I ordinarily like the writings of Jason Zweig, so this post is not meant as a criticism of him.  He wrote an interesting article suggesting that US investors may suffer reduced performance because they invest too much in US stocks [1].  Ideally, shouldn't investors seek out the stocks that are likely to perform the best, regardless of where they are located in our world?

Ideally, yes.  Practically, there are difficulties.  I write this as one who has always allocated more than the average to international stocks.  Investing internationally assumes several significant things:

• There will be no war that changes the amount or terms of commerce.
• There will be no legal changes that affect property rights abroad.  This includes exchange controls.
• I will get the same flow of news that an investor in the target country will get.
• I understand the differences in the accounting rules, and will not get tripped up if they are more liberal than in the US.
• I understand that regulations are different in foreign countries as well.
• Transacting in non-ADR foreign stocks from the US can be expensive for retail accounts.  Buying mutual funds that invest in foreign stocks carries expensive management fees.
• Economic policy will remain rational in the target country, or at least, better than that of the US.
• I understand the trading nuances of the target country.

Home bias is normal, around the globe.  We understand the business dynamics of our own countries far better than foreign countries, together with our understandings of accounting, regulation, exchange controls, information disclosure, legal systems, economic policy, etc.

Even within the US, there is home bias among investors to the extent that we tend to invest more in companies that are near to us - perhaps it is a greater flow of informal information.

I would encourage all of my readers to invest abroad but to do it selectively.  Does the country allow for relatively free capital flows?  Do they honor the rule of law?  Is their accounting as good as that in the US?  Are there war risks?

There are risks in investing abroad that do not exist locally.  Make sure you minimize those risks if you invest abroad.