Follow the Nerds

Scott Adams, on his Dilbert Blog, has called out to his readers for investment ideas.

He opines "...that the best way to pick stocks that will be big winners is to identify global trends before other people notice, and buy stocks in the companies that will benefit from those trends no matter how poorly they are managed."

I agree.

Scott concludes his post by asking readers for their ideas regarding up-and-coming trends.

Here's mine:

My fiance and I took a walk today through downtown Ballard (the new "cool" neighborhood in Seattle) and I made this observation:

A lot of the "cool" teens and twenty-somethings are slaves to little electronic gadgets: cell phones, laptops, iPods, video games, and digital cameras.

I remember when these devices were only owned by the "nerds". In fact, the cool kids used to make fun of nerds for owning these gizmos. Now the things are ubiquitous.

Video games used to be the realm of the nerdiest people in high school.

Now, they're a multi-billion dollar business.

At one time, only nerds owned computers and knew how to network them using modems and routers.

Now, everybody has a computer and the Internet is the greatest invention since the wheel.

So, if you want to know what the "next big thing" is going to be, find the nerdiest kids in your local high school, and ask them what they're into.

Then find the companies that makes the doo-dads, sell your Beanie Baby® collection and the dog, and buy as much stock as you can.


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Sheesh. What has the world come to when I feel obligated to add the following?

The preceding post should not be interpreted as a solicitation to buy or sell any investments or securities, or as legitimate financial advice.

I am not a licensed financial advisor. I am only a Republican with a secret identity, lots of opinions, and abs of steel. OK, so I made that last part up.