Building a Borderless Portfolio

The annual Forbes International Investing Guide has an interesting profile of Rob Gensler, who manages the T. Rowe Price Global Stock Fund. Gensler doesn’t use the term “borderless” but he does note that the line between “domestic” and “international” investing is increasingly blurry.

A good number of global funds have a manager to handle the U.S. portion of the portfolio and another to pick the international stocks. “But you can’t break the world up into pieces,” Gensler says, pointing out that 30% of the profits reported by S&P 500 companies now come from outside the U.S., up from an estimated 14.5% five years ago.

Still, the old “domestic vs. foreign” mindset remains all too common among many fund managers:

Gensler is dismayed that Americans who manage foreign funds often know too little about the scene overseas. “Half their managers and analysts don’t even have passports, while I’ve been going to China since 1983,” he boasts. “I do a quarter-million air-miles a year.”