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Get a better understanding of what international stocks are and how you can
incorporate them into your trading or investing strategy.
On this page:
Schwab's perspective
We believe a global perspective that incorporates portfolio allocations to U.S. and
international stock markets along with global benchmarks for performance are vital to
successful long-term investing.
A global perspective takes the decision about what country’s stocks to invest in and
refocuses it on seeking to invest in great ideas that span the stocks of many countries. It
requires measuring investment success differently and taking a long and broad view to
help manage risk and keep tracking toward goals. The right mix of assets for you and
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your goals should be based on your risk tolerance, cash flow needs, investing
experience and time horizon, among other factors.
• Currency fluctuation
While currency fluctuation can work in favor of the U.S. dollar, it’s always a variable
and investors should be prepared for favorable and unfavorable outcomes.
• Political instability
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Investing in international stocks is investing in the people and governments where
the foreign shares are located. Political or economic events in a foreign company’s
home country may harm your investment.
• Regulatory changes
International stock exchanges have their own rules and regulations for participating
countries and organizations. Changes in governance and financial policies can
create limitations on the access rights of foreign investors.
• Taxation
Taxes on international investments are often taxed at different rates than domestic
holdings. Similar to regulatory changes, some foreign nations may also impose
additional taxation on foreign investors.
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Simply put, home bias (or 'home country bias') is the conscious or unconscious choice of
investors to invest the entirety or majority of their assets in domestic investment products – we're
inclined to believe in and root for the things that we know best. While this may be human nature,
home-country bias limits an investor's universe of available opportunities. Worse, it may not be
prudent given the nature of today's global markets: roughly half of all global companies are
based outside the United States, which corresponds to global gross domestic product ratios.
Get more information on why global diversification matters.
What is the difference between Developed Markets (DM), Emerging Markets (EM), and
Frontier Markets (FM)?
When investing in international stocks it is beneficial to understand the differences between
developed, emerging, and frontier markets to better comprehend the risks, potential, liquidity,
and stability of international investment products.
• Developed Markets (DM) are countries who are economically the most advanced – they have
highly developed capital markets, are well regulated with higher per capita income, and have
a large market capitalization and greater liquidity. They include, but are not limited to, such
countries as the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Japan.
• Emerging Markets (EM) are countries which are currently experiencing rapid economic and
household income growth as well as rapid industrialization. As opposed to developed
markets, they tend to have lower household incomes, economic development and reform
programs under way, less maturely functioning stock and bond markets and rules of conduct,
lower liquidity, and are undergoing structural changes such as modernization of
infrastructure and/or moving from a dependence on agriculture to manufacturing. Brazil,
Russia, India, and China are examples of some emerging markets.
• Frontier Markets (FM) are another subset of international investing which may become
future emerging markets. They tend to be even less developed, have higher levels of risk than
emerging markets, little market liquidity, and only marginally developed market systems.
Some markets considered frontier are Colombia, Indonesia, Turkey, and South Africa.
It is important to note that these are not fixed definitions; different financial bodies differentiate
between developed, emerging, and frontier markets using varying criteria and what one entity
might characterize as emerging could be considered developed by another.
Get more information about emerging and frontier markets.
https://www.schwab.com/stocks/understand-stocks/international