This helps ensure your position against loss, though at a cost - just like insurance.

FORBES: Seven Reasons ETFs Are Better Than Stocks

This home bias also helps explain why, though the stock of debt is huge, debt-servicing costs as a percentage of GDP have been relatively low compared with Japan's OECD peers (see chart).

ECONOMIST: Japan is not yet doomed to debt-induced penury

This year's victory by the NFC Tampa Bay Buccaneers should be good for stocks, though it helps to ignore the fact that the team played one season in the AFC in 1976.

FORBES: Magazine Article