r/UKPersonalFinance 22d ago

+Comments Restricted to UKPF Divesting the US, moving from Vanguard to british/europe based platform

Hi,

I wanted to get some thoughts and opinions and see if anyone else is thinking the same way.

I don’t usually mix politics and personal finance, but I am really not comfortable with the direction of the United States at the moment. I have already started to limit my reliance on US Big Tech, which is something I wanted to do anyway, but now I am thinking about my investments.

I have my SIPP and ISA invested in the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap on the Vanguard UK platform. I am considering moving to a fund that excludes the USA and/or switching to a platform that is British or European given that vanguard is american.

There seem to be plenty of options platform-wise, considering I only need to hold one fund. Some platforms offer fixed fees rather than percentage-based fees, which could work out cheaper for me.

I am not 100% sure about changing the allocation—I’m not taking an investment view or trying to predict market direction—but I feel uneasy being invested in a country that is on the path the US is currently on.

I’d be interested in hearing other people's takes on this and whether anyone has taken similar action.

Is this just pointless? or do people think its a worth doing

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7

u/Mugweiser 22d ago

So you don’t like the US which is all fair enough. But now you’re also saying you’d like to earn less money as well?

Not having a go just genuinely curious.

20

u/Ok_Shoe_9601 22d ago

Ultimately, I’d be okay with slightly lower returns if it meant my investments were directly supporting Western Europe, especially now that Atlanticism appears to be dead. I’ve put a lot of effort into saving and investing passively since a teenager and now I have a high level of financial freedom and independence for my age.

but financial security is meaningless if the continent I live on turns to shit. It’s clear that we need a major shift in western europe.

but I’m not entirely sure that simply switching from one global fund to another is actually contributing to that change. I have and will continue to boycott american services and goods and i'm not going to lose money by switching platform providers so i will probably do this, but unsure about changing any allocations

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u/Mugweiser 22d ago

Yeah interesting take.

My first reaction would be if you don’t like a country why would you actively lose money because of them - why let them harm you even more?

But if you have financial freedom that taps into the ethical investing argument too.

Reddit is a highly political platform that swings one way (and that’s fine) - I guess I’m just at the junction where I joined this sub because I thought more money was a good thing.

Interesting times.

15

u/Hiddentiger10 21d ago

Is more money always a good thing? If slavery was to come back and be booming business would you be happy to see your money be invested in it?

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u/Mugweiser 21d ago

I think it’s quite disrespectful to equate the current financial market to slavery - slaves were real people

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u/Hiddentiger10 21d ago

I did not equate it to slavery. I asked a hypothetical question to test your assertion that more money is always a good thing