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The part I don't understand is why Japanese citizens would accept such low returns on their investment for so many years, when so many investments outside of Ja
by d2viant 16y ago
The part I don't understand is why Japanese citizens would accept such low returns on their investment for so many years, when so many investments outside of Japanese government debt would give them higher yields.
Is it a cultural thing? Is it just pure altruism? Do they want to support their government that much that they're willing to ignore better investments for their savings?
- startuprules 16y agoThe older Japanese population are pretty nationalistic. However, the Japanese corporations, not so much.
- brianobush 16y agoI think they are used to banks giving them next to nothing on interest for their savings.
- artsrc 16y agoSeems like a version of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equity_home_bias_puzzle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equity_home_bias_puzzle I don't know why US savers don't invest in Australian dollar accounts either. They pay about 6 times as much as US term deposits. http://www.infochoice.com.au/banking/savings-account/term-deposit-interest-rates.aspx http://www.infochoice.com.au/banking/savings-account/term-de...
- codexon 16y agoI just checked two of those term deposits and they both require Australian residency. Can I get one of those without living in Australia?
- artsrc 16y agoIn Australia HSBC offers foreign currency bank accounts, but I can't see that on the US site. I work for a fund manager not a bank. Would an ETF for high yield, first world, countries fixed income products work? http://us.ishares.com/product_info/fund/index/FI.htm http://us.ishares.com/product_info/fund/index/FI.htm
- ajb 16y agoCurrency risk. Lots of Japanese do try to invest abroad (the famous 'Mrs Watanabe'), many of whom have been hurt badly by the recent currency fluctuations.