6 Comments

If you look at the updated data, 1970-2021. Due to the run in 2021, US alone has slightly outperformed vs any combination of US and international, with negligible standard deviation increase.

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Interesting! Do you have a source?

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Over the past decade I've gathered data in my compendium from numerous sources. I have to search again but it should be easily found online.

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Maybe I missed this, but while broader exposure with less volatility sounds great, if my intent is to maximize my return over a 40-60 year horizon through an index (not concerned about drops over time), would the S&P outperform a global index overall? Or at least historically?

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Hi David,

Over the last 50 years, the returns were more or less comparable.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-history-tells-us-about-the-future-performance-of-international-stocks-2021-04-02

"long-term return of your equity portfolio will not change much according to how much or little you allocate to international stocks."

But when you have more or less the same return, volatility becomes extremely important. Think about someone who were going to retire in 2000. the dot com crashed wiped more than 30% of the index and then stayed there for 3-4 years. A well diversified international portfolio would have done much better.

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Yes, S&P has outperformed a global index historically overall with lower standard deviation.

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