FLKR
Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF
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Recommended stocks / ETFs that are not closely tied to the US market
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I invest in region & country specific ETFs, due to believing I have better knowledge of international affairs & politics that can out-perform ex-US indexes. But I don't particularly recommend that same approach to those without my international affairs interests & education. My two biggest holdings last year were EWY and EWP (Korea and Spain), though I'd recommend FLKR over EWY in general (lower cost) and I don't recommend EWP this year (last year it was my second best performer). South Korea went gangbusters last year due to the post-coup-attempt bounce-back + Samsung + SK Hynix. FLKR is a great pickup if you want both Samsung + SK Hynix (both component suppliers for AI data farms, etc.) + industrial and defense stocks. Spain had excellent success last year due to demographic advantages over other European countries & the Socialist government's ability to pass common-sense legislation despite expectations of political chaos. Conservatives have been winning regional elections in the last few months however, giving a more unstable feeling to the business environment. EZA (South Africa) could be good IF you expect a continued commodities boom. Trump hates South Africa though, so there's some minor risk there, depending on how smoothly you think Chinese multinationals can replace American multinationals if Trump trade's policies significantly harms business ventures like Ford South Africa. VXUS is great if you don't want to switch in and out of various countries & regions every few years as fundamentals change.
I don't know that you can invest in SK or Samsung. There are foreign ordinary share classes but I don't believe that either actually trade - perhaps they did at one point. "What's the best stock/etf/index to use to invest into South Korea economy with heavy weight toward Samsung and SK Hynix?" FLKR, EWY or if you want something spicy, the 3x KORU.
FLKR has paid more dividends historically because it had capital gains distributions.
FLKR is the only thing green for me right now 😂
FLKR also exists if you want lower fees & more coverage, but it has much lower volume so not well suited for trading or options.
FLKR is another cheaper ETF option. You could also buy Samsung on the London Stock Exchange through IBKR
Full port FLKR and chill
I went heavy on MU. And for some international exposure picked up FLKR which is a South Korean ETF that's 40% Samsung & SK Hynix.
My advice is to not look at it as "all or none." A series of small steps/victories will be something that improves your mental wellbeing (and probably your financial returns). Maybe take a triage approach. For me, I would say divesting from US-based assets would be top priority, and best chance to outperform, but you have to decide based on your priorities (ICE? Gaza? etc?). A simple move into index ETFs of countries or regions that are more progressive might be a good start. FLCA is a basket of Canadian stocks FLMX is Mexico FLKR is South Korea etc. Best of luck. I agree with your premise. Economic participation is no longer neutral. If you own Mag7, for example, your capital is propping up ICE.
My exposure to Samsung is through FLKR... so kinda hedged by owning broad Korea basket... still happy with over 100% gain over past 12 months.
VXUS EUFN EPU ARGT FLKR are were my allocations are and they’ve done great so far.
I like FLKR more, lower fees. Not good for options/frequent trading though because of high bid/ask spread
If you’re going international check out the following EVLU, AVDV, FLKR
"most years" US outperformance was based on Free Trade policies pursued by the government in Washington DC at the time. Currently, the government in Washington DC is pursuing Trade War policies that have impacts on capital flows which will naturally result in diminished foreign demand for US based equities. The old policy (Free Trade) produced a valuation premium for US equities. The new policy (Trade War) is removing that valuation premium. Unless and until the government in Washington DC pursues a different set of policies, Ex-US stock markets will continue to outperform. Here are 12 month returns (as of Friday) for a selection of various markets as reflected in ETFs 1 year returns: SPX ... 13.84% - S&P 500 - largest 500 US domiciled corporations. VXUS... 30.04% - Global, excluding US FLCA... 31.09% - Canada VPL... 32.97% - Pacific Region FLMX... 53.22% - Mexico FLKR... 99.15% - South Korea
There's also FLKR which has a much lower expense ratio than EWY.
They also have ETFs for individual countries... which I find fun. FLKR, for example, is South Korea stocks and it is pretty high-tech as you might imagine. Another example, FLCA, holds Canadian companies. Heavy on banks.
I had 0 international exposure but just now getting into FLKR with 70 shares. Hopefully not too late. Looked at EWY but went FLKR for the lower fees.
The DAGA trade (Divest America Generate Alpha) has been massively profitable. 1 year returns: SPX ... 13.84% VXUS... 30.04% FLCA... 31.09% VPL... 32.97% FLMX... 53.22% FLKR... 99.15% Korea and Mexico have wider volatility. Total world (ex-US) and Canada had more steady outperformance (more than double the returns of US stocks).
