ETFs: Get Offshore Easily With Diverse Options

Exchange-traded funds are a cheap and simple way to get money offshore. They track a variety of indices, and you can invest in them according to which countries, regions or sectors appeal to you.

- Simon Brown

When I was first learning how to invest in the 1980s, the only way to invest offshore was to be a smuggler. South Africa had a crazed finger-wagging president, a dual currency exchange rate (the financial rand was quoted differently for corporates), sanctions and severe exchange controls. So anyone who wanted to get money offshore had to slip Krugerrands in their toothpaste or stick R20 notes in their underwear before heading on an overseas trip.

But luckily times have changed, and since Deutsche Bank's launch of offshore exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2009, it literally just takes a few clicks. The past year has seen an explosion of new offshore ETFs being listed, with over 20 across a wide range of assets and geographies now available for investors.