Uruguayans are not investors by nature. In fact, the tradition lives on and most of the local investments are in property.
This is also evident in the fact that in banking there are assets for a value of 50% of GDP, although a million and a half Uruguayans are investors through the AFAPs, an aspect that can be lost sight of because it is not considered an immediate commitment to part of the contributors.
As far as financial instruments are concerned, Fixed income is the objective of Uruguayan investors who put their chips, above all, abroad and in Uruguayan government bonds.
“It is a region typically of fixed income”, assured in this sense, the president of CFA Society Uruguay, Bárbara Mainzer and explained that, in recent years, the scarcity of fixed income instruments that offered the expected profitability made Uruguayan investors will increasingly turn to alternative instruments such as shares.
The preference for the fixed income market is something that Sun Partners investment adviser, Gastón Sirota, also shows. “Investors in Uruguay, and in Latin America, usually have a balanced portfolio with about 60% in the bond market and 40% in the equity market, while, for example, in the United States that relationship tends to invest and the average American investor tends to have a portfolio closer to 60% in stocks and 40% in the bond market”, detailed the expert.
In his view, this decision has to do with the fact that Uruguayans tend to like to invest in the property market. But, beyond the bricks, for Sirota, the bond market also allows diversification and very good income, especially in the current situation of higher rates. “There are very interesting opportunities,” he estimated.
“The profile of the Uruguayan investor is much more conservative than others like the American,” Mainzer pointed out.
Investor women and families
The traditional profile of the Uruguayan investor is that of a mature man with high capital, however, experts see many women taking action on the matter and their greater longevity compared to men makes them get involved in the management of their assets, even in the last stage of his life. “They look younger and younger”Mainzer also remarked and pointed mainly to entrepreneurs as actors who have significant capital at an early age.
Meanwhile, Sirota assured that It is common to see more families that dare to invest and, in their case, decisions are made collectively.
Confident and receptive
What do Uruguayans look for when investing? The answer depends almost entirely on what your advisor has to offer.
Is that In the field of asset management, the investor decides based on the options presented to him, partly because, in general, there is a great lack of financial education in Uruguay and throughout the world. To this is added, according to Mainzer, that the financial market has an additional complexity and, in turn, is intangible.
According to Sirota, the Uruguayan “is a fairly receptive client and listens to advice”. In this sense, he commented that in his experience he has come across both people “very informed and who have been investing for many years” and others who do not have as much experience. “Without a doubt, on the financial education side, there are things to do,” he stressed.
Likewise, Both specialists highlighted the importance of advice and of building an investment profile adjusted to the needs of those who carry out the bet.
Asked about the solvency of the companies that work in the field in the country, Mainzer estimated that although there are advisers who know a lot and others who “are not up to the task.”
About, Mainzer recommended verifying that whoever offers the advice is authorized to offer that service, that it is registered and regulated in the Central Bank. “That is the minimum, a floor from which to start and then see what he studied, how many years he has been working and for what institution,” stressed the head of the CFA Society.
In Uruguay or in the world?
According to the representative of Sun Partners, the characteristic of the Uruguayan market as small and the possibility of accessing opportunities throughout the world means that many are betting abroad. “They do it in investment funds of American or European shares,” Sirota exemplified.
Along the same lines, both specialists highlighted that within the country bets mainly on Uruguayan government bonds. “There’s also a lot of investment being made in Indexed Units,” Mainzer noted.
