If you’ve been keeping up with the US economic story, you’ve probably heard that the economy is in terrible shape and that its recovery from the Great Recession will be slow and uncertain.
The news was pretty dire in June.
And now that it’s starting to look like the recovery is finally on the way, you might be wondering why you should bother investing in the United States.
And the answer is pretty simple: The US is actually doing pretty well.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US was No. 2 in the world in job creation in January, and it’s the second-highest in the G7.
It’s also the only developed country that’s seen job growth at 4.5% a year.
And thanks to its robust stock market, the country has plenty of room to grow.
The good news is that the US is already making some of its most productive investments yet.
Here’s why you need to invest in US companies.
1.
US stock markets are the best in the developed world.
The S&P 500 and NASDAQ both hit record highs this year.
That means they’re outperforming the rest of the world.
But they’re not the only ones doing so.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which measures the average stock price in the largest US companies, was up 1,100 points last month, a sharp increase from January.
And according to data from UBS and Thomson Reuters, the Nasdaq is on track to break past its 200-day moving average of 1,200 points, a milestone that’s been reached only twice in its history.
The market is also up 8% from a year ago, a sign that investors are beginning to take notice.
2.
You’ll get an excellent return on your money.
The US economy is so strong that it doesn’t matter if you’re an investor in a company, or a pension fund, or even a retirement plan.
In the long run, your investments in companies are going to give you a good return.
According the S&s Dow Jones Index, the average annual return for American companies is about 12%, and for pension funds it’s more like 17%.
3.
The country has a strong bond market.
America’s economy is actually in the midst of a bubble.
It has one of the highest rates of long-term inflation in the industrialized world.
In recent years, however, the bubble has burst and stocks are surging.
But the US has one great advantage over the rest: The bond market is one of its strongest asset classes.
That’s because it has strong creditworthiness.
When investors take a chance on companies, they’re usually guaranteed that they’ll be able to pay back their debt in full when it’s due.
That also means that there’s no chance of a default or a massive haircut on the company’s debt.
That makes the US a great place to put money if you don’t have any other sources of income.
The downside is that it also means you have to be prudent.
While the market has gone through plenty of ups and downs over the years, the stock market is still a safe investment for investors who want to make long-lasting gains.
The chart below shows the average return on bonds from the last 100 years.
The blue line is the average, and the red line is what the bond market has historically paid.
The red line shows what it would have paid today.
4.
You can also save money on taxes.
If you buy a house in the suburbs, you’ll probably save an average of $1,100 per year.
Meanwhile, a typical worker in the urban core can expect to save an extra $1.25 an hour.
That could translate into a big boost to your wallet.
If your taxes are higher than what’s recommended, however (for example, in the 25% bracket) you can also opt for lower tax rates.
If that’s the case, you’re actually going to be able take home a bigger percentage of your money over the long haul.
5.
You get to buy a lot of things.
The world’s largest companies have been using their vast financial resources to invest heavily in the U.S. Over the past 20 years, more than 2.3 trillion dollars have been pumped into the US stock market.
That includes about $1 trillion in cash.
And it’s not just the companies that have invested big bucks in the country.
In addition to companies that make up the largest segments of the economy, the S.&:amp;T.
&S.
stocks are also the most popular.
The NASDAQ is the most traded stock in the nation, followed by the Dow Jones, and then the S and S&ams Dow Jones indexes.
That helps explain why the stock markets in the S, S&, S, and S; are up by more than 20% each year since 2002.
6.
You could be paying more tax.
Tax reform is an ongoing effort in Congress. It is