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Ask HN: If countries were public companies, in which ones would you invest?
Try to the think looking at the long term and consider that this hypothetical market operates just like a regular capital market. Ex.: USA' stocks would probably have great demand and as a consequence they would be pricy.
- kasey_junk 11y agoThis is essentially what forex & treasuries are. That is, this is a very common problem already solved by the markets.
- pedrodelfino 11y agoSimilar, but not the same thing. Treasuries and forex are more like debt/credit markets. I am thinking more like the way stock market operate. The risks are higher and the sky is the limit. Imagine buying stocks from the "company" Angola now. Some people say that in 20 years they will have a very interesting economy, similar to what Brazil is today. This is the kind of answer I would like to see.
- valdiorn 11y agoFYI you can buy stocks in "tracker funds" for lots and lots of countries in the world, which in return invest in a weighted basket of the largest companies in that country. Investing in an S&P500 tracking ETF is about as close as you can get to "investing in the USA"...
- pedrodelfino 11y agoCool. Didn't know about that. In which ones would you invest in now?
- kspaans 11y agoVT[0]. <troll>A fund with ALL of the countries, because stock-picking is dumb.</troll> 0 - https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=3141&FundIntExt=INT https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=3141&...
- gesman 11y ago1. Buy USA short term (till summer 2016, market poised to up) OR 2. Buy Gold (long term) OR 3. Buy Bitcoins (long term) OR (if force to trade in countries longer term) 4. Buy 2017 LEAP Puts on China and Greece.
- pedrodelfino 11y agoWhy Greece?
- blcArmadillo 11y agoFrom your comment it's not clear why you're surprised. Do you expect Greece to go up or down? But just to clarify terminology, for those who may not be familiar, buying a put option is a bet that the value will decrease.
- pedrodelfino 11y agoYour explanation was perfect. Before this, I had a wrong understanding about what was a put option. It totally makes sense. Thank you!
- fiatjaf 11y agoEverything depends on how are countries priced right now. I believe Estonia, if it is not too expensive. Honduras, for sure, if it is as cheap as I imagine.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]