Q: What are "frontier" funds?

A: They're geographically focused mutual funds.

You've probably heard of "emerging markets," which typically include Brazil, Russia, India and China (sometimes referred to as the "BRIC" countries).

Those have been rapidly growing economies, unlike the slower and steadier economies of the more developed world (think Japan, Europe and the U.S.).

For those who'd like to invest in countries that are even less developed than the BRIC ones, there are frontier funds.

They focus on smaller, often riskier, economies, such as Qatar, Lebanon, Poland, Peru, Kazakhstan and Namibia.

Be careful with these funds — they tend to charge relatively high fees, and they're likely to be rather volatile, as many of the nations they're invested in aren't too stable.

You also can invest in the whole world market via a simple (and often inexpensive) "total stock market" fund.