International stocks still good for investors

With the recent stock market drops, ruble devaluations, currency crises, and bombings, one might seriously reconsider the "international fund" in their retirement plan.

For older students and students who work off-campus, access to a retirement plan is an integral part of an employee's compensation, and becomes even more important as they grow older.

The temptation to pull all the funds out and stay with steady United States Treasury Bonds until retirement can be strong, yet stocks, particularly international ones, are still not a bad investment.

This assumes, however, a long-term investment.

The reason for this lies in the fact that, in the general sense, the rest of the world has a lot more room to grow (in the long run) than we do.

As a result, investors believe foreign stock mutual funds are still valuable when viewed over five- or ten-year periods. Recent events give little reasons for alarm at recent events.

If you have either a 401k or Roth Individual Retirement Account (IRA), diversification allows for a reduction in risk of overall loss, even if one fund performs poorly.