The Other Kind of Diversification

I was appointed the finance correspondent for Senior Life Advisor, an online magazine for investors near or in retirement. The articles for Senior Life Advisor were designed to offer actionable information as well as items of interest about economics, investing and personal finance.

Conventional wisdom suggests that your stock portfolio should include international stocks.  Without question this idea has merit.  Does that mean you have to buy European or Asian stocks or buy an international stock fund?  That’s one way to go.  

But you can also achieve so-called “global diversification” simply by purchasing U.S. companies that derive a large portion of their revenues overseas.  Boeing, for example, an uber-industrial company generated about 56% of its total 2018 revenues outside of the United States.  

The primary benefits to this strategy are the reduction of unfavorable currency changes, transparency in financial disclosures, and in most cases greater access to U.S. legal protections.  Compare this to a large Chinese conglomerate that reports to Chinese regulators, has seen the value of the renminbi decline, and is beholden to a justice system quite different than Boeing’s.  

Source: 

Page 108, https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/12927/000001292719000010/a201812dec3110k.htm

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