Idk if there are KOSPI tracking ETFs, but I've been investing in FLKR since December 2024, and it's done really well. It has the lowest fees of any Korea index fund I've seen. EWY is probably better if you're looking for trading volume or options, although its fees are much higher.
If you buy FLKR or EWY, it's like 40-50% Samsung/SK Hynix. The rest is really cheap value stocks.
Yeah, that's the difference between active investment and passive DCAing into an ETF. I agree that South Korea (and Japan) has long term structural challenges...but what I meant by "having a moment" is that FLKR is up 77% YTD. I'm about a month away from long term capital gains, at which point I'm planning to cash out most of my investment.
need to register as investor in korea. There are ETFs like FLKR that hold it but its such a small holding that its not really significant
I didn't sell all of it, but FLKR(Korean stock index ETF). Built a HUGE position in April, but slowly trimmed it as the price went up to be less concentrated and manage risk. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I went all in.
FLKR for South Korean equity. It has amazing YTD performance, but prior to 2025 it looks kind of flat. I’d be concerned about volatility on this one. But if you wanna buy, I like Franklin Templeton’s regional ETF offerings. Good luck.
- Buying silver in March 2020 and selling it in Summer 2020. Doubled my money in just a few months. - Buying FLKR/EWY(South Korean ETFs) late last December. Up 45-50% on my investment in just a few months
+41.5% YTD for FLKR/EWY vs +7% for SPY
1. International stocks, which have much more favorable valuations. I'm up 40% on FLKR in 2 months. 2. treasury bonds yield 5%, or TIPS yield 2.7% after inflation. This is much higher than the earnings yield on QQQ. >even if we have another 2008, I think QQQ pulledback around 55% then. From 2000 to 2009, QQQ dropped by 75% over the span of a decade. We are very much in similar conditions to what we saw in 2000; excessive valuations not in line with fundamentals due to hype over new technology, macroeconomic risks(trade wars), etc.
I think the biggest issue is its hard to invest directly in SK Hynix or SK Square as a foreigner. I think European exchanges have ADR shares, but I don't think US exchanges do. I bought FLKR/EWY because I like the Korean market as a whole(very cheap, lots of great companies), and 10% of it is in SK Hynix/SK Square.
EWY/FLKR- Korean stocks are trading at a P/E of 8 and a P/B of 0.8, extremely cheap. Also Samsung/SK Hynix will benefit a ton from the AI boom. Lastly, there are signs that Korea will reach a deal with the US for the trade war soon. Hyundai/Kia also have production in the US, so they can avoid tariffs on certain models. Gladstone land- Farmland has historically done well during both recessions and stagflation, because people still buy food during recssions. It is trading 40% below its NAV, and has a >6% dividend yield, paying dividends monthly
> the federal workforce being cut in half, Not happening except at a few agencies. It's estimated that if all planned cuts are made, it's about a 5% reduction in federal workforce. But this is assuming that the moves aren't blocked under the impoundment control act. >let's add in lower government spending, Isn't really happening at a large scale. You have a few agencies that got cut hard like USAID, but we're looking at totals of just a few billion. >let's add in tax breaks for a small sliver of people who instead of giving it to the millions of people who actually spend money. Not going to engage in political discussion because it violates the subreddit rules. >Yes, I know - everyone knows - there are multiple variables at play. It's not an easy straight forward call of course, but if you add up everything that is going on, are you net negative or net positive on the 1 year, 3 year and 5 year outlook for the market? Can't give short term outlook because it depends more on sentiment than fundamentals. But I am positive for the 10-20 year outlook. I don't think we'll see the 10%+ returns people are accustomed to, but I think 4-5% returns are likely for US stocks. I am heavily invested in Korea though. As of December 2024 I moved a lot of my money to FLKR/EWY. They are going to absolutely eat up US market share in global trade. How are Ford, GM, etc supposed to compete with Kia/Hyundai when they have to pay 25% more for Steel/Aluminum, and parts, while Korea just uses domestic steel? Or how does Whirlpool compete with Samsung? Canada, Europe, etc will be depending a lot more on Korea. And when most of their companies are trading below book value, there is insane money to be made.
