Australia still issues bonds

Not many -- only $AUD5.3 billion of them this year. But they still issue them. From Harry Newton: "I have no idea where I got the wrong information from -- though you have to admit it's a great story: Tiny country in South Pacific is paradise in every way -- from its sound fiscal policies to its nice friendly people to its nice warm weather to its glorious beaches. Sometimes reporters just want to believe their own BS. And therein lies the obvious lesson: Never believe anything you read anywhere -- without checking. "

An non-Australian resident (that's you and me) can buy Australian Vanguard index funds. (This is all checked.) Here's the list. Click here. For the latest performance figures to end November 2006, click here. The most popular Vanguard equities fund is something call the Vanguard Index Australian Shares Fund. Performance for the 12 months to end-November was 23.8%. For the last three years it averaged 25.1%. For nine years it's averaged 13.8% a year.

To invest, go to Vanguard's Australian site. Click here. You'll notice two categories -- personal investors and institutional investors. There's no difference between the offerings, except the fees and the minimums. To be an "institution" you need to invest $AUD500,000 -- about $400,000 in declining American dollars. As an institution, Vanguard will charge you 0.34% a year for to manage your monies and 0.2% (20 basis points) one-time charge when you go to sell. If you're a personal investor, they'll charge you 0.75% on your first $50,000 per fund, 0.50% on your second $50,000 and then 0.35% a year on all monies after that. Whichever you choose, that's lower than virtually every US mutual fund -- except the ones set up to compete with Vanguard.

The Vanguard Index Australian Shares Fund is basically Australia's largest 300 companies -- what it calls the ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) 300. Vanguard Australia has the usual Vanguard collection of friendly, helpful people. They work from 8 AM to 6 PM. and are easy to reach by phone 011-613-8888-3888 (they're 16 hours ahead of American EST) or email: Click here.

Sticking money down under seems like a genuine no-brainer. Yesterday's picture of the gaining Australian dollar (or the inverse -- the declining US dollar.):