The Templeton Russia & East European Fund

A couple weeks ago I wrote a post about how closed end funds are the best way for small investors to invest in certain foreign markets such as Russia and India, countries for which no country-specific ETF currently exist. Anyway, I decided to look at some statistics for the Templeton Russia & East European Fund today at ETF Connect, when I noted that the fund's average annualized 5-year return through the end of Nov. 2005 is 44.15%! That works out to an ubelievable total gain of about 522% over the past 5 years. I find that to be absolutely astounding. At the end of October I purchased shares of this fund for my Rollover IRA. Too bad I didn't purchase shares way back in 2000...