Easy, safe and profitable.

Luciane Macedo _247 - Security, accessibility, convenience, low risk, liquidity, and profitability. An investment with these characteristics seems too good to be true, but the reality is that it exists and is increasingly becoming part of the portfolio of the average Brazilian saver. This is Tesouro Direto, the program for selling government bonds online, which saw its number of investors jump to 252.729 in July, an increase of almost 18% compared to January.

Created in 2002 to democratize access to this type of investment, which previously could only be done through financial institutions and with a minimum capital of R$ 50, Tesouro Direto (Brazilian Treasury Direct) continues to attract new followers, especially among novice investors. Today, only R$ 100 is needed to start investing, along with registration and a personal password.

The growth in online sales of government bonds is bucking the trend in the Stock Exchange, which, during the same period from January to July, registered a drop of just over 2% in the number of investors. "With very low risk, the Direct Treasury has been the gateway to the market for new investors," says Rogério Manente, home broker manager at the Socopa brokerage. According to him, the expectation is that the Direct Treasury will end 2011 with around 300 investors, with approximately 5.700 new users per month and growth above 33% in the adoption rate for the year.

More than democratizing access to government bonds and facilitating operations in an accessible, uncomplicated, and fast way via the internet, the Brazilian Treasury Direct program has also demystified the financial market and the world of investments for many Brazilians. "In general, people are interested in investing, but they think it's complicated," comments Menente. Compared to the Stock Exchange, which is a risky market, those who have never invested beyond savings accounts feel that the stock market is only accessible to a select few. "The general perception of the Stock Exchange for those who haven't yet entered this market is that they won't know how to choose the right companies or that they need to spend the whole day monitoring the stock market," says Manente. According to the home broker manager at Socopa, this perception of the Stock Exchange, however, generally changes when the beginner investor starts with Treasury Direct, where they learn to invest and gain more confidence.

The advantage of using Treasury Direct as an entry point is that government bonds are fixed-income assets, meaning the investor can determine the return on the investment at the time of purchase, which is not possible in the stock market, which is a variable-income market.

There are currently five types of government bonds offered by Tesouro Direto (Brazilian Treasury Direct). By understanding each one in detail, investors can make choices according to their short, medium, and long-term goals. The bonds can be indexed to inflation indices (NTN-B and NTN-B Principal, indexed to the IPCA), to the Selic rate (LTF), or fixed-rate (LTN and NTN-F).

Although interested parties can buy and sell government bonds directly through Treasury Direct websiteIt is also possible to trade through a custodian agent, that is, through authorized banks and brokerage firms whose websites are integrated with the program. This integration also facilitates access to Tesouro Direto (Brazilian Treasury Direct) for those who use home banking and for those who are already clients of authorized brokerage firms. Socopa is one of them, and it does not charge an enrollment fee. "More than 20% of our investors who came through Tesouro Direto bought stocks afterwards," comments Manente. "We analyze the investor's profile and help them with their choices in the stock market." According to the home broker manager at Socopa, the profits from the initial investment in Tesouro Direto positively reflect on the perception of the Stock Exchange, making inexperienced investors feel more comfortable diversifying their investment portfolio.

While the stock market may benefit from new investors in the Brazilian Treasury Direct program, other investment options are losing ground to government bonds. "Many investors are abandoning savings accounts and Certificates of Deposit (CDBs) and preferring Treasury Direct," says Manente. "The higher returns are the main attraction of Treasury Direct compared to the other two investments," says the home broker manager at Socopa.

The brokerage compared the three types of investment using the three varieties of Treasury bonds: one fixed-rate, one indexed to the IPCA (Brazilian inflation index), and another linked to the Selic rate (Brazil's benchmark interest rate). Investments with terms of 12 months and 24 months were considered. In all cases, the returns from Treasury Direct were always higher.

"Besides profitability, the great appeal of Treasury Direct is that investors can protect themselves in three different ways," explains Manente. "If they think inflation will rise, they invest in NTN-B bonds. And if inflation actually rises, they come out ahead." The same reasoning can be applied to other types of bonds. "If investors think interest rates will rise, they invest in LTF bonds," says the homebroker manager at Socopa. "If they think both will fall, they go for fixed-rate bonds." Another advantage, according to Manente, is the flexibility of maturities, which allows investors a secure return to achieve long-term financial goals, such as buying a property, for example. "Treasury Direct is ending the fear many savers have of investing outside the boundaries of their own bank," comments Menente. "People are realizing that it's easy and safe."