The Globe and Mail website has an entire issue of Trade By Numbers dedicated to foreign investments for Canadians. There is an excellent introduction to closed-end funds by popular columnist Rob Carrick. I still think that iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (EEM) is the best way to maintain exposure to volatile emerging markets.
Another article talks about opportunities in India and the Excel India Fund. I posted about investing in India recently and I’d like to reiterate that the Excel fund is not the best way to get exposure to India. The fund’s 3 year and 5 year performance (32% and -3%) lags that of both the IFN (40% and 11%) and IIF (43% and 23%). It is a load fund with a MER of 3.89% and is best avoided.
Two stories talk about the effect globalization is having on foreign investing (markets are getting closely correlated with each other negating diversification benefits). While this may be largely true with developed economies, emerging markets tend to march to a different beat. Investing in emerging markets still provides important diversification benefits (compensating for its volatility).
There is also an article on investing in South Korea. I’ve heard about big Korean names like Samsung, LG and Hyundai, but that’s the extent of my knowledge. EEM does have a 16% weighting for Korea.
