This article is part of the Morningstar's Guide to Emerging Market Investing. Click here to find out just what an emerging market is and which regions hold the potential to boost your investment portfolio.
Emma Wall: Who should be investing in emerging markets? Well, pretty much anyone and everyone. Emerging markets equities and indeed emerging markets fixed income is more risky than that of bonds and stocks listed in developed markets.
Traditionally, this led to the understanding that perhaps only people who are younger and investing for the long-term, perhaps a pension plan should be invested in emerging markets. But now, we're all living longer and we're having to take responsibility for our own retirement, be it auto enrollment or indeed the state pension may not be around for everyone.
Because of this, at 65, you could have as long an investment horizon as someone at 35. It's just that you are investing for different reason. In retirement, you're investing for income and at the beginning of that investment plan, you're doing it for growth. This longer investment horizon, however, means that emerging markets are suitable for everyone. You just need to make sure that you are comfortable with the level of risk that you're taking on, because emerging markets can be more volatile investments.