|
This week, we begin an exciting, new series from Matt McCall, editor of Early Stage Investor. Today, we’re sitting on the verge of a transformation very similar to what we saw in the 1990s. As Matt tell us below, right now, there are a handful of innovations in their early stages that will change our world in a way the Internet did in the 1990s … the way railroads did in the 1800s … and the way the automobile did in the 1900s. Matt’s goal in Early Stage Investor is to find the companies powering these innovations, then ride them higher for years. Today, let’s begin the series by looking at what’s behind the massive opportunity in front of us. I’ll let Matt take it from here. Enjoy. Jeff Remsburg |
The Greater the Change, the Greater the Gains
What were you doing in 1992?
The Soviet Union had just collapsed. Bill Clinton defeated George Bush in the presidential election.
Roseanne, Home Improvement, and Cheers were huge TV shows. The roaring 90s were just getting started. And a new technology called the “Internet” was being introduced to America.
Now imagine that around that time, you truly understood how this new technology would change the world.
Imagine you could see the major new industries that would fan off the Internet’s creation in a dozen different directions, like spokes on a wheel.
You could see how people would buy hundreds of millions of computers … and hundreds of millions of software packages to operate those computers. You could see the huge amount of infrastructure that would be needed to carry vast amounts of Internet traffic … how online retail and online media would blossom… and all the other things we take for granted in the 21st century.
If you had that knowledge in 1992, you might have invested in Cisco Systems (CSCO), the world’s leading maker of networking gear … the “plumbing” the Internet needs to function.
You could have picked up $1,000 worth of Cisco stock after its IPO. Less than 10 years later, that $1,000 stake would be worth as much as $1,264,000 (a 1,264-fold return).
You might have also purchased shares in Dell Computer, which became one of the world’s top computer makers. Just $5,000 placed into Dell stock in the early 90s would have grown into as much as $4.5 million (a more than 90,000% gain).
You might have also picked up shares of Microsoft (MSFT), which became the world’s leading computer software maker. The stock gained 9,556% during the 1990s. An investment of just $5,000 … turning into millions of dollars.
It’s the kind of monster investment return that can set up you and your family for decades. It can allow you to buy vacations … cars … homes … and just about anything else you want.
Those kinds of investment gains are possible when you invest in businesses and technology that change the world. The greater the change, the greater the gains. Knowing all this is hugely important right now.
As you read this, we sit on the verge of a transformation very similar to what we saw in the 1990s. Right now, there are a handful of innovations in their early stages that will change our world in a way the Internet did in the 1990s … the way railroads did in the 1800s … and the way the automobile did in the 1900s. Informed investors stand to make gains similar — possibly even larger — than those made during the Internet boom. I believe there is a small group of industries that are virtually guaranteed to grow 100-fold … 500-fold … even 1,000-fold in the coming years … while delivering their early investors life-changing capital gains.
If you know what’s about to happen, you’ll look back at this time with a perspective few people ever attain. Instead of looking back with regret and knowing you “missed out,” you’ll look back with fond memories and satisfaction. This can be the time you lay your first stone in a financial dynasty.
The investments you make over the next few years can secure your financial freedom for the rest of your life. What’s coming is that big … and that transformational. You hold in your hands a “How to Guide” for taking advantage of it. My goal in creating this is to provide you with true insight on what is around the corner … what businesses and technologies will change the world … and most importantly, my job is to get you into the next Cisco … the next Microsoft … the next Amazon … the next Facebook … etc.
In the pages that follow, you’ll learn all about my strategies for uncovering and profiting from The Next Big Thing. Let’s get started …
Everything is About to Change … Thanks to The Law of Accelerating Returns
Think of the extraordinary change someone born in 1900 could have seen over a long life.
As a child, they would see horses in city streets … and grow up to see those streets full of cars.
They would see the invention of the radio … the airplane … the fax machine … air conditioning … personal computers … and the list of big changes goes on.
I believe those of us who live the next 30 years will see a similar set of changes.
We’ll see the world change more rapidly than any other group of people in history.
The way we work, play, travel, bank, receive healthcare, and entertain ourselves will look completely different than they look now.
