72% - One Country: Is Your Irish Pension Actually Diversified?

If you hold an Irish pension or an ARF invested in a global equity index fund, you have almost certainly been told you are diversified: Thousands of companies, dozens of countries, one fund, job done. And it is true: your global index fund really does hold well over a thousand companies across more than twenty developed markets.

But there is a second truth sitting right beside it. As at the end of June 2026, roughly 72.45% of that same "global" fund is allocated to a single country: The United States. Same fund, same name, same low-cost passive approach and yet quietly a very different animal to the one you bought a decade ago. For anyone drawing an income from an ARF, that second fact matters a great deal more than most people realise.

In this episode, Paddy walks through what has actually happened inside these funds while we have been getting on with things: why a cap-weighted index concentrates all on its own, what the published weightings look like right now, and why the very same allocation means something completely different depending on whether you are still contributing or already drawing an income. He uses a worked Irish example (Seamus, 65, with €900,000 in an ARF held in a single global fund) to show what concentration actually looks like under the bonnet, and where Revenue's imputed distribution quietly turns a concentrated investor into a forced seller.

What you'll learn:

• Why a cap-weighted index quietly concentrates over time, and why nobody writes to tell you
• What a global equity fund actually holds today: 72.45% United States, 26.6% in ten companies, 30.27% in one sector
• Why concentration is a volatility question at 52 and a sequencing question at 65
• What Revenue's imputed distribution does to an investor who is already concentrated
• Why over-correcting, like running to cash, is usually the more expensive mistake of the two
• The one variable in this whole picture you actually control

None of this is an argument against index investing, and it is not a forecast. It is an argument for being able to describe what you own before you decide how you feel about it. Never mind before you decide what to do about it. If you hold an ARF invested in a single global fund and you haven't seen a factsheet in years, this episode is for you.

🎙️ Full podcast episode and 📖 Blog: www.informeddecisions.ie/post/market-concentration-irish-pensions 

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DISCLAIMER This content is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute personalised financial advice. Everyone's situation is different. Always speak to a qualified, independent advisor before making pension or investment decisions. Tax rules and pension regulations change; figures quoted are accurate at time of recording.