And why not? Not to mention that, by looking out for yourself, you’re also making yourself less of a future burden on the government.

I’ll invest where it makes sense. Right now, that means international stocks, whether they’re based in US Dollars, Euros, or Yen.

We’re now seeing some of the world’s poorest nations pulling themselves up and developing into economic powerhouses–and that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.

I’d say that if you’re not investing internationally (with at least a little bit in emerging markets), you’re being a foolish investor.

2. It doesn’t make you unamerican. What they hell does that even mean?

It can mean several things. You *are* voting for the currency that backs that company. So if you buy IEV (the European EFT that tracks their S&P 350), you are strengthening the Euro more. But this effect is very small.

However, you *are* guarding yourself against another slide of the dollar. I would count that as sound financial advice. Some people would say you should buy gold or some other commodity to shield yourself against dollar losses, but most gold is mined outside the US, and is a much bigger loss of money.

You can easily diversify by buying stocks and bonds and even other government securities (usually) more easily than gold. Gold is speculation, where the price must increase for you to make money, where if you buy a foreign bond or stock, you can get money back from the investment by a means other than the price going up.

(Disclosure: I invest in IEV).

It’s part of diversification as far as I’m concerned.

You wouldn’t put all your money into one company so why would you put all your money into one market?

-Erich

Baby boomers have much to gain right now as the dollar is weakening and a huge trade deficit is looming over head. If more and more baby boomers want to cash in on their investments now is the time to turn to foreign investments and ride the growth that is rising in places like China and India, and Europe.

Baby boomers should be careful because if there is a rush to sell and cash in their investments in the US market they might meet the current generation which does not have enough money to buy those investments. If baby boomers cant sell their investments retirement wont look so fun. But if you diversify in foreign stocks you can mitigate some of the possible risk ahead.

People associate buying foreign stock much like buying foreign cars. It doesn’t work like that.

I agree with Trent, if you want to be American, invest in countries in which the US has a large trade deficit like China. China has leverage because they have so much invested in the US, which can be seen as owning a part of the country and gives them influence.

When foreign countries buy US bonds and stocks they are in essence buying America….piece….by….piece. When we buy their stocks and their bonds we have a stake in their country and so-to-speak owning them piece by piece.