Topic: How To Invest

Pat: I am just looking at the latest Hotline on U.S. stocks and some are considered buys. Is it advisable to be buying now given the currency risk? And by the way, thanks for your recent note about the more complete wealth management service you offer. I will be considering a move if the results of my current advisor are found wanting. Regards.

Article Excerpt

If you knew that the U.S. dollar would keep falling, the best way to protect yourself would be to sell all of your U.S. stocks and buy them back when the dollar stabilizes. However, you don’t know where the U.S./Canada exchange rate is going next – you never do. The financial industry has a variety of products that can insulate your U.S. investments from the risk of currency depreciation. These products obviously cost money. In addition, they reduce the long-term value of your U.S. investments. After all, part of the appeal of investing in U.S. stocks is that it provides currency diversification. I’m not convinced that the U.S. dollar will continue to fall. The Canadian dollar has moved up from under $0.80 U.S. in January to about $0.90 today. That’s partly due to a rise in commodity prices, particularly oil. But it’s hard to imagine that commodity prices will get anywhere near their 2008 highs this year, or even in…