Molson Hart

What’s there to study though? Like...the yields are good. You just pick a number out of the air and say that’s the percent chance they screw foreign shareholders. Run the math and you’re done.

Study how legit this is. It's been business as normal for a long time. I've heard Russia is uninvestable a couple times. But just because everyone says something doesn't make it so. I have to figure out the incentives of Putin, essentially?

You live in Thailand. All countries like that periodically fuck the foreigners. In a given year there’s a 5-10 chance if that happening. Can he do that with an oil company or pipeline? Sure. He can also turn off oil to Europe whenever he gets in a fight 10% yield, 5-10% chance

Thailand has % caps on how much stock foreigners can own. But they've never stolen the equity. I've thought of buying a couple companies, but I can't do it with my US broker account so it's not worth the effort. I understand the incentives in Thailand and would invest here.

Same for where I live (Colombia) (and I have invested here). Overly simplistic thinking that all EMs want to screw foreigners and - sadly - is part of why countries with better governance aren't adequately rewarded.

Templeton did very well investing worldwide. And looking at these valuations I can see why.

Colombia's leading bank was selling for less than 7x earnings at the bottom in 2016. GDP still growing at 2%. No significant bad loans. Continuous dividend hikes back to 2002. If you make it through 2008 healthy, was 2016 really going to blow you up? $CIB

Yet many people I talked to about it wouldn't even look at it due to country risk - despite its economy scoring ahead of much of the EU on economic freedom. And why would the government loot a bank that is tied to the country's elite?