Reducing American dependency from my pensions and ISA's
Discussion
Waiting to get flamed but interested if anyone else has done similar or considered the below.
With all the issues with Trump, American politics in general, American debt and possible further devaluation of the Dollar, I have been checking my portfolio.
For reference, I am in my mid-forties so a while till retirement. Debt and mortgage free
I have been through and adjusted any current holdings that were rated in USD and found the alternative or near similar alternative rated in GBP. My fear is if the USD were to be devalued quickly or on purpose I would get less GBP.
Have others done this already, am I behind the curve or am I a "chicken little" ?
Interested in constructive thoughts.
With all the issues with Trump, American politics in general, American debt and possible further devaluation of the Dollar, I have been checking my portfolio.
For reference, I am in my mid-forties so a while till retirement. Debt and mortgage free
I have been through and adjusted any current holdings that were rated in USD and found the alternative or near similar alternative rated in GBP. My fear is if the USD were to be devalued quickly or on purpose I would get less GBP.
Have others done this already, am I behind the curve or am I a "chicken little" ?
Interested in constructive thoughts.
You might have to explain what you re thinking of by a simple example.....beacuse it beats me !
e.g my biggest, by far, holding is Vanguard developed world etf VHVG quoted in GBP The vast majority of the content is USA and USD based, so the GBP/USD rate is an ever present " danger" There is no equivalent as UK does not have suitable companies to compete
I do have moderate holdings in a UK fund . Way the world is, they just wobble when USA sneezes and DJT has a bad night just the same . 2025 was better than usual and insulated a little.
I simply hold GBP "cash" savings for what I might need unexpectedly in next few years
Notice how the GBP just fell vs the USD anyway as the war got going . I wait for more enlightened menbers to wade in and solve this conundrum .
[spelling]
e.g my biggest, by far, holding is Vanguard developed world etf VHVG quoted in GBP The vast majority of the content is USA and USD based, so the GBP/USD rate is an ever present " danger" There is no equivalent as UK does not have suitable companies to compete
I do have moderate holdings in a UK fund . Way the world is, they just wobble when USA sneezes and DJT has a bad night just the same . 2025 was better than usual and insulated a little.
I simply hold GBP "cash" savings for what I might need unexpectedly in next few years
Notice how the GBP just fell vs the USD anyway as the war got going . I wait for more enlightened menbers to wade in and solve this conundrum .
[spelling]
Edited by PM3 on Saturday 21st March 22:10
Trump has roughly 24 months until it becomes about the next President. He has too much invested in outside interests to leave a stinking pile of poo IMO.
Is the huge UK debt pile and more stable than the US?
Is our political climate safer if Starmer goes and Rayner gets in?
The above is just other risks when looking at the UK negatively. Also if the dollar does devalue quickly the contagion will have huge negative effects all around the world.
Not disagreeing with your logic of what you have done but things could occur in the UK that makes the US a better investment option in the same way it could be worse.
Best advice is to stay away from the noise created by the media and the toxic Trump thread as a perfect example, as you will only ever see negativity and sensationalist partisan b
ks.
Also if Warren Buffett stops believing in the US then you should be worried but you'll only find that out way after the event.
Is the huge UK debt pile and more stable than the US?
Is our political climate safer if Starmer goes and Rayner gets in?
The above is just other risks when looking at the UK negatively. Also if the dollar does devalue quickly the contagion will have huge negative effects all around the world.
Not disagreeing with your logic of what you have done but things could occur in the UK that makes the US a better investment option in the same way it could be worse.
Best advice is to stay away from the noise created by the media and the toxic Trump thread as a perfect example, as you will only ever see negativity and sensationalist partisan b
ks.Also if Warren Buffett stops believing in the US then you should be worried but you'll only find that out way after the event.
I did.
Take a look at this security at justETF: Xtrackers MSCI World ex USA UCITS ETF 1C – https://www.justetf.com/en/etf-profile.html?isin=I...
Might not be the right thing to do now the dollar is strengthening though it worked last year.
Take a look at this security at justETF: Xtrackers MSCI World ex USA UCITS ETF 1C – https://www.justetf.com/en/etf-profile.html?isin=I...
Might not be the right thing to do now the dollar is strengthening though it worked last year.
PM3 said:
^^^^ Xtrackers MSCI World ex USA UCITS ETF 1C USD IE0006WW1TQ4
.......an excluding USA fund , based in USD .
The ETF listing currency is largely irrelevant to your actual currency exposure and underlying returns. Though your broker's charge for currency conversion on purchase + sale might make it worth buying a GBP listing (e.g. HL charges 0.2-1%, I'm sure others are better/worse)........an excluding USA fund , based in USD .
Similar age to OP and my general approach has been to leave the longer term (e.g: pension) investments as they are i.e: US-heavy allocation whilst accumulating each month so the peaks and troughs will (hopefully) work out in the long run.
Slightly different approach in my ISA where I hold the ex-MSCI etf mentioned above with USA currently around 40% and then various other ETFs covering EM, bonds and untill recently a Gold ETC (SGLN). I think over-weighting the FTSE 100, EM large cap and the small allocation to gold did help over the last year and a bit but it's lot of extra time faffing about with rebalancing and not to mention trading costs.
.....Part of me questions whether I would of been better off sticking to a single global equity fund (market cap weighted) and getting on with life. DYOR as always.
Slightly different approach in my ISA where I hold the ex-MSCI etf mentioned above with USA currently around 40% and then various other ETFs covering EM, bonds and untill recently a Gold ETC (SGLN). I think over-weighting the FTSE 100, EM large cap and the small allocation to gold did help over the last year and a bit but it's lot of extra time faffing about with rebalancing and not to mention trading costs.
.....Part of me questions whether I would of been better off sticking to a single global equity fund (market cap weighted) and getting on with life. DYOR as always.
I reduced some US exposure early last year by switching a percentage of my global indexes into UK, EU, Emerging, Value etc and it proved to be a positive move. However, more of the non-US markets are starting to look extended so I'm not sure I would be as confident in doing the same today. As a one-stop-shop fund I think LifeStrategy is a good bet.
A GBP hedged fund such as IWDG will remove the impact of a weakening USD on the fund price. That will still give you the same exposure to the underlying Mag7 companies though.
Once you buy that fund you are then exposed to the impact if GBP were to weaken instead. I see holding foreign currency assets as a good hedge against a weakening British economy although I can certainly understand people wanting to reduce their US exposure.
Once you buy that fund you are then exposed to the impact if GBP were to weaken instead. I see holding foreign currency assets as a good hedge against a weakening British economy although I can certainly understand people wanting to reduce their US exposure.
Take a look at this article that might interest you https://ii.co.uk/analysis-commentary/did-it-pay-re...
Ashfordian said:
Best advice is to stay away from the noise created by the media and the toxic Trump thread as a perfect example, as you will only ever see negativity and sensationalist partisan bks.
ks.
Ashfordian said:
Also if Warren Buffett stops believing in the US then you should be worried but you'll only find that out way after the event.
I believe Warren Buffet withdrew heavily from equities across the board. He's about a hundred. Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff