Lessons Learned From Not Investing in New Technology Opportunities

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“Would have, could have, should have”...This is a group of words that constantly remind me of missed opportunities that I did not recognize as good investments. All of those opportunities revolved around new innovations that became mainstream household and personal items. My father taught me to learn from another man's mistakes and not make that mistake yourself. My endeavor today is to pass that wisdom onto you.

The reason I missed those great investment opportunities was because I was more infatuated with the innovation itself than the company or group of companies selling the goods that included the innovation.

A great example is when I saw the first headline about Bluetooth technology coming across the news wire. Yes with my very own eyes!!

The symbol we recognize for Bluetooth comes from the initials of King Harald 'Bluetooth' Gormsson a combination of the Latin letters for 'H'and 'B'

I found it interesting and even investigated it further, and found out that IBM was involved. When I thought about my initial introduction to Bluetooth technology, I was totally engrossed with how Bluetooth was going to make my cell phone better. I totally missed the investment opportunity in IBM.

The year Bluetooth was announced was 1998. That year on January 2nd IBM was trading at US $52.25 per share, and on December 31st of that same year IBM was trading at $93.38.

On January 4th of the year 2000 IBM was trading at $114. At the end of 2002 it was trading at $124. With what I spent on a cell phone and the monthly bills I could have easily purchased 50 shares or more of IBM stock. Even that small amount of stock would have served me very well as a short term or long term investment.

I'm sharing these stories with you because once again new innovations are being brought to the general public. Driverless cars, drone food deliveries, pilotless air taxis. The big boys in the innovation markets, like Alphabet (GOOGL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Amazon (AMZN)  are tripping over themselves with investments and acquisitions in the new technology to be in a good place to take advantage of the profits that these innovations will generate.

I don't want you to make the same mistake many of us had made in the past. That is, focusing on the innovation more than the company or companies that are bringing these innovations to the consumer.

Look at it from this perspective, and let's look into the past of one of the greatest innovation acquiring firms of all time, General Electric (GE). When the light bulb and electricity were brought to consumers, where was the money by the masses being spent? Buying light bulbs or buying stock in GE? My parents sent me to the store to buy light bulbs and I never ever overheard a conversation from anyone  that was about buying stock in the light bulb manufacturers.

Let's continue with this train of thought. The first televisions, where was the focus for you and your family? Having a television or investing in Radio Corporation of America (RCA) one of the first mass producers of radios and televisions? RCA is just another example of a great acquisition by GE. Just like Edison Electric was. Thomas Alva Edison's firm was the innovator of the electric light bulb. If any one of our parents or their friends bought stock in GE, life would have been much easier real fast, just from the gains in the stock price.

A personal story of an innovation that came in my lifetime is the cellular phone. The term cellular was chosen because each tower and its coverage map looked like a biological cell, an interesting note of trivia I found during my research. Moving on, I was one of the first in my peer group to own one. It looked like an army radio with a four foot antenna you had to attach to make calls. It was big, bulky, inefficient, and expensive to use, and I didn't care because I had one.

That mobile phone that could make and receive calls wherever you were belonged to me. At that time Motorola (MSI) was the hot brand and AT&T (T) provided the network. I never thought not once to invest in those companies and none of my friends did either, because we just wanted the phone.

In 1995 AT&T stock started the year at $20 a share and ended the year at $29. MSI floundered around $70 in 1995, but climbed to $250 a share in the year 2000.

Now back to GE.  GE was the first company to mass produce the jet engine, so let's ask the question once again: Where was the focus of the masses? Was it on flying in a comfortable aircraft great distances in a short time, or was it focused on possessing GE stock, the firm producing the engines? I'm sure you can answer that question silently to yourself. We can go on and on about this, with discussions about the first LED screen and more.

We are once again in a time of great innovation. One of the latest innovations, Artificial Intelligence,  (AI) will be integrated into our everyday lives.  Where will your focus be? I hope you don't make the same mistakes I made.

Granted, today's marketplace is also filled with uncertainty. Even during the Great Depression, stocks with real assets like E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co. (DD), one of 'The Big Boys' was left standing, while so many other firms around them fell.