An investment thesis that maintains that seeking to earn higher returns by holding global portfolios bears no fruits and is not worth the effort. Instead, investors can discover plenty of profitable opportunities within borders. Originally, “acres of diamonds” was the title of a lecture by Dr. Russell Conwell, founder of Temple University. He told the story of an ancient Persian wealthy man who wanted to multiply his riches. To do so, he embarked on a journey to search for a great diamond mine in different parts of the known world. While searching, he depleted all his wealth but just in vain. Unable to cope with his self-inflicted misfortune, he threw himself into the sea (at the Pillars of Hercules) and drowned. Back in homeland, Dr. Conwell continues: “his successor led his camel to the garden brook and noticed a curious flash in the shallow stream, and pulled out a black stone with an eye of light, reflecting all of the colors of the rainbow”. He had discovered in his predecessor’s garden the Golconda diamond mine, which was to produce some of the world ’s finest diamonds.

The message of the story is straightforward: investors should stay home and pursue their fortunes locally, rather than risk and possibly waste their resources in the lookout for higher profits in a foreign land. As such, the thesis holds, they will find “acres of diamonds” in their own backyards.