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Recommendations for increasing foreign stock allocation

#1
I am 63 years old and still working.  I enjoy my job and would like to keep working until around 70, if my health and company cooperate :-)
 
I met with a wealth advisor recently and one of the things he had an issue with was my asset allocation. In my Fidelity accounts, I have been doing mostly my own investment selections.  The company 401K (also at fidelity) has a limited set of investment choices, but I am old enough, and the company plan allows me to do in service rollovers, so for the last couple of years I have been rolling the 401K into a rollover IRA account.
 
According to Fidelity, the rate of rate of return for my accounts has been:
 

YTD †
1-Year
3-Year
5-Year
10-Year
Since Inception*All Accounts
+8.57%
+18.06%
+13.35%
+14.96%
+17.11%
+14.79% 01/31/2003
S&P 500 Index
+6.47%
+16.24%
+12.52%
+13.12%
+10.67%

 
I currently only have around 3% in foreign stocks, and am underweight in bonds as well.  Any suggestions on ETFs/funds/individual stocks/ADRs to increase my foreign holdings?
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#2
Wait just a minute.....let me see if I understand you correctly......you have averaged 14.79%.....did your wealth advisor help you attain this average? If, so, continue on, he or she is doing a great job. Or if you managed this on your own then maybe you should be dishing out some advice on what to invest in going forward.
 
But, if you are looking for ideas to consider, I am currently have some investments in Brazil more as a short term trade based on upcoming elections in that country which has raised some uncertainties and also I see currency as possible driver of future returns if the currency improves.
 
The downside is if the Labor Party gets elected, that they have a less than favorable outlook on businesses and a capitalist system, and secondly, if currency continues to weaken it will have an adverse affect on the ADR's.
 
Here is a list of stocks I currently hold that I feel are undervalued......not a recommendation to buy.....but do your homework and decide if something like this fits into your investing strategy
 
Symbol     Industry      
ELP          Electric
EBR         Electric
BDORY    Bank
SBS        Water
PBR       Oil
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#3
wudged I am sorry, but aren't those a bit too risky for someone just expanding into foreign stocks? You have a pulse on the Brazilian situation which is difficult to acquire for someone not living there to evaluate the risk/reward of that potential short-term value play.
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#4
Loren_Ver - First, let me say I am not recommending anyone go out and buy these stocks without doing your own homework. As an emerging market, I see this this area a lot safer out of the 4 BRIC countries. Just take a look at the governments of the other 3. And, my picks are in areas that are necessities for people, they will always be there. They are companies that are not likely to crash and burn and depending on how the election turns out these investment could turn in something that might be much longer term investment.



But, like I mentioned to Vilgan, maybe he should just continue on doing what he has been doing since he already has a great return over a long period of time.
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#5
Hi Vilgan, I join the others in congratulating you for a remarkable achievement. Beating the SP 500 for an average of 7 points per year over 10 years is remarkable. As you are probably aware the stat that goes around is that 80% of the money managers do not even reach SP 500 returns in a single year, let alone over 10, and let alone by 7 points.

Whatever you do, keep doing it, you do not need international and you do not need a money manager IMHO. As other have said, you are likely exposed to international by other investments in US firms that sell abroad anyway.

And if you will be so kind to tell us your strategy for achieving this success, we will all be grateful
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#6
Actually your underweight in foreign stocks has bode well for your returns this year. The US stock markets have in general, outperformed foreign markets. I got rid of CQQQ China tech couple of months ago. I dumped my emerging market ETF last month. And a couple of weeks ago sold VGK Europe and VEA developed countries ETF’s. All losses this year. Just seems US centric ETF’s are outperforming foreign. Not to say this will always be the case. But the US economy is now hitting on all cylinders. The current bull market is the longest in history. And barring some geo/political derailment, has legs to continue...until it doesn’t. I know there is a school if thought that Diversification should include foreign stocks. Up until recently, I embraced that. Hopefully when one area down, other up. But just seems to me all tethered together now. A high correlation. I choose to run with US for now.
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#7
One of the things that helped me was that I didn't panic when the markets had big drops, so I didn't lock in my loses and most things more than recovered. I also had some spare cash so in 2009 i invested when prices were low. Bought some BRK.B and BAC prefered in 2009. The BAC prefered were converted to common. Both of those are up > 330% since then. I did take a chance on a couple of other stocks, such as Washington Mutual which did not turn out very well, but the amount invested/lost wasn't horrible.

I have also started trading options, mostly selling covered calls, which has generated extra returns. Most of my trading is in a rollover IRA, so I don't need to worry about current taxes. My most profitable option trade (so for the profit is only on paper) was some long term call options I purchased on AMZN. I bought 2 JAN 17 20 $1200 contracts in Dec 2017. Sold one of them when the gain would cover the cost of buying both original contracts plus some gain. The other contract I kept and is currently up 320%.
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#8
Actually your underweight in foreign stocks has bode well for your returns this year. The US stock markets have in general, outperformed foreign markets. I got rid of CQQQ China tech couple of months ago. I dumped my emerging market ETF last month. And a couple of weeks ago sold VGK Europe and VEA developed countries ETF’s. All losses this year. Just seems US centric ETF’s are outperforming foreign. Not to say this will always be the case. But the US economy is now hitting on all cylinders. The current bull market is the longest in history. And barring some geo/political derailment, has legs to continue...until it doesn’t. I know there is a school if thought that Diversification should include foreign stocks. Up until recently, I embraced that. Hopefully when one area down, other up. But just seems to me all tethered together now. A high correlation. I choose to run with US for now.
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#9
It appears you have done very well. Why mess with success?  However I agree with your advisor that you should have more foreign exposure in the future. Now may be a good time given that foreign funds have lagged this year.  OAKIX is one I hold - down 9% YTD, but life-of-fund up a similar amount year-over-year mostly Europe-oriented. The Matthews family of funds have been good in Asia-Pacific region.

All things considered,  now may be a great time to build international exposure, up to maybe 15%, more if you are aggressive.
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#10
Agree with previous comments. Congratulations, you have done well so far.
 
However, if you do want to diversify more into foreign holdings, I would simply recommend an International Index Fund. Passive investment, low expense ratio, good ‘risk-adjusted’ returns.
 
Good luck & great profits!
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