Is EWU a good long-term hold, or too concentrated?

We cannot tell you whether EWU suits your situation — that depends on what else you hold and on your horizon. What we can set out is what the fund is.

EWU sits in our Country/Region category, focused on United Kingdom.

It reports roughly 85 holdings, though holding count alone overstates diversification — what matters is how much weight sits in the largest names.

Its risk profile is characterised as Medium.

The question worth answering before buying is overlap: if you already own a broad market fund, check how much of EWU you effectively own already. Investors regularly add a sector or country fund believing they are diversifying when they are concentrating.

Cost is the part you can be certain about — 0.50% a year, every year, in every market condition.

The risk that shows up in practice is rarely the one on the factsheet. It is overlap: holding this fund alongside a broad market fund, and discovering the same companies are counted twice.

For EWU, start with AZN, SHEL, HSBC — each of those pages lists every fund we track that holds it, so you can add up your real exposure.

The second is behavioural. A narrower fund is harder to hold through a drawdown, and selling at the bottom costs far more than any expense ratio.