Here are six funds for overseas investing

Article Excerpt

We think foreign stocks can safely make up 10% of a conservative investor’s portfolio. One way is through exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with an overseas focus. The best of those ETFs continue to offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks. Here’s a look at four international ETFs we see as suitable for new buying and two others we feel you should continue to hold. ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS ETF $41.77 (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers) is designed to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The fund’s geographic breakdown is as follows: China, 31.8%; South Korea, 12.0%; Taiwan, 11.2%; India, 8.6%; Brazil, 7.9%; South Africa, 5.8%; Russia, 3.9%; Thailand, 2.9%; Mexico, 2.4%; Indonesia, 2.1%; Malaysia, 2.1%; and Saudi Arabia, 1.4%. Its top stocks are Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), 4.9%; Alibaba Group (China: e-commerce), 4.5%; Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips), 3.8%; Samsung Electronics (South Korea), 3.5%; Naspers (South Africa: media and Internet), 2.0%; China Construction Bank, 1.4%; Ping An Insurance Group (China),…