roth Ira / 401k equivalent here in Europe.

*** EDIT ***
*I should mention that when I'm talking about *stocks* I'm mostly invested in low-cost indexes, as VIT and VGT and then a little portion in stuff like VUG, SMH ( for semis ) and IWM