Hi Michael,

You may be right. There are many ways to profit, even if stocks are going down....

Some react by buying gold. Others will look to buying property. Others may buy bonds. And others will short-sell.

I'm no expert on these other things, though....

It's perfectly legitimate to move your investment activities to elsewhere when things dry up somewhere else.

It's like business. If people don't want to buy your gizmos in Lapland, sell them in Siberia. (Well, you know what I mean.)

There's a 1980s band I kind of like, their name is "Swing Out Sister". They had a big hit in the late 1980s with a very upbeat song - "Breakout". Recently, I decided to look them up online - are they still around?

I got a shock. They are originally from the UK, but NONE OF THEIR RECENT ALBUMS ARE AVAILABLE IN THE UK (or in the USA or Australia for that matter). Guess where they are available?

Japan! Swing Out Sister are VERY BIG in Japan!

What they found was that, their sales in the UK and elsewhere dried up. But in Japan - their fortunes got higher.

Nowadays, Swing Out Sister focus on the Japanese market - and do very well there. Even though they are a British pop group, and all their songs are in English!

Of course, they could have stayed in the UK. They could have stopped the pop music game, and gone into a different business. Perfectly legitimate. But sometimes, if you've mastered one thing, it's good to stick to what you're good at (and what you enjoy).

Of course, investing in other countries doesn't mean you CAN'T do all these other things - short selling, buying gold, property, etc.

Thanks, though - you made a good point. :)

Dien Rice
(there's a Neanderthal Man in here struggling to get out!)

> Neanderthal man remained unchanged for
> around 500,000 years. Same huntung method.
> Unable to predict or recognise seasonal
> patterns.

> If the food he was hunting ran out, he moved
> to another place where that food could be
> found. He did this instead of figuring out a
> way to hunt the available food.

> I liken this to investing in the stockmrket
> in other countries.

> Instead of learning other investing methods,
> you stick with what you know - buy and hold
> stocks - and try and find those stocks in
> other countries.

> It would make more sense to learn a variety
> of investing methods. That way, if the
> stocks go down, instead of trying to find
> stocks to buy elsewhere, you change your
> investment mode.

> Warren Buffet doesn't just buy stocks...
> sometimes he buys whole companies not listed
> on the stock exchange.

> So while Buffet Wanabees seem to concentrate
> on and only buy stock, the man himself buys
> stock AND unlisted companies.

> Granted, the stock he buys belong to
> Companies. And the stock is just the
> "market value" of the company. But
> still.

> Also... wouldn't it make sense to buy when
> the market goes down down down? Wouldn't
> there be a lot of bargains to be had?

> Michael Ross