@westmedsupply It is unwise to invest in any country where you don't have any advantage when it comes to knowledge about what makes that country attractive as a place to invest in the first place.
The US market has been through many financial crises, wars, pandemic, political upheavals and it's now as strong as ever.
Yes, nothing lasts forever but there's one thing that will never change. The market HATES uncertainty. Other than the US, can you find a market that's big enough and has consistently provided some semblance of certainty?
It's actually pretty simple. The US is the only place in the world where Indians can be the CEO of a trillion dollar company, pretty much driving the entire stock market. Can you see the same in any other fast developing countries. China? Japan? I'm not making a racial argument here but you can tell that Americans, as far as running businesses and money goes, are fucking greedy. Both the government and everyone else, businesses and individuals alike.
And when they are greedy, they will let anyone do the job as long as you can SHOW ME THE MONEY! It has very little to do with the colour of your skin. So yes, meritocracy is a thing there as long as you make money.
So what does this tell me as an investor who primarily invests in the US? They will do anything for the money machine to keep working and they don't care who's running the show. At least in most cases. Greed and meritocracy is very good for shareholders. If you find that morally beneath you, I hope you just keep your money in FD.
US is probably the only country where the private companies are essentially more powerful than the government. Can I say the same for china? Or anywhere else? In Japan, company executives have to apologise to the public for raising prices lmao!
I just don't spend much time elsewhere where there's an element of government policing over how money should be made and how companies should behave. Think China and all of the government crackdown on gaming habits and whether big companies should share some of its profits with the public to promote "common prosperity". The intention may be well meaning but it ultimately hurts the money machine. I wouldn't touch any company operating in a country where the government does not respect property rights like the US.
Japan, with its continuous issue with labour shortage and lack of high value workers AND aging population, strangely holds on to its policy on making it difficult for foreign migrants to make a living there. They just don't welcome foreign people, period. All in the name of keeping the country pure or some shit.
Think of it this way, if you're a super ambitious entrepreneur looking to create the next Facebook or Amazon, which country comes to mind first? Just look at Sea Ltd or Company. Where did they raise most of their public capital from?
Long story short, put your money where the money actually is. And that's the US. That may change in the future but so far, the alternatives are not much better and I'd argue far worse.
That said, that doesn't mean it's hopeless elsewhere, as I do have nearly 50% of my portfolio in Japan, Canada and Latin America. If you're gonna put money in non-US companies, they better be fucking good with easy to understand business models, healthy growth, no debt if possible and a management that's align to shareholders. Also, never ignore valuations.
Japan market as a whole is very cheap because of this lost decade mentality which doesn't attract much attention until recently with the BoJ finally ending the negative rate experiment which will hopefully break the deflationary cycle that's been holding back wages and prices of goods.
