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My "investment goal" is to invest small amounds of money (~ 1000 Euro) in each of the democracies listed here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_Index

For the most countries I have already found a ETF or stock of a company from that country.

But for some - in this case Uruguay - I did not find a way to invest.

So how to invest in Democraties/Uruguay?

Additional Info:

Edit (answering questions from below):

Reason for me to invest in democraties:

  • I believe that in the long run they are more stable
  • legal certainty is usually a thing that comes with it
  • I think that they provide the best surrounding for business to grow
  • The initial idea I got from the book "Why Nations Fail" from Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Nations_Fail

Method:

  • 2 years ago I started to buy ETFs, stocks, bonds and etfs releated to the states on top of the Democracyindex. ~ 500-1000 Euros each. Only Uruguay, Mauritius and Costa Rica i could not find anything
  • After that I invested ~ 500-1000 Euros in the countries which had the most positive change in the list.
  • I invest directly in the countries companies. So no stuff like trading partners, export goods generaly or things like that.
  • I dont especially care about Foreign exchange risk because this is immanent in every investment abroad and not bound to democracies.
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  • I'd suggest saving up your Uruguay investment money and taking a trip there after COVID clears up. It is a beautiful country! – gaefan Jun 12 '20 at 11:51
  • @gaefan: of course, a trip would be cool. But I might want to do both. I could visit my investion then :-) – Gener4tor Jun 12 '20 at 12:35
  • @Gener4tor interesting approach. I'd be curious to know how your returns compare to the S&P 500 or SX5E, for example. I suspect that your beliefs don't actually translate to outperformance. – 0xFEE1DEAD Jun 12 '20 at 18:17
  • @Gener4tor the FX risk is not negligible. There's a world of a difference between EUR/USD and USD/UYU, in terms of stability. – 0xFEE1DEAD Jun 12 '20 at 18:20
  • @0xFEE1DEAD: Until now I did not do the math for comparing it to the S&P 500. Ill probably do it when I have the time. Regarding the FX risk: Of course, the risk exists. Especially with countries overseas. But on the other hand, most of the top democracies have the euro and the S&P 500 is ~ 70% USD and <10% Euro. So I am pretty sure that overall the FX risk for me is lower than the S&P 500. – Gener4tor Jun 12 '20 at 19:15
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Before thinking about "how?", we should ask "why?". What's your reason for wanting to invest in countries with a high Democracy Index score?

Are you planning on investing equal amounts in each country, or weighted by GDP or some other criteria?

Does it need to be stocks or would you consider bonds (given the amount you're planning to invest, we don't need to talk about private debt/equity or direct investments in real estate)? What about FX risk?

You might find that your idea isn't investable (yet). So, what can you do?

You could invest in a proxy, for example an ETF with an ESG theme or companies/countries that are correlated to Uruguay's GDP:

GDP by sector - services: 69.7%, industry: 24.1%, agriculture: 6.2%

Export goods - beef, soybeans, cellulose, rice, wheat, wood, dairy products, wool

Main export partners - China 19%, Brazil 16.1%, United States 5.7%, Argentina 5.4%

You'll find more specific examples and ideas under "Specialties of Uruguay" but it appears that a lot of them are state-owned.

Further reading: Democracy is under threat, we must add a D to ESG [FT] (mirror: http://archive.fo/E69Ur)

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  • Thanks for your answer. I edited my question to answer your questions. btw. There is a pay wall before the FT-article. I sadly cant read it. – Gener4tor Jun 12 '20 at 18:10
  • @Gener4tor I've added a mirror link – 0xFEE1DEAD Jun 12 '20 at 18:15
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To invest in a foreign country not offered by a home-country stock-broker's international trading, the investor must form a company in the foreign country. Or as an individual, the individual would have to move to the foreign country to invest in it.

For an individual investor to invest directly in a foreign country without having residency that is off-shore investing and is not allowed by most countries.

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