It has significant geopolitical risk due to China. I hold mostly VEA, I also bought a lot of FLKR at the very end of last year because I'm bullish on Korea
EWY/FLKR- Korean market is extremely cheap and owns 2 companies that are going to be instrumental in the AI boom(SK Hynix and Samsung) and a big leader in the EV boom(Hyundai)
EWY/FLKR, can't really buy South Korea companies directly as a US investor
AFAIK retail investors can't buy it directly on the korran stock market. There is a GDR on london and ADRs but they don't have a lot of volume. Th best way is probably $EWY with samsung at 20.79% weightage. $FLKR is also another option with 16.23% weightage in Samsung but EWY has much higher AUM Also sidenote Samsung is extremely diversified. They have a duopoly in amoled screens used in phones(Only LG can only make ones in TVs but not smaller ones like in phones )with the other company being BOE Techbology which is chinese and kinda state sponsored. They also are one of the few companies that can make 5g modems with the others being Qualcomm, mediatek, Huwaei and Unisoc but since Huwaei and Unisoc are banned in the USA they have a triopoly there. They also make 5g equipment for telcos but they have low market share but there are rumours they are planning to buy Nokias mobile networks division which would make them the second biggest one behind Huwaei.
You can buy FLKR which is an ETF with 20%+ weight to Samsung. It basically follows Samsung's stock identically and pays a decent dividend. Used to hold it myself.
Funny you mention this because I started an overweight position today in FLKR (Korea ETF, low expense ratio). Korea got engulfed in retail stock buying euphoria and 2021 was a cool down year. If you look at recent inflows/outflows, retail (people in the country) as selling now at a loss while institutional and foreigners are buying. All this said, Korea has some challenges particularly their very high consumer debt. News in Korea has been very dour lately, folks think the economy is bad. I'm using this as an opportunity to buy as there is a general fear sentiment and Im following the smart money. Samsung is a huge part of the index and they are mainly memory. Long term growth for Samsung isn't going to play out for several years minimum. Long term though this is all about culture. Korea has rule of law, nice movies, hard workers, good schooling, people are mostly honest except for politicians that are all crooks. Sounds like the US. Their entire country is discounted imo..they should be trading at a better multiple. Suggest having a look for fun at SFGIX holdings. Those folks are imo one of the best emerging market managers... Id buy the fund if the fee weren't so high. Good information can be taken from their quarterly reports. They are very very overweight Korea, underweight China.
$FLKR? Or another Korean one? Seems like an interesting international hedge
I like FLKR for much lower expense ratio. Less liquid but I don't really care because I buy and hold Disclosure that I own FLKR shares
My only exposure to that is via the FLKR AMD EWY ETFs. (Samsung is about a fourth of the South Korean market.)
Asian markets tanking harder than US. With their history of successful response to covid, South Korean markets could rebound better/more quickly. I may add to my EWY/FLKR positions.
I believe AVUV and AVDV are way to go. Would rather mix with mid cap than SP500. From risk perspective, this is best adjusted return you can achieve. My portfolio 40% AVUV 30 %AVDV 10 % EWT (Taiwan) 10 % FLKR (Korea) 10 % SCHM (us mid cap)
I like this idea. Here are 3 US ETFs for anyone else interested. $EWY $FLKR $KORU [https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080515/top-3-south-korea-etfs.asp](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/080515/top-3-south-korea-etfs.asp)
Hell yeah. 20+% in Samsung (and subsidiaries) in FLKR's portfolio. Decent dividends too.
The eft FLKR is one way to get a piece of Samsung & the SK market. Low fees too.
Don't overlook FLKR. low fee South Korea fund with exposure to Samsung, LG and Kia.
FLKR is my best performing ETF for the last year or so. Bought it to get after Samsung
I was reading a post the other day on reddit saying there might be a shift toward international stocks so I’m looking at this South Korean focused ETF FLKR
FLKR South Korea fund is interesting. Samsung, LG and Kia...
South Korea EFT funds. You can't invest directly in their market, only through funds if you live in the US. FLKR for example has positions in Samsung, LG and Kia motors.
EFTs that invest in foreign markets that I cannot directly invest in are really the only ones of interest for me. South Korea is a great example. I can't invest in Samsung or LG, but I can buy FLKR.
Living in Korea? Can you invest some in the Korean markets? Samsung, LG, KIA or?. I like Korean equities and have a portion of my portfolio in FLKR, a SK EFT. Otherwise I like some of your list. Dis, Aapl, D. Others to consider- Eqnr, Eric & you might diversify some into financials, fin tech & medical stocks/funds. I'm not a crypto guy, but some fintech stocks give you exposure to crypto. It also never hurts to put a certain percentage into the S&P500 for diversication. This is NOT financial advice.
Those Franklin Templeton country-specific ETFs are great. Hope they add more to the list, there’s demand there and they are so much cheaper than ishares. I stumbled across FLKR when I was trying to fill a Korea hole in the portfolio.
I would continue buying international tech and fintech sectors. Specifically targeting South Korea and Central/South America. FLKR, STNE, JUMIA, NPSNY... This is NOT investment advice.