> There are really no other good options.

This is just BS. There might not be other easy/convenient options for people in the US to invest in other economies, but that surely doesn't mean there aren't any options.

One option: gold.

Sure, you can criticize gold as an investment all you want (and I'm not recommending it), but it's definitely an alternative to investing (directly) in the US economy.

There are Vanguard index funds for other regions, and also iirc some others too. Combine with motifinvesting, and reap the low fees and such.

I would certainly run the numbers if they didn't say they don't want me as a client.

Gold is not an investment, as it isn't income producing (in the same way that a house isn't an investment). Gold is a speculative instrument.

Sure, but that's the case for almost the whole stock market (in the US) right now. Fundamentals make almost no difference in the stock market today.

It's richly valued, sure, but it's certainly an investment. VTI, for instance, currently yields 1.7% annual dividends, and the companies it holds negate the risk of inflation as they're the companies that charge (inflating) dollars for their goods and services. Gold is an unproductive block of metal that sits there.

I'm not saying there's no value for gold at all, I'm saying that it's not an investment in the typical sense. Hold a small percentage of gold as a low-ish correlating asset class to rebalance with? Sounds great. Hold maybe 3-5% of assets in physical gold as a hyper-hedge insurance policy in case the US or world at large collapses? Perhaps a smart move. Holding all one's assets in gold as a perceived investment? No thanks!