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The last several years have proven troublesome for most investors. Casual investors building retirement plans lost a substantial amount of their savings, leaving many wondering when and how they will ever retire. More aggressive investors are looking for ways to stay safe in an unstable market environment.
Many investment analysts are recommending we spread our investments globally. This protects the investor from market crashes that occur in a specific geographic region. For instance, an investor that only had holdings in the U.S. market might have seen a 48% drop in value, whereas an investor that had additional holdings in markets such as Kazakhstan, a rising market in Central Asia with promising natural resources, that investor could have largely offset his losses.
Ours is an increasingly global economy. Gone are the days when the U.S. companies are the fast growers, and companies in Asia simply outsource our work. Developing countries are growing weary of depending on foreign markets for their income, and are finding ways to generate their own jobs and economic security. President Nazarbayev of the Kazakhstan Democracy was reelected in April 2011 by a landslide vote of over 95 percent, largely due to his efforts to increase exports, such as uranium, petroleum and other Kazakhstan natural resources.
Identifying growing, stable markets such as Kazakhstan is critical for today’s investor. Countries like this have tremendous growth potential, holding vast natural resources, maintaining an investment-worthy credit rating and having stable relations with neighboring countries. Investing in countries all over the world protects your holdings when one, specific geographic region experiences market losses due to political unrest, natural disaster or other unforseen events.
