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3 Great Global Funds

3 Great Global Funds

Russel Kinnel: Global funds are more popular in the rest of the world than the U.S. The main reason is that the U.S. represents about 60% of the global indexes, so adding a global fund seems rather redundant if you've already got a lot of U.S. funds.

But I like the idea of having a manager who can pick the best stocks regardless of domicile. Or in the case of a passive fund, you get a complete all-in-one fund that gives you exposure to a massive amount of stocks in countries around the world. Let’s look at three of my favorites.

3 Great Global Funds These global funds earn a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver or Gold.

  1. Dodge & Cox Global Stock DODWX
  2. T. Rowe Price Global Growth Stock RPGEX
  3. Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility VMNVX

Dodge & Cox Global Stock DODWX is a Gold-rated value strategy. Dodge & Cox has a deep team of fundamental managers and analysts who take the long-term view of value. They are patient investors who focus on the best values and don’t worry too much about short-term results. Lately a surging dollar has held back results here, but that could turn into a tailwind as these trends tend to reverse.

T. Rowe Price Global Growth Stock RPGEX is a Gold-rated gem run by Scott Berg. Berg and T. Rowe’s outstanding analyst team seek out companies with underappreciated growth potential. Berg doesn’t really care too much about the sector or country weights of a fund; he just wants great companies. The fund’s down hard in 2022 because of the bear market for growth stocks and the rising dollar, but don’t let that keep you away from a fund with great potential.

Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility VMNVX is a horse of another color. This is a passive fund designed to keep volatility in check. That makes it a great choice for retired investors or people who are just risk-averse. It also hedges currency because that's another source of volatility. As you might guess, those factors means this Silver-rated fund has held up much better than other global funds. It won't always have those tailwinds, but low costs and good design should keep this fund in the winner's column over the long haul. Watch 3 Great Specialized Funds for more from Russel Kinnel.

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About the Author

Russel Kinnel

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Russel Kinnel is director of ratings, manager research, for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. He heads the North American Medalist Rating Committee, which vets the Morningstar Medalist Rating™ for funds. He is the editor of Morningstar FundInvestor, a monthly newsletter, and has published a number of prominent studies of the fund industry covering subjects such as manager investment, expenses, and investor returns.

Since joining Morningstar in 1994, Kinnel has analyzed virtually every type of fund and has covered the most prominent fund families, including Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, and Vanguard. He has led studies on the predictive power of fund data and helped develop the Morningstar Rating for funds and the Morningstar Style Box methodology. He was co-author of the company's first book, Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success (Wiley, 2003), and was author of the book Fund Spy: Morningstar's Inside Secrets to Selecting Mutual Funds That Outperform, published in 2009.

Kinnel holds a bachelor's degree in economics and journalism from the University of Wisconsin.

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