Why You Must Flee the Country

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I've been thinking a lot about this lately. Industry after industry is in decline, the Fed is printing money like Nintendo prints Pokemon cards … the U.S. is facing some big challenges. I think it's time you moved out of here.

Uh, what are you talking about? I like it here. Land of the free and home of the brave, y'know? Besides, have you seen the garden? The asparagus is already coming up. I'll have tomatoes soon. Nothing tastes as good as a local tomato, you know that. You want me to flee all this?

No, no, hear me out. I don't mean actually physically leaving. I like the local tomatoes, too. I'm talking about stocks. I think you should be investing more overseas.

Dude, I'm already overseas. I've got Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), right? They sell iPhones and Macs all over the world. I know they do -- I read it on the Internet. And you keep talking about Ford (NYSE: F) and how that airplane guy --

-- Alan Mulally --

-- yeah, him. You keep telling me he's turning Ford into one big global company, and about all the good cars they have coming from Europe. So they're global, too, and I bought some when it was cheap, like you said. I'm covered. Go water the garden.

Listen for a minute, will you? The dollar was strong for a while there, right? But it's not likely to stay strong over the long haul. All other things being equal, that means companies that do business in other currencies are cheap in dollar terms right now, and they'll get more expensive over time.

Yeah, but don't these big global companies have ways to manage that? If they're smart enough to do business all over the world, they should be smart enough to trade futures or whatever so that they can deal. Right?

Sure. But wouldn't it be even better if that currency trend were working for you? Maybe on top of some great growth stories?

Is this where you tell me to go buy Chinese stocks? I've got that China ETF the guy on TV talked about, that iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) thing. I'm good, I keep telling you. Now get out there -- that asparagus is looking a little dry.

China's a great place to start. But not with that ETF, because it kind of stinks. It's not the ETF's fault; it's the index. It's full of fat slugs.

Slugs? What are you talking about? It's China, the boom-boom emerging superpower. You're the guy who told me to buy Ford, and you're telling me about slugs?

Hey, Ford has tripled since you bought it. Stop your complaining. That index is full of big companies that are mostly owned by the Chinese government. Those companies aren't going to take off anytime soon, and if the government decides to dump their holdings, the stock prices will tank. If you want growth in China, you've got to go buy growth stocks, real emerging companies.

Uh-huh. And how do I find these things?

Dude, this is The Motley Fool. Poke around. Look at American Oriental Bioengineering (NYSE: AOB), which makes traditional Chinese medicines and has a lot of fans at the Fool. Look at Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU), which has a search engine and a big online gaming operation. Look at E-House (NYSE: EJ), a big Chinese real estate broker that's doing well right now. These smaller companies are still cheap because big money is still sitting in the bigger stocks.

Or take a look at Huaneng Power (NYSE: HNP) -- China's still developing, so electricity is still a growth business. These guys are big players, and they're getting bigger -- and they pay a dividend. Or Mindray Medical (NYSE: MR), which makes medical imaging --

Wait. Stop. You know, I watch TV -- I know China's government isn't the biggest fan of private property. They're communists! How do I know they won't be out at the vanguard of the whosis seizing my company's means of production or whatever?

Look, the Chinese government knows it has a good thing going right now. They need Western investment and Western markets. There's definitely risk, but I don't think it's a big deal.

OK, suppose I agree with you. All those stocks you just named sound good. But they're all traded on U.S. exchanges. Doesn't that mean they've already gotten pretty big? How do I find the ones that haven't popped yet?

That takes some more digging. But I'll give you a pointer: There's an interesting one in the June issue of the Fool's Global Gains newsletter. It's a little tiny company that I guarantee you've never heard of, but it's one that could see a lot of growth.

Yeah, yeah. I don't subscribe to that one. And money's tight --

-- so take a free trial. It'll cost you nothing, and you can spend 30 days poking around and picking their brains. Seriously, you need to get on this soon.

OK, fine. I'll take a look if you go water my garden already. What do I need to do?

Just click here to get rolling. It's worth your time, I promise.