China hogs most of the headlines these days, given it represents an extremely compelling growth market for investors. I recently explained why investing in other countries can make more sense, naming India as an example of a country that may have more compelling long-term prospects for investors. But it doesn’t… Read More

In his 1979 letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett offered his belief that “insurance can be a very good business” to own and invest in. His belief continues to this day and Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) is among the world’s largest insurers in the world, which is due to Buffett’s ability… Read More

When it comes to investing in emerging markets, Brazil is often mentioned as one of the most appealing countries. This is for good reason — its population of more than 200 million represents one of the world’s largest markets. Better yet, years of economic… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article about India’s vast potential for both economic development and profit for investors. [“Read why I think India’s a better long-term investment than China”] In that article, I mentioned a few of the standard, well-known Indian… Read More

The standard healthcare pitch for investing in healthcare stocks contains a number of standard components. Among them are favorable demographics due to an aging global population and the favorable impacts of recent U.S. industry legislation that adds millions of patients into the system. These are definite positives, but there are… Read More

Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter first introduced the world to the concept of “creative destruction” by which, in his own words, sets forth a “fundamental impulse that sets and keeps the capitalist engine in motion [and] comes from the new consumers, goods, the new methods of production or transportation, the new… Read More

In a recent interview with Money magazine, finance guru Roger Ibbotson stated that, as an investor, what is “most relevant to you is whether and how you’re doing something different from what everybody else is doing.” For those not familiar with Roger Ibbotson, he is worth getting… Read More

In a reprise of a role from the 1980s, fictional Wall Street titan Gordon Gekko recently returned to the big screen in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. In the sequel to the original Wall Street, Gekko states that in investing, “It’s not about the money — it’s about the game.”… Read More

A recent article in The Economist caught my eye, and a particular statistic I found interesting was that until 1800, China and India accounted for about half of the global economy. The Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s shifted the balance of power to… Read More

About a week ago, a press release announced that the University of Virginia Press would be making tens of thousands of writings and documents from the nation’s Founding Fathers available on the Internet. By 2012, instead of having to rely on what was written about George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, individuals will be able to read their original thoughts on many important subjects. The news is of obvious excitement to historians and other history buffs, but also serves as yet another indication of the growing importance of digital technology to businesses and society as a whole. Websites… Read More

About a week ago, a press release announced that the University of Virginia Press would be making tens of thousands of writings and documents from the nation’s Founding Fathers available on the Internet. By 2012, instead of having to rely on what was written about George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, individuals will be able to read their original thoughts on many important subjects. The news is of obvious excitement to historians and other history buffs, but also serves as yet another indication of the growing importance of digital technology to businesses and society as a whole. Websites and social networks are other examples and mean continued leaps in demand for storing and retrieving increasing amounts of digital content. Tech giant Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) frequently talks about “the human network,” which it defines the most important asset in the information technology (IT) industry. It defines this network as “the platform to change the way the world works, lives, plays, and learns.” This statement definitely may be advertising fluff, but it also happens to be a good way to identify the vast array of markets the firm’s products address to make it a reality. Read More