Business Week's sixth annual Guide to the Best Mutual Funds is in the bookstores -- and you can also find a sample chapter to download here on Business Week Online in the same download library as this transcript. The Sept. 19 guest was the book's author, BW Senior Writer Jeffrey M. Laderman, mutual-fund maven and market watcher.
Here's a sample from the transcript:
JackBW: BUG N BOCA asks Jeff the next one.
Question: Should I have any international funds in my portfolio? Which part of the world?
JeffBW: If you have a long-term investment horizon, you definitely want international funds. They invest in economies that are growing much faster than ours, and so stock prices should do much better over the long haul. But they are definitely volatile. I wouldn't try to target countries, but choose some all-purpose international funds, and if you are a risk-taker, add a diversified emerging markets fund as well. I'd stay away from any so specific as a Japan or India or Latin America fund.