Financial guru Sir Allen Stanford is telling investors to go global — with some caveats.

A billionaire, Stanford has made fortunes in real estate and in equities. He now says that he is particularly keen on opportunities in a number of markets — including Brazil, Russia and India.

He’s less enthused about China, however.

“We see plenty of opportunities in emerging markets,” said Stanford. “Brazil is an incredible place. They recently discovered the biggest oil find [in the Western Hemisphere] ever there.

“There is a housing boom in Brazil. There is a need for 1.2 million new homes.”

In terms of individual stocks there, Stanford said he was impressed with the performance of the Brazilian oil company, Petrobas.

Russia was still an opportune place to invest, according to Stanford, “in spite of inflation.” India was a good bet too — though, he warned, “it is volatile.”

Other financial experts agreed with Stanford’s recommendation to look overseas for fast returns on investment.

“The characteristics of the current global market argue for diversification outside of the U.S.,” Eliot Kalter, a fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, tells Moneynews.

“It is particularly important to hold part of investors’ assets outside of U.S. dollars.”

There are several reasons for that kind of strategy, experts indicate. The U.S. has record debt burdens, a massive trade deficit, and a falling dollar, Bruce Fenton, managing director of Atlantic Financial, a capital management firm, tells Moneynews.

On the contrary, many economies outside of the U.S. are booming, says Fenton.

Stanford told CNBC that he thinks the entire U.S. economy is in a state roughly similar to that which was seen by locals in Houston, where he is based, during the 1980s.

Back then, problems with the oil market led to a collapse in the housing market and that led to massive troubles for the banking industry. “Five hundred banks failed in Texas,” said Stanford.

He and his colleagues, however, invested in the real estate that many were fleeing from. “Our strategy was buy and hold, and then make money,” says Stanford. “We made a lot of money in real estate 10 years later.”