The sky is falling! Ok maybe it’s not quite that bad but it has felt that way lately in the foreign markets.

I invest regularly in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in emerging markets. Typically I’ll buy whatever has been hot for about three months. In the course of a year, I split my investments pretty equally between domestic and foreign securities.

Over the past year, the emerging market ETFs have taken off. Brazil (EWZ) and South American (ILF) have performed exceptionally well. Big gains mean these shares are volatile, and could swing in the other direction.

Last two weeks have been brutal to emerging markets. Brazil surrendered over 30% of its value. South America had a similar drop. I’ve had to do some soul searching and re-evaluate my strategy. I’ll stay the course but a word to those interested in diversifying overseas: Make sure you don’t have problems with heartburn.