Your point about the weakening of US institutions is a good one, @Unlikely, though I don’t think it makes the US any less attractive to invest in, at least not for now. Yes, Trump keeps bouncing around and making rash decisions, but we’re still, in my view, a few steps away from the US becoming uninvestable. And if it ever did reach that point, the fallout would be global, the carnage wouldn’t be contained to US markets, meaning investments everywhere would carry that same risk.

I also wonder if the quote from Peter Lynch "Far more money has been lost by investors trying to anticipate corrections than has been lost in corrections themselves" applies here to some degree. Namely, do we run the risk of leaving money on the table if we move away from the US at this point in time?

On Bitcoin: I can’t help but throw in my 5c here. While volumes have been written on the topic, I lean toward the view that Bitcoin is still cheap and will continue to outperform in a big for a period of time yet...certainly while the money machines are running. It already makes up more than 50% of my portfolio, and I’ll keep DCA’ing into it, and my other investments, each quartier.

Anyhow, one of the best lessons I’ve learned in investing is the “what will allow me to sleep well at night” test. So if staying away from the US (or even staying away from Bitcoin) allows your head to rest better on the pillow, then that’s something you should certainly do.

No advice of course but perhaps look at Autotrader in the UK.

Carsales of the UK but cheaper, buying back stock and growing dividend. Not sure how driverless cars impact it long term.

If you're looking for higher growth and less mature have a look at Money Forward in Japan. The Xero of Japan with a lead over competitor (Free). Note it has other business units so a bit less clean. Japan still early in the move from on prem to cloud for accounting.

Disclosure: I own both.

@Unlikely, my journey in Intl started around 2022, i had known the big US guys, but had not studied them, i thought there would be dozens of "unknown" great companies, and there were fantastic businesses all trading at 50X type multiples. they had been found before i got there, unsurprisingly. Which sent me back to the GOOg MSFT META AMZN V et al. in terms of non-US I started out keen, but as i looked, I realised it was actually harder to find the business dominance i sought. I own ASML for instance, but they are few and far between in Europe.

for ideas, i run my eye down the ETF QUAL holdings, look at some fund managers, Dataroma discloses the holdings of 80 or so of the so-called great investors

the only other thing i would add is that the US is very volatile, more so than OZ, which leads to opportunities for those with a longer than one-quarter timeframe. That has been good for me.

I would ask the question what type of US exposure you are trying to avoid and why? If the US has better companies, why would you "diworsify" to other geographies for the sake of it? Personally, I see companies like Alphabet as global companies listed on a US exchange...

Is a great question @Unlikely and I agree with your thoughts @Dominator

In my view, the trends in AI and Automation/Robotics, along with Bitcoin and Stablecoins (basically, massive shifts in the financial system), aren’t just going to continue, they’re going to accelerate, and much faster than most people expect.

If we assume that holds true, then for all its challenges, the US is still a place to invest in. I’d always stay mindful of my USD exposure, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to avoid it either. As Wayne Gretzky used to say, he was a good ice hockey player because he skated to where the puck was going, not where it had been.

Of course, you may have a different take on which mega-trends are emerging, or even if you agree with the above, you may well see better opportunities in other markets. You absolutely need to 'do you'. As for me, I just see a wave of large upside opportunities still sitting in the US.

DISC: I have exposure to AI, automation/robotics, and Bitcoin/stablecoin tokens and companies. So my opinions are also full of self-interest.