Diversification is critical for long term portfolio health. We’ve all heard about the benefits of not “putting all your eggs in one basket,” but conventional wisdom needs to be updated every now and then. The modern investor has a wealth of new tools to achieve real diversification. Small retail investors are encouraged to spread their portfolios across a range of different types of stocks and bonds. Small caps, mid caps, large caps, value, growth, short and long-term Treasuries, and municipal bonds have been the staple of a diversified portfolio. Well, times have changed and so too should your notions of eggs and baskets. Read the full story

Americans should be afraid of the long term value of the dollar. The country has massive fiscal imbalances that only look to be worsening. The social-political trajectory we are on is not likely to change, so a prudent thing to do is start transferring assets out of the country. A great way to do that is to buy foreign currencies. Exchange-traded funds (ETF’s) allow the regular investor to gain exposure to a variety of the world’s largest currencies, including Euro, British Pound, Canadian dollar, Australian dollar, Japanese Yen, Swedish Krona, Mexican Peso, and Swiss Franc.

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