As I have talked about many times before on this blog, I try to structure my investments so that I am diversified across US, Canadian, and International equities.
The purpose of doing this is to ensure that I remain exposed to different markets across the world as theoretically, some markets will be heading up while others will be heading down. That is the theory anyway. In recent years, it seems that these markets as a whole have been moving up and down in step. I am not sure what to make of that, but I still believe that having exposure to different markets is important.
The international investing that I do is 100% through the use of an ETF. I have chosen this as it is easier and I don’t have the exposure to many of the companies globally that I do in Canada and the US. I find it more effective to get exposure to many companies through an index fund. The fund that is use is through iShares – The MSCI International C$ Index. Through this fund I hold such companies as:
- BP PLC
TOYOTA MOTOR CORP
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC CLASS B
BASF AG
SONY CORP
TELECOM ITALIA SPA
NINTENDO CO LTD
Many companies I would have no exposure to over here in Calgary, Alberta. Since I don’t have exposure to them like I do with RBC Royal Bank or Procter & Gamble, I find it safer and easier to simply buy the index. Less individual stock risk and less work!
I hold the EFA version, because I feel that I don’t need the hedged version of the fund which costs 0.15% extra. For a long-term investor, especially for a fund like EFA which is already exposed to a basket of currencies, the extra expense of the hedging is unnecessary. Thoughts?
CC: I agree with you on the basket of currencies point. However, I think it’s probably better to take the currency risk off the table for a single large exposure (e.g. USD) — keeping in mind that I have yet to ever hedge my USD exposure or to even set up a currency trading account.