Some things are just too large to ignore and in investment terms, the US certainly falls into that category.
It is estimated that US markets account for around 55% of the world’s total (by way of comparison, the UK market represents about 4%).
It is astonishing to consider how US brands have become entrenched in our daily lives.
This might be in terms of leisure time (Netflix, Disney+), mealtimes (McDonalds), morning times (Starbucks) or indeed any time (Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook).
US investing was traditionally most easily achieved indirectly in the UK – for example, within the FTSE100 an estimated 70% of earnings come from overseas and it was therefore possible to gain some exposure through this channel.
In addition, overseas investment was held back by “home bias”, that is the tendency to invest in one’s own country, usually because of familiarity.
