I'm still working on fine tuning our asset allocation since my original post last week. My main purpose of this post is to get an idea of what percentage others allocate to International Stocks. I read a Vanguard article that recommended at least 20% of the equity portion in international, and as high as 40%. Based on the 120 minus age rule, our equity should be 65%. I'm turning 55 (wife 53) this year and have always been more on the aggressive side. Our current equity is approaching 74%. I'm planning to drop it to at least 70%, but not sure I'm willing to drop our equity allocation to 65%.
Two 401k's (Both administered by Voya and with the same exact funds)
663k Large Cap Index Fund that seeks to match S&P 500
175k Small-Mid Cap Index Fund that seeks to match the Russell 2500 Index
228k International Index Fund that seeks to match the MSCI AII Country World (ACWI) ex-US Index
333k Bond Index Fund that seeks to match the Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index
Two Roth IRAs (Both held in Fidelity with the same exact funds)
298k FXAIX FIDELITY 500 INDEX FUND
Joint WROS - TOD
121k FXAIX FIDELITY 500 INDEX FUND
Other
197k High Interest Savings Account Plan to move the bulk of this to a money market account
Current Allocations
Large Cap: 53.70%
Small/Mid Cap: 8.68%
International: 11.31%
Bonds: 16.55%
Cash: 9.76%
Note that we do not have access to a Total Market Fund within our 401ks. Also, I read an article that suggested that a TMF does not provide a substantial difference in diversification compared to S&P 500 Funds. Not relevant to my question regarding International stocks, but wanted to include to give a more complete picture of what's available to us and my preferences regarding our U.S. equity allocation.
My plan to add to our Bond allocation is already gutting me. The thought of also taking a huge chunk out of our S&P funds and moving to International just makes that feeling worse.
So what's your International Stock allocation, and if you agree with Vanguard and ours is too low how do you recommend we address it?
For added reference, over 100k of the cash position was the result of an inheritance. We're considering relocating this summer, so we decided not to invest any of that money to allow for some added flexibility if we do indeed purchase a new home. I anticipate that we'll invest at least 50k of that cash later this year.
Any feedback & suggestions are much appreciated.
