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355 lines
13 KiB
TypeScript
355 lines
13 KiB
TypeScript
import Link from 'next/link';
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import { Alert, AlertDescription, AlertTitle } from '@/components/ui/alert';
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import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button';
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import { Info } from 'lucide-react';
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import { AuthorBio } from '@/app/components/AuthorBio';
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import { FaqSection, type FaqItem } from '@/app/components/FaqSection';
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import type { Metadata } from 'next';
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const faqs: FaqItem[] = [
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{
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question: 'How much of my portfolio should be domestic?',
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answer:
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'A common approach is market-cap weighting globally (roughly 55–60% US, 40–45% international today). Some investors keep 10–30% home tilt for currency needs, but large overweights increase concentration risk.',
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},
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{
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question: 'Does currency hedging remove home bias?',
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answer:
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'No. Hedging manages currency volatility but does not reduce country/sector concentration. Home bias is about overweighting domestic equities relative to their global weight.',
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},
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{
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question: 'Are there times when a home tilt makes sense?',
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answer:
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'Yes. If you have future liabilities in local currency (housing, tuition) or you want to simplify taxes, a modest tilt can be justified. Keep it intentional and sized.',
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},
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{
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question: 'What about emerging markets?',
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answer:
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'Global indexes already include emerging markets (EM). Adding a small EM tilt is optional; avoid excluding EM entirely to prevent regional concentration.',
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},
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{
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question: 'How do I reduce home bias in practice?',
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answer:
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'Replace single-country funds with global or All-World ETFs. Set an allocation policy (e.g., 80% global cap-weight, 20% local tilt) and rebalance to it instead of reacting to headlines.',
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},
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];
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export const metadata: Metadata = {
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title: 'Home Bias in Investing: Why It Matters and How to Fix It',
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description:
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'Home bias concentrates risk in one country. Learn why it happens, how it hurts returns, and simple steps to global diversification.',
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alternates: {
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canonical: 'https://investingfire.com/learn/home-bias-in-investing',
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},
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openGraph: {
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title: 'Home Bias in Investing: Why It Matters and How to Fix It',
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description: 'Reduce country concentration, improve diversification, and stay tax aware.',
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type: 'article',
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siteName: 'InvestingFIRE',
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url: 'https://investingfire.com/learn/home-bias-in-investing',
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images: [
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{
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url: 'https://investingfire.com/apple-icon.png',
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width: 180,
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height: 180,
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alt: 'InvestingFIRE Logo',
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},
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],
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},
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};
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export default function HomeBiasPage() {
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const jsonLd = {
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'@context': 'https://schema.org',
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'@type': 'Article',
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headline: 'Home Bias in Investing: Why It Matters and How to Fix It',
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author: {
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'@type': 'Organization',
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name: 'InvestingFIRE Team',
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},
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publisher: {
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'@type': 'Organization',
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name: 'InvestingFIRE',
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logo: {
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'@type': 'ImageObject',
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url: 'https://investingfire.com/apple-icon.png',
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},
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},
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datePublished: '2025-01-24',
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description:
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'Understand home bias, its risks, and practical steps to diversify globally while respecting local tax rules.',
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};
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return (
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<article className="container mx-auto max-w-3xl px-4 py-12">
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<script type="application/ld+json" dangerouslySetInnerHTML={{ __html: JSON.stringify(jsonLd) }} />
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<nav className="text-muted-foreground mb-6 text-sm">
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<Link href="/" className="hover:text-primary">
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Home
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</Link>
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<span className="mx-2">/</span>
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<Link href="/learn" className="hover:text-primary">
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Learn
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</Link>
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<span className="mx-2">/</span>
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<span className="text-foreground">Home Bias</span>
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</nav>
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<header className="mb-10">
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<h1 className="mb-6 text-4xl font-extrabold tracking-tight lg:text-5xl">
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Home Bias: The Hidden Risk in Your Portfolio
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</h1>
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<p className="text-muted-foreground text-xl leading-relaxed">
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Overweighting your home market feels comfortable but concentrates risk. Here’s why it happens
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and how to diversify without creating tax headaches.
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</p>
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</header>
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<div className="max-w-none">
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<Alert className="mb-8">
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<Info className="h-4 w-4" />
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<AlertTitle>Bias Check</AlertTitle>
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<AlertDescription>
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If your country is less than 10% of global market cap but more than 50% of your portfolio,
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you’re taking concentrated country and currency risk.
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</AlertDescription>
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</Alert>
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<h2>What is Home Bias?</h2>
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<p>
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Home bias is the tendency to hold a far larger share of domestic stocks than their global
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weight. Investors in the US, UK, Canada, Sweden, India, and Australia all exhibit this behavior
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despite different market sizes.
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</p>
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<h2>Why It Happens</h2>
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<ul className="mb-6 list-disc space-y-2 pl-5">
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<li>
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<strong>Familiarity:</strong> You know the brands and news cycle.
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</li>
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<li>
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<strong>Currency needs:</strong> You expect to spend in your local currency.
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</li>
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<li>
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<strong>Access & regulation:</strong> Some brokers limit foreign listings (PRIIPs/UCITS).
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</li>
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<li>
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<strong>Tax frictions:</strong> Forms, withholding tax, and paperwork discourage global
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exposure.
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 className="mt-16">Why It’s Risky</h2>
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<ul className="mb-6 list-disc space-y-2 pl-5">
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<li>
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Country/sector concentration (e.g., US tech, Canadian financials/energy, Swedish industrials)
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</li>
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<li>Currency risk without diversification benefits</li>
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<li>Policy and regulatory risk (capital controls, tax changes)</li>
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<li>Missed growth in other regions and sectors</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 className="mt-16">Fixing Home Bias (Practical Steps)</h2>
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<ol className="list-decimal space-y-2 pl-5">
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<li>Measure: compare your country weight to global cap weights (ACWI/FTSE All-World).</li>
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<li>Adopt a global core: one All-World ETF (VWCE, VT, VWRA, DHHF) or IWDA+EMIM combo.</li>
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<li>Set a deliberate tilt: e.g., 20% home, 80% global. Rebalance to policy, not headlines.</li>
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<li>
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Match currency to liabilities: keep cash for near-term local spending; hedge bonds where
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available.
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</li>
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<li>Use local wrappers to handle tax but hold global funds inside them when allowed.</li>
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</ol>
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<h2 className="mt-16">Tax & Wrapper Considerations</h2>
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<p>
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You can stay globally diversified while using local tax shelters. The key is picking the right
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share class and domicile:
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</p>
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<ul className="mb-6 list-disc space-y-2 pl-5">
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<li>
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US: Avoid PFICs; prefer US-domiciled ETFs in IRAs/401k. Consider foreign tax credits in
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taxable.
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</li>
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<li>
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UK/EU: UCITS ETFs (PRIIPs compliant). Accumulating classes reduce admin in many systems.
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</li>
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<li>Canada: US-domiciled ETFs in RRSP may reduce withholding; TFSA does not.</li>
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<li>
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Sweden: ISK/KF simplify reporting; IE-domiciled ETFs help withholding compared to
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US-domiciled.
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</li>
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<li>
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Australia/NZ: Use Super for tax efficiency; outside, consider broad local + global ETFs.
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</li>
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</ul>
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<h2 className="mt-16">Evidence & Further Reading</h2>
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<ul className="mb-6 list-disc space-y-2 pl-5">
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<li>
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MSCI,"The Home Bias Effect in Global Portfolios" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://www.msci.com/research-and-insights/quick-take/did-home-bias-help"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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MSCI
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Vanguard Research,"Global equity investing: The benefits of diversification" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://www.vanguardmexico.com/content/dam/intl/americas/documents/mexico/en/global-equity-investing-diversification-sizing.pdf"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Vanguard
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Sercu & Vanpee (2012),"The home bias puzzle in equity portfolios" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199754656.003.0015"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Oxford University Press
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Fisher, Shah & Titman (2017),"Should you tilt your equity portfolio to smaller
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countries?" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://doi.org/10.3905/jpm.2017.44.1.127"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Journal of Portfolio Management
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Attig & Sy (2023), "Diversification during hard times" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0015198X.2022.2160620"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Financial Analysts Journal
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Blanchett (2021),"Foreign revenue: A new world of risk exposures" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://doi.org/10.3905/jpm.2021.1.237"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Journal of Portfolio Management
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Anarkulova, Cederburg & O’Doherty (2023),"Beyond the status quo: A critical
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assessment of lifecycle investment advice" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4590406"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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SSRN
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Goetzmann (2004),"Will history rhyme?" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://doi.org/10.3905/jpm.2004.442619"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Journal of Portfolio Management
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Ritter (2012),"Is economic growth good for investors?" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6622.2012.00385.x"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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>
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Journal of Applied Corporate Finance
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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French (2022),"Five things I know about investing" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/insights/five-things-i-know-about-investing"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Dimensional
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Bryan (2018),"World War 1 and global stock markets" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://globalfinancialdata.com/world-war-1-and-global-stock-markets"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Global Financial Data
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Episode 200: Prof. Eugene Fama (2022) —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://rationalreminder.ca/podcast/200"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Rational Reminder Podcast
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</Link>
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</li>
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<li>
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Merton (1973),"An intertemporal capital asset pricing model" —{' '}
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<Link
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href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1913811"
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className="text-primary hover:underline"
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target="_blank"
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rel="noopener noreferrer"
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>
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Econometrica
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</Link>
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</li>
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</ul>
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<div className="my-10 grid gap-4 sm:grid-cols-2">
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<Link href="/learn/where-to-park-your-money">
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<Button size="lg" className="w-full text-lg">
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Build a Global Portfolio →
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</Button>
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</Link>
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<Link href="/learn/safe-withdrawal-rate-4-percent-rule">
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<Button size="lg" variant="secondary" className="w-full text-lg">
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Plan Withdrawals →
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</Button>
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</Link>
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</div>
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<FaqSection faqs={faqs} className="my-12" />
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<AuthorBio />
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</div>
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</article>
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);
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}
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