Good to know though is that Meb is an advocator for international 
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Yep 100%, Charlie was also balanced. Sounds like heās looking down on index investing but he didnāt actually say itās bad. What never ceases to amaze me with this epic duo is how accurate and economical both are with words.
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Agreed. Your point is of course correct but orthogonal to ā¦
My point, which was really that index investors actively messing around in their portfolio with this-ETF versus that-ETF arenāt really as, ahem, passive, as they think they are.
As the hypocrite that I am, completely along your orthogonal line, I believe passive is great, especially internationally*, where I consider myself preferring to spend my time on international things (wine, cheese, bread, ā¦) that bring me joy rather than trying to understand how international companies really work, report earnings, are best fundamentally valued, etc ā¦
Narrator: āGoofy logs into his Swissquote account to look at his quite sizable VXUS position and zooms into the performance graph until heās found a time frame where VXUS returns look absolutely fabulous.ā
* Why the heck -- as a Swiss -- do
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Sure! And true. I havenāt developed my reasoning enough to address that: when I write that āactive investingā isnāt a bad word, what Iām implying is that thereās no reason to deny it when we are and want to absolutely stick a passive label to ourselves under the premise that āpassive is goodā and āactive is badā.
Messing around with our portfolios no matter if using passive ETFs is an active move.
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I think thereās a lot of dogmatism - not here but in other fora/social media - and people donāt differentiate well enough between layers of active vs passive investing vs trading vs degeneracy in r/wallstreetbets.
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Based on this recent micro-discussion, Iāll re-launch @oslasho 's poll into
folks, have you made any [significant] changes to your portfolio recently?
o yes, I am active.
o no, I am passive.
o WTF?
o Show me the results!
Iāll see myself out now.
Everyone enjoy the rest of your Easter Sunday!
Donāt fret: Easter Monday is coming up any day now!!!*
* For many of us anyhow. For those of us working today and/or tomorrow: thank you for providing your service to us lucky bastards!
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To be fair, Ben Felix mentioned multiple times that if he was a DIY investor he would hold a single āVanguard and chillā like World ETF (assuming something like VT or whatever is available in Canada). That actually surprised a lot of people in the RR community!
Holding ājustā the market with a single ETF makes active decisions, especially in bad times, less likely to happen. It is superior when it comes to psychology and behavior but also in terms of simplicity and even cost.
Now, if you behave like a machine and you want to spent more time on the field, you can differentiate slightly from the market:
a. Add some home bias. Per latest Scot Cederburg paper, anything between 10-50% domestic allocation has practically the same effect. Still the benefit is relatively small compared to 0%. Even himself hasnāt changed his portfolio - 50%-50% domestic-international allocation (he is US based)
b. Factor tilt - pursue other premiums on top of the market premium, like small cap or value. Ben Felix expects around 0.40% premium net of fees over a long period. The problem is that you may need to wait for more than 10 years for the premium to appear. Moreover many suggest that the premium especially in the US might have disappeared. In any case, even if there is no premium, the fact that tends to pay more on markets downturn, helps in bad periods.
c. ā¦
I am not sure at all that my tendency to become more active (not stock picking - but reducing exposure to US, home bias, other premiums etc) will turn out to be good long term.
He has also a nice video about US VS World:
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He would be holding something like VEQT which is Canada home bias + VT basically
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Thanks for sharing some info.
Only thing I remember from Ben Felix recommendation was 1/3 each for Canada, US & rest of the world
Never really saw the video where VT was recommended. But good to know
To replicate this ETF (which is really interesting for canadian investor) as a Swiss investor, the simpliest way would be to hold 30% of SPI + VT (and other all world ETF)?
That would roughly be a replication yes (technically youād need to subsctract the ~2.5% CH weight in VT and that also fluctuates then by time, but overall negligible)
I however think that 30% SPI would be a bit much, due to Nestle/Roche/Novartis making up 50% of the index.
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I take SPI as an example for having the total market of Switzerland. I would personnaly go with SLICHA in that case (basically what Iām doing at the moment). So my strategy to have between 20-30% of home biais is on the good train
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I disagree, that you can say that generally.
You have the benefit of true 0% withholding tax (and no struggles to claim them), and 10% of the dividends come as tax free capital gain, that you have uniquely in taxable.
CH stocks in taxable make them better than develop/emerging markets therefore.
If you would truly optimize, youād only hold developed ex-CH and emerhing markets in 3a and US/CH outside of it.
At current yields (that may change even in 10/20 years, who knows)
But that gets messy real quick.
Also depends on the size/contributions of your portfolio.
Iād just mirros the allocations, not worth it to optimize here imo.
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My strategy is: VTI in taxable and the rest of the world (1/3 of it being Switzerland) in retirement accounts. Gets me close to 70% US, 10% Switzerland, 20% rest of the world.
Eventually Iāll end up with VEA and VWO too as my taxable account is growing much faster due to much higher contributions. I guess in 5-10 years Iāll be 100% CH in retirement accounts.
Did you run the numbers on CH vs. exUS developed world within 3a?
There are 3 groups in typical 3a accounts
CH, MSCI World ex CH, EM
Dividend yield is 2.9%, 1.8% & 2.65%
Looking at this EM & CH within 3a should be better
I didnāt understand the comment about tax free capital distribution. I know what it is but I think itās not part of dividends. In your view , is it included within 2.9% or on top?
US assets are generally held in US repositories. That is also true for assets purchased through Swiss stockbrokers and āheldā in Swiss custody accounts. Likewise, assets from other countries are generally held in local repositories in those countries or regions. The situation is similar with commodities.
More important considerations are where the actual company or other entity you are investing in is domiciled, and whether or not you are registered as a shareholder or creditor with that entity. E.g. If a country where to forbid Swiss citizens from owning shares in companies, then where the stock certificates or records are held would completely irrelevant. Same thing with commodities.
Of course, there is also the flip scenario: If the country you live in were to forbid you from owning assets in another country (as the EU/Switzerland did with Russian assets, as one example), but the country where your assets are held does not, then you would remain the legal owner as per the laws of that country.
Personally, I see more logic in being geographically diversified than in putting too much trust in the political/legal framework of any one country.
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Personally, my strategy is to try to have the same allocation between my securities account and my 3a. But I think that, in the end, the best strategy for me would be to go back to the good old Viac Global 100, which is performing well; at least thatās what Iāve noticed with my partner.
Some food for thought -: BUY THE DIP & the small print
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It may just all be a misunderstanding of his unique way of winning over friends and influence people -
āThere can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,ā the president posted on his social media website Truth Social Monday morning, saying that āāPreemptive Cutsā in Interest Rates are being called for by many.ā
I mean, why would Powell worry about a little inflation from dishing out wholesale tariffs to the rest of the world 
?
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