The Australian share market has been one of the best places to have your money invested for a very long time.
When you add in the generous franking credits to the returns then the Australian share market is truly great.
However, one of the key facets to good investing is diversification. Having a diverse portfolio of industries is important, but so is geographical diversification.
If most of your stocks generate their revenue from Australia then they could be at risk if Australia has a recession but the rest of the world doesn't.
There are a number of businesses on the ASX that generate a lot of their revenue from overseas such as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) and Computershare Limited (ASX: CPU).
ASX shares with overseas revenue are good options, but you would still be missing out on some of the best overseas-listed shares.
BETANASDAQ ETF UNITS (ASX: NDQ) gives investors exposure to some of the best technology businesses in the world on the NASDAQ such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.
Vanguard US Total Market Shares Index ETF (ASX: VTS) gives investors exposure to the same great tech companies and other strong businesses in the USA like Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
Vanguard All-World ex-U.S. Shares Index ETF (ASX: VEU) is another Vanguard index which gives exposure to all the large companies that aren't listed in the USA such as Toyota, Samsung, Nestle and Tencent.
Index funds aren't the only way to get exposure to overseas investments. There are some investment companies that specialise in that area. Platinum Asset Management Limited (ASX: PTM) and Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) are two of the main players.
Magellan will soon be launching a trust which should be good for income-seeking investors and it already has a listed investment company focusing on overseas investments called MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF).
Foolish takeaway
Whatever way you get your exposure to overseas earnings I think it's important that you do it in some way. You could even invest directly in overseas shares.
