Since I attended the seminar in September and started this series, I am much more aware and notice a lot more – and see the trends.  Which is good.

Last week I read an article about motorcars and the author remarked that it is generally accepted that the internal combustion car will still be around until at least 2025.  One of the problems with alternative fuel is the distribution network.  Can you imagine the cost to replace all the existing fuel stations?  Initially few people are driving “new-age” cars.  Which means infrastructure development is very expensive and recouping costs takes very long. This translates into high prices.  Which in turns acts as a deterrent to change to new fuel.

Then the “old-age” technology goes through the reverse cycle. Less cars with fossil fuel means less turn-over which leads to higher prices which in turn acts as incentive to change to “new-age” technology.  Eventually we end up with a lot of useless vehicles.  (It goes like this with all technology development).

Question is:  where should your money go?  Cleaning up horse manure and investing in buggy whips (read previous posts).  Or into the new technology?

I found this interesting article last week:  Expanding the replacement battery network.

But, there is also a lot of advance in the fuel cell research.  Breakthroughs are making it easier to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.  Which means that fuel cell technology is also a strong contender for future vehicle power!

I already shared the story of horse manure.  Let me share another story which I read about years ago when I did my MBA.  It is investment related.  A very wealthy American was afraid that his heirs would mis-manage their inheritance and made a grave (pun intended) mistake.  He tried to rule from the grave.  In his will he stipulated that the money must always be heavily invested in companies that manufacture buggy whips.  If you don’t know what a buggy whip is, that is the problem.  In his time, when horse manure was a looming crisis, people used buggies (small wagons) drawn by horses for transport.  And our hero said:  People will always need transport.  Buggy whips is a consumable item and there will always be a need for buggy whips.  And exactly what he feared became true  – his heirs and his fortune was lost. 

He was right, people will always need transport.  But the form of transport can change and be different.

And that is the purpose of  this series, to make us aware of the changes around us.  If we are aware of the changes, it means we don’t have to spend time labouring in obsolete technologies.  We can join the trend a lot earlier and ride the wave.

But, there is even more.  Remember one of our basic statements:  invest in yourself before you invest your money?  That one?  Well, I think we all need to take stock of our skills and knowledge, we all need to evaluate how prepared we are for the future that is now.  Because it will determine our wealth.

And that is why I think I am still right on track!

Why not tell me what you think?  And even better, share some of your own insights regarding the changes?