Are International Equity mutual funds a good long term investment?

I did a search on international equity mutual funds and they've performed well in the past few years; however, the majority have a very poor "since inception" rate of return. There seems to be a period around 2000 where the international market suffered.

Right now foreign markets are the trendy place to be, especially Chinese funds. I think if you maintain 10% of your portfolio in foreign funds, it's a good size. More than that and you could get burned if Wall Street decides to start putting it's money in another area. But US growth is slowing, and not having some foreign investments is probably not a good idea.

Just remember, the BIGGEST economy in the world is the USA

Next is Europe

Beleive it or not, China and India are very small in comparison

Keep your investments mostly in USA and Europe for the long run, and small bits to other volatile economies

Everyone is different. International accounts are a good place to diversify your portfolio. Most asset allocation portfolios will not allocate over 25% into the international market. The average is between 10-20% of your portfolio. I have seen as little as 0% and as high as 45%.