Kernel World Ex-US Fund

At 0.25 percent, this fund charges one of the lowest management fees in the International Share category, and with $3.3 million under management, it remains a niche offering from Kernel Wealth. The strategy is in the name: global equities minus the United States, a deliberate tilt away from the market concentration that dominates most international portfolios.

The top holding is ASML, the Dutch semiconductor equipment maker, at 3.14 percent. After that comes a roster of European and Asian heavyweights: HSBC, Royal Bank of Canada, AstraZeneca, Roche, Novartis, Nestlé. The fund allocates 93.55 percent to international shares and 6.64 percent to Australasian equities, with a sliver of negative cash reflecting derivative positioning. It is fully invested in growth assets, carrying a risk level of 6.

The absence of US stocks means no exposure to the mega-cap technology names that anchor most global equity funds. What you get instead is a European and Asian weighting, skewed toward pharmaceuticals, banks and industrials. The fund is too young to show performance data, so the profile here is structural rather than proven.

General information only, not financial advice. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.