What is the next big thing in investing?

Originally Posted by maacone

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Commodities. Agricultural food prices are going to increase a lot.

I agree; Basic Materials, Agriculture, Infrastructure... there is still a lot of globalizing to do out there, and these three areas will see a good deal of growth in the next 5-10 years...

Originally Posted by teddieriley

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and as long as you get a sense of what that is before everyone else does
True, there is much value to be gained by predicting the future accurately. When you are done with your crystal ball, can I borrow it?

Originally Posted by mbc

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True, there is much value to be gained by predicting the future accurately. When you are done with your crystal ball, can I borrow it?

Yes, I have a crystal ball, that is why I'm asking people what their thoughts are. I'm not asking for predictions, but I would think people could lend insight about an industry they think will blow up in the next couple of years, either by seeing early signs of growth with experience in the industry or have some positive indicators.

You apparently have none of that, but you do have unhelpful sarcasm. Whatevs.

Originally Posted by teddieriley

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Yes, I have a crystal ball, that is why I'm asking people what their thoughts are. I'm not asking for predictions, but I would think people could lend insight about an industry they think will blow up in the next couple of years, either by seeing early signs of growth with experience in the industry or have some positive indicators.

You apparently have none of that, but you do have unhelpful sarcasm. Whatevs.

I think it's a bit more than unhelpful sarcasm. The sarcasm, I believe, springs from a healthy skepticism about the ability of most people to reliability predict what the future will bring.

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

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I think it's a bit more than unhelpful sarcasm. The sarcasm, I believe, springs from a healthy skepticism about the ability of most people to reliability predict what the future will bring.
I feel that I can pretty well predict some of the major trends over the next five years, the problem is that they are the same one everybody else has predicted and that has already been priced into the assets in question. To sucessfully invest in "the next big thing", you need several things. First is the ability to predict the future both correctly and in a way different than others see it. Second, you need to have the ability (access) to invest in these emerging trends, and third you need to be able to pay a low enough price so that your prediction is not only correct, but also profitable.

^^So what are these major trends you're referring to?

Originally Posted by teddieriley

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^^So what are these major trends you're referring to?
The same ones everybody sees. - Development in the BRIC countries - Continued increase in personal usage of technology - Attempts to innovate in "green" energy None of these will put you ahead of the curve, and the downside if the predictions fail is immense. All good ideas are priced for perfection.

Whale blubber.

Originally Posted by LabelKing

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Whale blubber.

I hear that's a great fuel source.

As someone who works in the metals industry, I can tell you that the demand for steel, iron, and ore are still going very very strong and will, in all probability, continue to do so for the 1st half of the year.

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

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I think it's a bit more than unhelpful sarcasm. The sarcasm, I believe, springs from a healthy skepticism about the ability of most people to reliability predict what the future will bring.
More or less, yes.

Originally Posted by teddieriley

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Yes, I have a crystal ball, that is why I'm asking people what their thoughts are. I'm not asking for predictions, but I would think people could lend insight about an industry they think will blow up in the next couple of years, either by seeing early signs of growth with experience in the industry or have some positive indicators.

You apparently have none of that, but you do have unhelpful sarcasm. Whatevs.
Anecdotal reports from a number of colleagues suggests that not only will the BRIC countries have a lot of development, but that a number of Southeast Asian countries (Vietnam, Malaysia) represent pretty healthy growth opportunities as well.

If you want to read more theories on the "next big thing" than you probably have time to digest, Seeking Alpha is chock full of this kind of stuff.

Originally Posted by iammatt

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With investing as with cleavage, the best is the original way. Buy companies selling for less than they are worth.

LOL, whats the original cleavage you refer to and how is it like investing? Are you referring to the cyclical nature inherent, cycle...circle.....round....*******...?

Children, because they are our future.

Even if it makes me rich, I feel somewhat unpatriotic investing in foreign companies (esp. those from oppressive regimes). Besides, the Mainland Chinese mentality is getting rich quickly (and turning out shoddy products) so I would never investing in one.

Originally Posted by dkzzzz

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Turn-key retirement communities. Everyone talks about India and China stocks. London exchange is doing much much better than Wall Street.

While I don't know much about investing at this point because I have to focus on my school work, my father is very experienced at this point. He did well during the internet boom with AOL and later eBay since he was close friends with the guys at Benchmark Capital, a high profile firm in Northern California. He told me that the next big thing might be bio-informatics. As the pharmaceutical companies are somewhat frustrated with conventional treatments, we will likely see genomic treatments in the future. There are many markers for a certain disease, and your genome provides the greatest statistical odds of whether you will or will not develop it. Once genomic sequencing becomes cheap (like ~$1000 for each human genome), we will see more therapeutic applications. Of course, when this happens, it will be another leap forward in medicine and the companies that have the technology to organize and provides this information (with a respect for privacy and trust from their customers) to physicians would be needed. They will likely work side by side with conventional health insurance companies, much like paypal and ebay. He could be very wrong but this is my field and I could imagine this happening.