Investors looking for mutual funds that hold stocks of companies from all around the globe will want to check out Vanguard global stock funds.
When you buy global stock funds, you typically get an allocation of about 40-60% U.S. stocks and 40%-60% non-U.S. stocks. This mix can make for a solid core holding to build a portfolio around or it can be a stand alone fund for an investor wanting a diversified portfolio of stocks that cover the entire world of capital markets.
Vanguard Funds has a selection of three global stock funds, each with unique allocations and objectives. Therefore, no matter your need for global coverage, one of these funds will likely fill the bill.
Vanguard Global Stock Funds
Vanguard Total World Stock Index (MUTF:VTWSX): This global stock fund offers low-cost access to thousands of stocks all over the world. The VTWSX portfolio, which passively tracks the FTSE Global All Cap Index, covers a lot of equity ground with over 7,500 stocks from all of the major regions and markets around the globe, including North America, Europe, Pacific, Middle East and emerging markets. The U.S. makes up the lion’s share of the fund, though, and top holdings like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) reflect that. Expenses for VTWSX are just 0.21%, or $21 for every $10,000 invested, and the minimum initial investment is $3,000.
Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility (MUTF:VMVFX): Vanguard’s VMVFX is unique among global stock funds in that its objective is to minimize the volatility commonly associated with international investing. The fund does this through diversification with a focus on hedging against the currency risk of foreign stocks. This strategy tends to make the fund underperform the average global fund in bull markets but outperform category peers is down markets. The expense ratio for VMVFX is 0.25%.
Vanguard Global Equity (MUTF:VHGEX): Investors looking for a low-cost, actively-managed global stock fund will like VHGEX. The fund employs a multi-manager approach, which consists of three different managers that each have distinct strategies that can add to the fund’s diversified objective. The portfolio consists of over 800 stocks with about 40% of them from the U.S. and the remainder overseas. The expense ratio for VMVFX is 0.51%.
As of this writing, Kent Thune did not personally hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. His No. 1 holding is his privately held investment advisory firm. Under no circumstances does this information represent a recommendation to buy or sell securities.
