A thousand years ago today, a thousand years away tommorow, one thing for sure is that there will always be rich people. This is 100% true. Though times do change, there will always be those people who are/were wealthier than others. Many groan that if they could go back in time they would be rich. Or they say if only I had done this or that...WHO CARES ABOUT YESTERDAY! Today, right now, is the most important day to you. There are always opportunities for you and ways to become rich. The thing is that the opportunity may be different from yesterday and today. But don't worry, there will always be an opporunity to make money. You don't necessarily have to be a genius to become rich, but you don't necessarily have to be a fool to be poor. What you do have to do though is keep up with the trends. Society is always changing and their needs become different over time. What you want to do is keep up or keep ahead of the trends. What are trends you say? Trends are simply things that become commonplace or popular. An example of a trend would be, fuel efficient cars. Because of the high prices of gas and the increasing damage to the environment, fuel efficient cars are becoming popular. See, wasn't that simple? To recognize a trend you don't really have to go further than home! If you have children, see what they're buying or what they like. You can then see what is trendy! If you don't have kids, then hang out at the mall! Observe the different stores that kids go in and out of! You see the thing with kids is, they have no precedence. If they see something they like, they get it. Unlike some older folks they don't scowl about how things were better in their day, because this is their day! A mall is a great place to begin.
But you ask, how does recognizing a trend help me? It does!
Here is a simple formula: Trend = Opportunity
When you see something this is popular you can say to yourself, "This is the business I want to get into." You can do it either directly or indirectly. That is you start a business, or you own a business (by that i mean stocks). Peter Lynch (manager of the Fidellity Magellan Fund for 13 years) for example always hangs out at the malls to see what is trendy with the kids. In fact this is his most favourite and leisurely way to do research. He looks at the most crowded stores and then goes out and investigates the company behind the store. Then he scoops up the stocks before it goes up! Exciting huh? You can do it, anybody can.
Remember to pay attention to what people are doing and you will know what to do...
Who cares about the baby boomers right? WRONG! The baby boomers are the largest segment of people moving into retirement and if you can follow this "group" of people, you can prosper. Now what you want to do is keep ahead of the demands of the baby boomers. That is, you provide a service or product to them that they will need, and when one set of baby boomers cycles through it the others will come through. Here is what I mean. Let us say that people move through garden hoses. And the baby boomers are like a basketball moving through the hose, stretching it. You can either follow the basketball behind, or you can go in front. You want to get infront. When you meet the needs of the first set of baby boomers (the eldest ones), a new set of baby boomers will pass by. So now that you understand (don't worry if you dont), you must ask yourself, "What do I do then?" Here's a suggestion, get into the retirement business. You can, make retirement homes, sell medical products, manufacture senior citizen products, etc,.the possibilities are nearly endless! So get thinking and get with the baby boom! Babooooooooom!!!
