Recently, a client sent a thoughtful email.
It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t reactive. It was honest.
They’d been following the news. Watching the dollar move. Listening to commentary that felt increasingly urgent. And after sitting with it for a bit, they asked:
“Should we be owning more investments outside the U.S.?”
We love questions like this.
Not because they signal panic — but because they signal engagement. Care. Responsibility.
If you’ve had similar thoughts lately, you’re in very good company.
When uncertainty rises — economically, politically, culturally — it’s completely normal to wonder whether your portfolio should reflect that feeling. To ask whether being “globally diversified” means doing more than you currently are.
So let’s walk through how we think about it.
For ourclients, we maintain a target allocation of roughly two-thirds U.S. companies and one-third international companies. That mix is intentional, and we do not have plans to change it based on the current news cycle.
Here’s why.
1. The Allocation Already Reflects the Global Market
The U.S. represents roughly 60–70% of the global stock market’s value. A two-thirds U.S., one-third international mix closely mirrors that global weighting. In other words, we are already investing in proportion to how the world’s equity markets are structured.
Shifting dramatically away from that would not be a neutral move — it would be an active bet that the U.S. will underperform relative to the rest of the world.
2. International Investing Comes With Tradeoffs
It’s easy to assume that “more international” means “more protection.” Historically, that hasn’t consistently been true.
International markets tend to:
- Experience greater volatility
- Carry higher investment costs
- Offer less favorable tax treatment compared to U.S. stocks
In addition, many large U.S. companies generate significant revenue overseas. Owning U.S. companies does not mean your portfolio is purely domestic. Global exposure is often embedded already.
3. Currency Moves Are Normal—Even When They Feel Alarming
The U.S. dollar has experienced volatility recently. That can feel destabilizing.
But currencies move in long cycles. What was historically unusual was the dollar’s elevated levels in early 2025. Periods of moderation are not inherently signs of collapse; they are often examples of what economists call “reversion to the mean.”
It’s also worth noting: a weaker dollar can benefit U.S. companies that sell products and services globally, because foreign earnings translate into more dollars when brought home.
The relationship between currency and market performance is rarely straightforward.
The Deeper Question
Underneath this allocation question is usually something deeper:
What if things don’t go well here?
What if we’re heading in the wrong direction?
What if I should be doing something?
Those feelings are human, and it’s common for them to show up whenever uncertainty rises.
But here’s what we know from decades of market history:
Making portfolio shifts based on fear — or confidence — in any single political administration has not proven to be a reliable wealth-building strategy.
Markets are forward-looking. They price in expectations quickly. And they regularly surprise us — often in ways no one predicted.
The purpose of a diversified portfolio is not to predict the next chapter. It’s to endure many chapters.
When anxiety rises, the most productive move is often conversation — not reallocation.
If you’ve been feeling unsettled, we welcome the dialogue. Questions like this are thoughtful. They reflect care. And talking through them is part of long-term discipline.
Staying steady doesn’t mean ignoring the world.
It means designing a portfolio strong enough to live in it.
Uplevel Wealth is a fee-only, fiduciary wealth management firm serving clients in Portland, OR, and virtually throughout the U.S.
