@IFA i agree that it is prudent to diversify. The offshore funds available now are however structured with the developed countries in mind. Many originate in US but are resident in the tax havens. They invest in the emerging economies to diversify the risks faced by investors in the developed economies. The offshore investments are rated as riskier even than small and mid caps of home economies. A huge factor is transaction costs passed on to investor eg tax structuring, admin, compliance with foreign country investment regulations and the costs of international due diligence on investments. As i noted those same funds will come and buy stocks at the nse! Factoring above, if you pick your basket at the nse well you will outperform even the best run offshore fund especially if your corpus is small.

@IFA, what's your take on the whole dollar vs euro thing?

Marko - is this return in Kshs, USD, Euro, GBP and is this return annualised or since inception return. When I looked at Provident website, the annualised rates were below 15% but some had since inception rates of even 87%. Again your currency of investment matters especially with regard to how the exchange rates will move in the future based on your holding period (i.e. when you intend to redeem your units, timing of distributions if any etc).

@mturi,as per our valuations,the portfolios are valued in the currency u invested in.offshore is the way to go!

@mdosi,its good to know that you are an offshore investor and have got good returns.Franklin Templeton which is my major fund manager has never disappointed me and am yet to hear of an unhappy investor.just check out this link and see how well some funds have performed.http://www.franklintempleton.lu/lux/jsp/funds/performance.jsp