
A. If you are still young and in accumulation stage, I believe you should minimize your exposure to bonds, especially right now. However, if you are near or at retirement stage and need exposure to bonds in your retirement portfolio, it is a good idea to allocate 10%-20% of your overall bond portfolio to emerging market bonds.
There are three major emerging market bond categories to consider:
Sovereign Bonds
Like U.S. Treasury bonds, these bonds are issued by foreign governments.
Quasi-Sovereign Bonds
Like bonds issued by Fannie Mae, these are bonds issued by state-sponsored corporations.
Corporate Bonds
Issued by foreign companies.
If you want more exposure to the sovereign bonds, you can consider iShares JP Morgan Emerging Market Bond ETF (EMB) or Vanguard Emerging Market Government Bond Index (VWOB).
If you want more exposure to foreign corporate bonds, you can consider WisdomTree Emerging Market Corporate Bond ETF (EMCB) or DoubleLine Emerging Market Fixed Income Fund (DBLEX).