Chronic Bubble Phobia Leaves German Investors Shunning Stocks

At 79, Karl-Friedrich Markwort is old enough to remember the postwar economic collapse that left German currency and equities all but worthless. So it might not seem surprising that Markwort, a retiree in the Frankfurt suburb of Bad Soden, steers clear of stocks.

He was lured into the market once, during the 1990s Internet boom, because he wanted to own "the businesses of the future," he says. By the time Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany’s biggest phone company, spun off part of its T-Online unit in an April 2000 public offering, Markwort was eager to own 500 shares. "I was lucky because I was only allocated 35," he says. He later sold them for a 50 percent loss. "I don’t trust the stock market now," he adds. "I wouldn’t invest there anymore."