TL;DR
MSCI World has delivered ~5% real CAGR since 1970, slightly below US equities' ~6.5% but with materially lower country-specific risk. Useful baseline for globally diversified FIRE plans.
In short
MSCI World covers ~23 developed markets weighted by market cap. US dominance has grown from ~40% in 1990 to ~70% in 2024. Adding emerging markets via MSCI ACWI brings global exposure closer to true 'all countries' but adds volatility.
We're working on a full deep-dive for this article — including historical data, charts, and worked examples. In the meantime, you can run a free simulation to explore the underlying numbers yourself.
Frequently asked questions
- MSCI World or MSCI ACWI for FIRE?
- ACWI for full global exposure; World if you want to exclude emerging markets. The cost difference is small (5–10bp).
- What's the cheapest UK-accessible MSCI World ETF?
- Vanguard FTSE All-World (VWRL/VWRP) at 0.22%, or iShares MSCI World (SWDA/IWDA) at 0.20%, both ISA-eligible.
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