International Funds

An international fund (or foreign fund) invests only outside your home country.
Global funds invest anywhere around the world, including your home country.
It's tough to classify these funds as either more risky or safer. On the one hand they
tend to be more volatile and have unique country and/or political risks. But, on the
flip side, they can, as part of a well-balanced portfolio, actually reduce risk by
increasing diversification. Although the world's economies are becoming more inter-
related, it is likely that another economy somewhere is outperforming the economy
of your home country.