Topic: How To Invest

I have hesitated to invest in securities outside Canada (i.e., in the U.S.) because of foreign-exchange risk. It doesn’t take a big change in the exchange rates to have a material impact on the investment, and I have no interest in being a speculator in foreign exchange. What is your view of investing outside Canada, and is there a way to eliminate foreign-currency risk?

Article Excerpt

Our view is that virtually all Canadian investors should have 20% to 30% of their portfolios in U.S. stocks, like the ones we recommend in Wall Street Stock Forecaster. We feel now is a good time to hold high-quality U.S. stocks, and we see U.S. dollar exposure as a plus—a valuable form of diversification. Another option is to add some foreign exchange traded funds (ETFs), such as those we recommend in Canadian Wealth Advisor, to your portfolio in reasonable quantities, perhaps 10% of your holdings if you are a conservative investor (including 5% or so in higher-risk funds, such as emerging market ETFs). However, if you do want to hold U.S. or foreign stocks but at the same time eliminate foreign-currency fluctuations, here are two ETFs that let you do that: A: iShares CDN S&P 500 Hedged Index Fund, $15.31, symbol XSP on Toronto (Units outstanding: 105.5 million; Market cap: $1.6 billion), holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index. The index’s 10 highest-weighted stocks…