Two questions: why leveraged ETFs? and why  global diversification ?

No1:
I looked at 1x leveraged of ETFs, and it works pretty much the same as loaning 1x, with 4% interest, but you lose all the advantages of a loan:

  • leveraged etfs have greater annual cost
  • a wider spread
  • reduced volume
  • and a considerable annual loss because you do not receive a tax deduction for interest costs (which in Norway is 22 percent of the interest expense)

(DB Commodity Double Long (DYY)
ProShares Ultra MSCI Emerging Markets (EET)
ProShares Ultra MSCI EAFE (EFO)
ProShares Ultra Gold (UGL)
ProShares Ultra S&P500 (SSO)
ProShares Ultra Russell 2000 (UWM)
ProShares Ultra Real Estate (URE)
ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury (UBT))

https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/fund-performance?s=y&symbol=SSO&symbols=EET+EFO+UWM+URE&benchmark=spy

https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?
s=y&timePeriod=4&startYear=1985&firstMonth=1&endYear=2021&lastMonth=12&calendarAligned=true&includeYTD=false&initialAmount=10000&annualOperation=0&annualAdjustment=0&inflationAdjusted=true&annualPercentage=0.0&frequency=4&rebalanceType=0&absoluteDeviation=5.0&relativeDeviation=25.0&leverageType=1&leverageRatio=100&debtAmount=0&debtInterest=3&maintenanceMargin=25.0&leveragedBenchmark=false&reinvestDividends=true&showYield=false&showFactors=false&factorModel=3&portfolioNames=false&portfolioName1=Portfolio+1&portfolioName2=Portfolio+2&portfolioName3=Portfolio+3&allocation1_1=0&symbol2=SPY&allocation2_1=100&symbol3=SSO&allocation3_1=0

No. 2: I’ve heard people advocate for global diversification beyond the United States, but is it required when other countries account for up to 40% of the income in the S&P 500 index companies?

https://www.morningstar.com/articles/954560/revisiting-the-case-for-international