Hefty International Dividends

Exchange-traded funds offer a convenient way to invest in sectors or niches that interest you. If you're looking to add diversification to your portfolio via international stocks, the Vanguard Total International Stock Index ETF (Nasdaq: VXUS ) could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which companies will perform best, you can use this ETF to invest in several thousand of them simultaneously. ETFs often sport lower expense ratios than their mutual fund cousins. The Vanguard ETF's expense ratio -- its annual fee -- is a very low 0.18%. (Vanguard is known for low fees.) It also recently yielded 3.1%.

This ETF doesn't have much of a performance track record yet, as it's so new. But as it's a passive, low-fee index fund giving you much of the world's publicly traded stocks (with U.S.-based ones removed), its performance will simply closely track the performance of the world markets. As with most investments, of course, we can't expect outstanding performances in every quarter or year. Investors with conviction need to wait for their holdings to deliver. With a low turnover rate of 3%, this fund isn't frantically and frequently rejiggering its holdings, as many funds do.

Source: Motley Fool

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