Whatever country you live in, you have a bias. You have a bias to use domestic services and often it is only after you look outside your country for other investments. There is nothing wrong with that, we all do it, if you examine a fund from New York – New York based companies are often in it; a similar fund doing the same thing based in Los Angeles would have some California based companies. Once in a while we look outside of our borders, travelling helps focus because you see people doing the same thing they do in your home using different companies.

One very successful company has been Alibaba from China. The company is the leading wholesale mobile app in China and is one of the largest companies. The company has a fintech arm for e-commerce called Ant Group. According to an article by Julie Zhu of Reuters, Ant is seeking to go public on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges. The offering is expected to enhance the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.

Ant Group is expected to be one of the largest public offerings because in 2018 the Ant Group was valued at $150 billion. Could it be more? Ant offers loans, payments, insurance and asset management services through mobile apps.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, everywhere in the world business operates the same – greater revenues than expenses means a profit. If there is profit, there can be dividends. As you examine your portfolio, consider alternatives around the world, they all can make money and have good governance.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.