Investing In China - A good idea?

[Spoofee]

Last year in April, we were told at work how it may be wise to invest in China.

Of coarse the guy didn't tell us which stock/mutual fund to invest in, but told us that China will be growing in the next few years.

The reason he covered is mainly
- All tech companies are trying to grow in China. See how Google hired Kai Fu away from Microsoft to target China.
- Olympics are coming up in China. He showed us a graph of economy of Korea before and after Olympics.

Top Mutual Fund Performers Last Year are all China related
http://biz.yahoo.com/p/tops/all.html

A bit risky, but still sounds like a great buy. Any thoughts?

 

[precocious]

:doh: Gee Mr. Spoofee, here I thought you were getting engaged and were thinking about a wedding registry!

My 'pattern'....hint, hint

 

[sourlemonhead]

I heard on the news this morning about that. I think it sounds good. They are known for being smart and having strong work ethics.. I've never been into the stock thing but how does one invest in China?? lol

 

[pinkflutterbys]

You can invest in any country by buying stock in companies based there or by buying mutual funds containing stock in companies based there. The China thing might work but be sure not to put all your eggs in one basket.

 

[Ronshere]

Try taking your profits out of china and then you will know the answer!!

 

[commocean]

Not for everyone.

I worked in China off and on for the last 10 years. During that time the RMB (yuan) has appreciated from over 10 to the dollar to 6.83 to the dollar. Now you can get approximately 4% on a 1 year CD. They take about 10% tax out when it matures. You don't pay US tax. However, it's very difficult to get the money converted to dollars without actually being there. There are ways. You can take RMB out to HK (I think 20,000/time max.) and exchange it to $HK which then have to be changed to $US. That's very inefficient as you lose twice on the conversion. My coworkers would take a Chinese friend with them to the bank who was allowed to exchange up to $50,000/year. Do you have a Chinese friend? (You can find a Chinese "friend" LOL outside the bank who will do it for you for a fee. He you and the money go into the bank and exchange.) My Chinese friend is in import export so she gets paid in $US and then has to convert to RMB. So we can exchange and we both save the conversion fee. Short of something like that it's not easy. And be aware that this seems to be constantly changing. As for stocks, I find they are very risky because we know so little about the companies and the laws over there. The government suddenly decided that condo prices were too expensive in Guangzhou so they just lowered them. Many Chinese buy property as an investment. They saw their equity drop by about 1/3 to 1/2. :verysad: I feel that the currency is relatively stable but it hasn't appreciated much in the last few months. Still 4% is about what I get here and the tax is a lot less over there. After the election I fear the tax here will go higher as we "spread the wealth around." iGood luck.

 

[bizcoaching]

Yes, I agree. China is one of the leading country today in terms of business process outsourcing. Good luck!

 

[sugarpie]

i dont know if i woudl say its a good idea. They do own half the US economy tho : )