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Investing - Theory, News & General • International (Non-US) versus US Equities (The "Arguments")

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Yup, I’m asking more for my kids Roth IRA’s
You probably already know this but in Roth IRA’s the foreign tax credit is lost and can’t be claimed. That adds approximately 26 basis points cost to the Total International Stock Fund. Add the expense ratio of 8 bp (compared to 3 for Total US Stock) and the cost of International is over an order of magnitude higher than US (34 vs 3 bp).
Does this outweigh the benefits of sheltering a much higher dividend yield though?
Yes, in my opinion it does.

International dividend yields are higher in large part because US companies favor stock buybacks over dividends as the best way to return excess cash to shareholders. This leads to stronger earnings per share growth for US companies compared to International since there is less share dilution for US companies.

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But on a math level - does the FTC reduce your tax drag enough to offset the tax drag of higher dividends in a taxable account?
In my opinion it does not.

International stock funds are very tax-inefficient due to their high dividend yield, and a greater proportion of those dividends are non-qualified (41% Total International vs 5.3% Total US) and therefore taxed at higher rates as shown here:

https://investor.vanguard.com/investor- ... ncome-2023.

A high-income earner in a state with a high income tax could lose over half of their non-qualified dividends to taxes.

Higher costs/taxes are a big disadvantage of foreign investing, there’s no escaping it.

Statistics: Posted by Billy C — Wed Aug 07, 2024 11:41 am — Replies 6668 — Views 1642130



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