Jeff Brown in the Philadelphia Inquirer advises investing in foreign stock funds to reduce your portfolio’s exposure to risk. He provides the following tips for beginners:

• Invest in mutual funds or exchange traded funds specializing in foreign stocks. Exchange traded funds are mutual funds that trade in the same way as stocks. They are diversified and run by professional management.
• Invest in index funds that specialize in foreign stocks. Index funds cover in a broad range of stocks. This enables them to charge much lower costs than managed funds. Examples of index funds covering foreign stocks include Morgan Stanley EAFE, Barclays iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (ticker: EFA), Vanguard Developed Markets Index (VDMIX), Fidelity Spartan International Index (FSIIX), and E-Trade International Index (ETINX). Morningstar.com also lists a number of index funds. 

Read the entire article at the Phily.com.