Running with the bulls

Entrepreneur, June, 1999 by Scott S. Smith

SMITH: When will the boom take place in other countries?

DENT: We have a study called the International Outlook, which details the situation for 50 countries. Europe is following our evolution, but because World War II delayed the baby boom and the development of industry there, they're five years or so behind us. Latin America has bullish demographics for the next decade, longer in such countries as Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The best outlook is for the Far East. Japan won't even start recovering for the next six years and will begin to prosper just as we're coming to the end of our boom in 2009. China, South Korea and Thailand should be strong for the next few decades.

SMITH: What is the right investment strategy for taking advantage of these trends?

DENT: Ignore short-term earnings and political developments, and focus on the fact that 5 billion people are about to go through the same consumer trends we did. You need the discipline to buy and hold for the long term, with adjustments to asset allocation in a counter-cyclical way, buying stocks that are out of favor but destined to rise again, regardless of which stock sector they belong to. Use this strategy to choose a basket of mutual funds that have done well over time, not just benefited from some short-term cycle. Whatever happens, stay invested!

RELATED ARTICLE: WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

Finding meaning in the next decade's boom

Lifestyle is what it's all about, not merely achieving wealth, although anyone who is wealthy would quickly agree that it is better than being poor. Surveys of happiness in this country have shown that wealth affects the sense of well-being by a factor of only 2 percent. Happiness is more about relationships, friends, family, community . . . and a balanced life. It's more fundamentally about living, learning, experiencing and growing as a human being. It's ultimately about evolution. It's what you do with your life that counts, and wealth can be a critical tool for achieving the freedom to maximize your experience and your impact on others.

Money, or economic wealth, is ultimately about giving yourself the freedom to choose the lifestyle you want and to champion the causes you believe in. That is the new ethic in this era of prosperity when many of us have already achieved the fundamentals of survival, security and living.

The ability to greatly evolve and advance one's standard of living has not always been possible for many people throughout history. We are living in the greatest period of change and progress since the printing press revolution and the discovery of America and the rest of the [New World] after the late 1400s. Such times create the greatest opportunities for advancement of people from all socioeconomic sectors.

We are in the midst of the greatest economic boom and technological revolution in history. And it hasn't occurred yet. It is about to emerge, just as cars, electricity and phones did in the Roaring Twenties. The Roaring 2000s will come with the aging of the massive baby boom generation into its peak productivity, earning and spending years and the emergence of their radical information revolution into the mainstream of our economy.