“Something is missing in the above: There’s no EAFE listed. That’s because the EAFE funds available on the US exchanges such as EFA, IEF, and EZU, or the country-specific funds, all have the same or higher cost than a fund that is available to you right here in Canada, so there is no point to buy them.”

Since I liked a lot of his other advice, I decided to listen to this advice. Should I have listened to him? I am not sure. I did not have time to agonize over it any longer so I just made a decision. Part of me also wanted to limit my exposure to non-Canadian currencies, while at the same time not having only Canadian securities. Having my bond, Canadian, and international components in CAD and my US and emerging market components in non-US gives sort of a balance. I might adapt this over time.

I manage my wife and my portolio as if it were one portfolio. If it turns out I need more international equities and her portfolio has cash to burn, I may purchase some EFA in her portfolio (I have XIN in mine).