<prompt> Human: Dear rpersonalfinance,I am getting into investing now, and Im ready to make my first move. My wife is more or less against the idea of investing, and just wants me to sit on the money, so Im doing it all by myself.I also live in Japan, so its a little difficult to figure out all the differences.Anyway, I had a morning off a couple of weeks ago, so I dropped into a securities firm that has an office in my neighborhood. I asked what options they have and the guy I talked to suggested that I do something that, as far as I can tell, is linked to foreign countries overall performance. I dont know if its forex or some kind of broad fund that goes up and down based on the countries GDP or whatever. The deal is, I buy in at about 100 per share or unit. Then, every month, I get a dividend of between ninety cents or so and 2.50 based on country - the 2.50 was Australia. I can take this money or re-invest it automatically.The company takes about 5 off the top in fees every year. Basic fees 3.15 and running fees 1.64.I did some calculations, and I realized that if I took the lowest yield, Id actually be losing money, but if I took Oz, Id be making a decent amount.But the guy explained that it can all change based on the performance of the country on any given month, so nothing is guaranteed.I dont know - is there an Emglish name for this? Is it a good idea? There were other options, but he said that he strongly recommends this one.I didnt want to make him sit there and explain everything to me, so I left it at that and grabbed a bunch of handouts with information about what wed discussed.I also dont know if its a committed kind of thing or if Im free to take my money back out at any time. There arent really any resources in English for this, so Im considering getting friends together and starting a club to figure it out together. But if anybody has any advice on this particular scheme, Id really appreciate hearing it. Thanks!  <response>: The company takes about 5 off the top in fees every year. Basic fees 3.15 and running fees 1.64.There is no worthwhile investment that charges these kinds of fees.From your description, it sounded like they wanted to set you up with an index fund, and charge you through the nose for it. How do you say Edward Jones in Japanese? My wife is more or less against the idea of investingThats something you might want to resolve before investing unless your finances are separate. Im not married, but Im pretty sure doing something your wife is against isnt a smart thing.My suggestion, if you _are_ going to invest: read the long-term investing start-up kit, on the sidebar. Yes, thats U.S.-based, but youll get the main idea about stocks, bonds, mutual funds, index funds, and ETFs from it. Read and understand _before_ you try to invest - whether by the philosophy espoused by it or not.Then, consider something like Boglehead-type investing in Japan BTW, if you like the idea of getting a return - positive or negative - based on a foreign countrys economy, why not use the U.S. its foreign to you total stock market? According to the previous link, there are at least three Japanese brokerages through whom you can buy VTI, which is Vanguards total U.S. stock market ETF. Thats a pretty good core holding, no matter who you are. Note: Before investing, be sure you understand what youre investing in, and what the applicable laws and taxes are in your country. 