So you've crafted a plan for how you want your wealth, possessions and other assets to be distributed after you die. But what happens to your digital assets—online bank and investment accounts, social media profiles like Facebook and LinkedIn, and access to shopping sites like Amazon and eBay? This is a gray area with no definite rules for guidance. But it is possible to set up some common-sense directions to heirs that can help them manage the transfer of our digital presences along with our more tangible assets.  

One measure of U.S. technology stocks has just surpassed its dot-com bubble high, raising concerns for one widely followed strategist about unsustainable levels in U.S. stocks.

By: Evelyn Cheng
CNBC News, May 22, 2017

One measure of U.S. technology stocks has just surpassed its dot-com bubble high, raising concerns for one widely followed strategist about unsustainable levels in U.S. stocks.

The MSCI USA Growth Index, whose top three holdings are Apple, Amazon.com and Facebook, has outperformed the MSCI World Value Index so much that the ratio of their performance topped this month a high last seen during the tech bubble in 2000, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's chief investment strategist, Michael Hartnett, said in a note Monday.

Every day we enjoy the benefits of an interconnected world. We might start our day with a cup of coffee that originated in South America, check our email on a smartphone designed in California and manufactured in Taiwan, then shower and change into clothes woven from Egyptian fabrics before driving a German-made car or riding in a French-built train to work.

As consumers, we rarely think twice about the benefits of access to the cornucopia of goods the global market has to offer. Yet, as investors, we will often concentrate our portfolios in favor of our home market at the expense of global diversification. For example, while US stock markets represent just over 50% of the value of global equity markets, many US investors tend to allocate around 70% of their equity assets to domestic stocks.¹ This phenomenon, which can be observed across countries around the world, is known in the investment community as “home-country bias.” Given that certain frictions may be associated with investing abroad, a home-country bias may make sense for an investor in certain cases. For example, for tax-deferred investors in the US, foreign dividend tax withholdings may present a disadvantageous tax drag on international investments. In general, however, neglecting the benefits that global diversification has to offer may increase risks and decrease the investment opportunity set.

Courtesy of: The Visual Capitalist.

Before speculative bubbles could form around Dotcom companies (late-1990s) or housing prices (mid-2000s), some of the first financial bubbles formed from the prospect of trading with faraway lands. Looking back, it’s pretty easy to see why. Companies like the Dutch East India Company (known in Dutch as the VOC, or Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) were granted monopolies on trade, and they engaged in daring voyages to mysterious and foreign places. They could acquire exotic goods, establish colonies, create military forces, and even initiate wars or conflicts around the world. Of course, the very nature of these risky ventures made getting any accurate indication of intrinsic value nearly impossible, which meant there were no real benchmarks for what companies like this should be worth.