Hail up to the masses,

I'm relatively new on here and I have to admit that I'm loving Getquin not only as a tool for tracking my portfolios but also for the chance it provides to be a part of a community of like-minded investors working primarily outside of the US.

If you take a look at my portfolio, you'll observe that I am primarily invested in mostly US based stocks and therefore incur that annoying 30% withholding tax because my country does not have any special treaties with America. Nonetheless, I am striving to achieve financial freedom in the long term as I am in my mid 30s and have quite a few years ahead. I consider myself as a dividend growth investor in terms of my approach to the market. I make small monthly contributions of a few hundred dollars and use the ex-dividend dates on all my stocks as my target for buying (or when quality businesses are heavily discounted, like $TGT (-0,72 %) right now). I'm trying to maximize my dividend income and purchasing power by dripping them back into the same stocks as soon as possible in order to get my dividend snowball rolling.

I've noticed that most of the other users on here have more European stocks and ETFs in their portfolios. I assume this is because there is a higher level of conviction for these stocks among the investors here (not to mention the tax advantage). I too would love to tap into the European market in an attempt to truly diversify my portfolio. I do have a small position in $VXUS , which has been great exposure so far. However, I would like to look at non-US individual stocks as well.

I'm just saying all this to say that I am grateful for the lessons to be learned on this platform and the insights that can be gained as a rookie in investing.

Looking forward to seeing this adventure through and the possible rewards to be gained in the future.

Omie J Kenobi

Which ETF would you recommend for diversification in the international market (no US)?

$VXUS , $IXUS , $SCHY ?

Which others do you know?

I've been asking myself a huge doubt for weeks:

The perfect allocation I want would be 50% $VTI (-0,12 %) and 50% $VXUS ... 2 ETFs, covering the large, mid and small-cap market, low purchase commissions, very low management costs (0.05% on average) and assets divided into only two securities.

The cons of this allocation are having American distribution ETFs that pay me dividends in $ taxed at 26% immediately (living in Italy).

Perhaps, the most suitable alternative for a European investor would be to purchase 4 ETFs which, applying the right %, more or less replicate the allocation of the two above, with higher but more efficient management costs for passive investments (45% $VUAG (-0,21 %) , 34% $EXUS (+0,58 %) , 15% $EIMI (+0,29 %) , 6% $WSML (+0,8 %) ).

Having the possibility to purchase both ETFs domiciled in Europe and USA, what would you do?

Now if i look to retire at 65 (im 46) holding $VTI (-0,12 %)
$JEPQ
$BNDW
$VXUS as my long term holds and $ARCC (-1,13 %) and $ZIM (+1,06 %) for the see how it goes but if it stays in the red not to fussed stocks - anyone got suggestions on maybe what to change.

The two for fun ones (Zim and Arcc) Im not to fussed about and they are just loose change at the moment but maybe will drop more $$ in to them at a latter stage.

$BNDW
$VXUS
$VTI I make a point of putting around $400 in each month