International Rebalancing: How to Keep Your Global Portfolio Balanced

When you invest outside the U.S., you’re not just buying stocks or bonds—you’re betting on economies, currencies, and policies that move differently than what you see at home. International rebalancing, the process of adjusting your overseas holdings to maintain your target allocation. Also known as global portfolio rebalancing, it’s not a one-time task. It’s a rhythm you set to keep your money working for you, not against you. Without it, your portfolio can drift. Maybe your emerging market stocks doubled last year and now make up 40% of your global slice, when you only wanted 15%. Or maybe the euro fell 12% and suddenly your European bond fund looks like a loss, even though the underlying assets are fine. That’s not risk management—that’s luck. And luck doesn’t pay your bills.

That’s where asset allocation, how you divide your money among different types of investments comes in. You don’t just pick countries and call it done. You decide: 30% U.S., 20% Europe, 15% Asia, 10% emerging markets. Then you check. Every six months. Every year. You sell what’s grown too big, buy what’s fallen behind. It’s boring. It’s mechanical. But it’s the only way to force yourself to buy low and sell high when emotions are screaming otherwise. And it’s not just about stocks. currency risk, the chance that exchange rates will hurt your returns is real. If you own Japanese bonds and the yen drops 20%, you lose money—even if the bond pays 3% interest. Rebalancing lets you hedge that risk, or at least recognize it before it eats your gains.

Most people ignore this. They buy an international ETF and forget it. Then they panic when the market dips, or they celebrate too early when a single country surges. But investors who stick to a plan—those who check, adjust, and stay calm—end up with better results over time. You don’t need fancy tools. You don’t need to time the market. You just need a simple rule: if any foreign holding moves more than 5% off your target, you rebalance. That’s it. And you’ll find real examples of how this works in the posts below—from broker comparisons that show you where to trade globally, to guides on how correlation between U.S. and foreign markets changes during inflation spikes. You’ll see how diversification isn’t just about spreading out—it’s about staying balanced. And you’ll learn how to do it without overpaying fees, getting stuck in illiquid markets, or missing the timing that matters most.