Agree with unhedged FX exposure for aggressive foreign investments. I think it is best used for foreign fixed income investments than are meant to fund local currency denominated liabilities. Equity returns are simply unpredictable. Though, I would be more inclined to recommend he dump the foreign denominated gold investments completely and invest locally unless he doing some kind of arbitrage. He can simply trade currencies to acquire a desired currency exposure.
Just curious however why you bought US listed etfs. Surely AUS has some etfs that track similar products. The volume might be crap for day trading but for buy/hold you should get a decent price.
No not really. There are plenty of domestic funds and of course S&P 500 trackers but not too much of specific foreign markets.
Thanks JackRab but I don't think mine account if FX hedged. My paper loss around $80 but paper FX loss two times that. Can't be hedged.