International stocks actually reduce the risk in your portfolio, and they appear ready to produce heftier returns than U.S. stocks.
Foreign shares have a lot of catching up to do.
About one-quarter of your holdings is a good rule. If that sounds high, remember that the U.S. economy represents only about one-third of world output. That's a shame because it's never been easier to internationalize, and the choices have never been better. My strong preference is to buy mutual funds rather than individual foreign stocks. Analyzing global companies is difficult, and many of them don't trade on U.S. exchanges.