Large new industries will be created at a pace we’ve never seen before.
These new industries will demolish old industries at a pace we’ve never seen before.
And it’s all thanks to The Law of Accelerating Returns.
If you’re on the right side of this law, you’re virtually guaranteed to make a fortune.
If you’re on the wrong side of this law, you could lose your job and the value of your investment portfolio could crater. Here’s how it works …
Accelerating returns — which is also called “exponential progress” — differs from conventional progress in a MASSIVE way …
You see, conventional progress — the kind of advancement ingrained in the minds of most people — is like going for a walk …
You take one step, you advance one step.
After taking ten steps, you are ten steps away from where you started.
Pretty simple, right?
Well, exponential progress — the kind taking place in technology labs and businesses RIGHT NOW — radically changes the equation … and radically accelerates the pace of change we see in the world.
Exponential progress is progress that multiplies in power and scope with each step.
Exponential progress is progress that “snowballs” and builds on itself. It ensures that each new step is larger than the one that comes before it.
Specifically, the progress made in a step is DOUBLE the amount of progress made in the step that came before it.
For example, if you make exponential progress while taking a walk, you take one step.
Now double that …
… and your second step is the equivalent of two regular steps.
Now double that …
… and your third step is the equivalent four regular steps.
Now double that …
… and your fourth step is the equivalent of eight regular steps.
By the time you get to the 10th step, your step is the equivalent 512 steps!
And by the time you get to the 20th step, your step is the equivalent of 524,288 steps!
The Second Half of the Chessboard
Here’s an old legend that helps illustrate the power of exponential growth …
Hundreds of years ago, a king invited a traveler to play a game of chess.
The king loved chess, and very much wanted a challenge. The king told the traveler that he could name his reward if he won the game.
In response, the traveler modestly asked for some rice. He asked the king to give him a single grain of rice on the first square of the chessboard and then give him double the amount — two grains — and place it on the next square and give him double that amount — four grains — and keep doubling the amounts for each square on the chessboard.
The king lost the game.
Being a man of his word, he called for a bag of rice. The king placed one grain on one square, two grains on the next one, four grains on the next one, eight grains on the next one, and so on.
By the 16th square, the king felt the numbers were getting very large. He owed the traveler 32,868 grains of rice on that square.
Soon, the king realized that because of exponential growth, he could not fulfill his promise, for on the 21st square, he would need to put down over 1,000,000 grains of rice.
By the 31st square, he would need to put down over one billion grains of rice. And finally, on the 64th square, the king would need to put down 18,000,000,000,000,000,000 grains of rice, which was more rice than the kingdom could produce in over 100 years.
That is the power of exponential progress.
By the time you get to the second half of the chessboard, each stage of growth produces massive change relative to the early stages.
Again, exponential progress is progress that “snowballs” … each step in the advancement is double the one before it.
Knowing the difference between linear growth and exponential growth instantly sets you apart from your fellow investors and give you a huge advantage over them. It can literally make you millions of dollars over the coming years.
When a small number grows at an exponential rate, the first stages of growth aren’t incredible.
The growth shown on a chart does not soar upward during the early stages.
The extraordinary growth happens at an “inflection point” in time … when the exponential growth begins to snowball and makes things change at stunning rates.
Over the last four decades, advancements in computing power, data storage, telecommunications gear, and other technologies have followed a trajectory like you see on the left side of the chart.
This is because they started at very low levels. But after many years of advancing at exponential rates, the technologies I just listed are entering the “lift off” phase.
This is why many technologists say that when it comes to computing power, we are crossing over to “the second half of the chessboard.”
Computing power is advancing at incredible — and accelerating — rates. At the same time, the cost of computing power is plummeting.
Next week, we’ll pick back up by looking at the outcome of this powerful combination.
We are truly living in a remarkable era … it’s incredibly exciting, and it’s going to be even more profitable.
By the way, my newsletter Early Stage Investor is all about following the big money created by these tech advances … BEFORE the masses catch on. To learn more about the next generation of technology companies that I’ve already found that are set up for big gains in the years ahead, click here.
See you next week,
Matt McCall
