residential real estate investing

Going Global Or Staying At Home

Sydney, Apr 27, 2007 (ACN Newswire) - The rise of the Australian dollar doesn't only make foreign travel and imports more attractive, foreign shares, especially ones classified as 'global', have become more interesting to some investors.With our strong dollar we can afford to look at shares in the US and Japan a little more closely, or look at indirect investments offshore through managed funds or through investors, such as the about-to-list Platinum group which has made its money out investing offshore.The head of Strategy at the AMP, Dr Shane Oliver says there is a theoretical case for Australians to have a higher allocation to global shares on a very long term view ."The recent out performance by Australian shares and the loss of their valuation advantage has made the case for global shares a bit stronger."But, he says that on a 3 to 5 year view Australian shares still provide better return prospects than mainstream global shares thanks mainly to the China boom and higher dividends.Here's his thinking...........................Australian shares have outperformed global shares dramatically so far this decade returning 14.2% pa over the last 7 years versus 1% pa from global shares in local currency terms.