If you don't pay attention to foreign news, here's a summary of some you might be interested in since it impacts us here in the U.S:
- China has grown its economy like CRAZY. Its the 2nd biggest economy in the world (after the U.S.).
- This growth has given a lot of Chinese people a lot of money
- The Chinese are great savers relative to us in the U.S. generally speaking. Saving rates double or more than we have.
- Up until now, the Chinese have been happy to invest in both real estate and the stock market. The Chinese government made it more enticing to invest in the stock market.
- But, things got dicey this summer in the Chinese stock markets. Some stocks down by 40%. Not good if your money is buried in Chinese stocks.
So What?
Well, this means that more money is finding its way to the United States and other countries from China. The Chinese believe in real estate and many are scared that the stock market is not safe. Here are some examples from a CNN Money article: "They're [The Chinese are] the leading foreign buyers of U.S. homes. Sales reached a record $29 billion in the 12 months to March 30 -- that's more than a quarter of all foreign purchases by value, according to the National Association of Realtors. In Australia, sales of homes to Chinese are expected to total $60 billion between now and 2020, double the amount spent in the previous six years, according to Credit Suisse. And Chinese buyers already account for over a quarter of all London home purchases, says Savills. With prices rising fast in major world cities, some Chinese buyers are getting more creative. They're teaming up with local partners or looking to newer markets such as Poland. In the UK, they're branching out beyond London and pouring money into surrounding areas, such as the county of Surrey." And yet, this past week the Chinese government put more restrictions on Chinese investors taking their money out of the stock market...or out of China.
