Not one country in existence today has had the same borders and government for as long as two hundred years. The world will continue changing.
There is no such thing as a paper loss. A paper loss is a very real loss.
Right now I own shares of companies in 28 countries.
Buy low and sell high. It's pretty simple. The problem is knowing what's low and what's high.
If you want to make a lot of money, resist diversification.
I was poor once, I didn't like it, I don't want to be poor again.