Advisors are not taking enough advantage of international investments to diversify clients’ portfolios, according to a researcher at Symmetry Partners.

Because the domestic market has been doing well for so long now, advisors and their clients tend to want to stick to domestic investments, but this is a mistake, says Dana D’Auria, director of research at Symmetry Partners, a financial advisory firm based in Glastonbury, Conn.

“Investors are going to look at the U.S. S&P and want to know why they should invest internationally when the international markets are not doing as well as the S&P,” she says. “But they forget that U.S. large caps did not do well for a decade. It is about not putting all of your eggs in one basket."

Patience is the key, according to Symmetry Partners.

“U.S. investors are going to benchmark against U.S. markets and they will question their advisors about why they should move to international,” D’Auria explains. “Advisors will react to that and keep the client in domestics.”

D’Auria tells advisors they should introduce their clients to international investing and then take a static position; trying to time the international market versus the domestic market is not feasible. “From our perspective, advisors should tell clients they are in the international market for the long haul.”

In addition, large-cap international stocks tend to become correlated to domestic large caps. “Make sure your clients are diversified into international small caps and emerging markets, after eliminating those countries that are unstable or do not have the same property protection rules that are in place elsewhere,” she says.

In addition to understanding the investment risk in emerging markets, advisors must explain the risk of currencies changing value compared to the dollar, she warns. But the bottom line is for most economies, the diversification benefits of international investments make them a worthwhile inclusion for most investors.