How to Own International Stocks in the Thrift Savings Plan

Even though the Thrift Savings Plan only offers a limited number of funds, the available choices do cover both domestic (United States) and international stocks. If you’re just getting started with your TSP account and are wondering how to own international stocks, you’ve come to the right place.

The TSP I Fund is an index fund that invests in twenty one different international countries. It is an index fund that tracks a Morgan Stanley index known as the EAFE, which covers Europe, Australia, and a few Asian countries.

Many investors are currently worried about volatile international stocks, and wondering which countries this fund invests in. Here is the complete list: Austria, Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, and Singapore. It might surprise you to know that a full 23% of this fund’s asset are invested in Japanese stocks. This is followed closely by 21% in the United Kingdom.

As you can see, the fund does not invest in Chinese stocks. In fact, the only three Asian markets represented in the index are Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Like the other EAFE constituents, these are very developed international markets. And even though the fund invests in Greek companies (another European economy that is currently in trouble), the percentage weighting in that country is less than 0.6%, so it will only barely be noticeable in the day to day fluctuations of the fund price.

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