Spend

Think of this as Volume 11, Number 51 of A-Clue.com, the online newsletter I've written since 1997. Enjoy.

It's an iron law of economics. When everyone is doing the same thing, that is the wrong thing to do. (Picture from Entrepreneur Philippines, a really great online magazine.)

When everyone wants to buy something the market has topped-out. When everyone is selling that's the time to buy. Everyone knows this. Hardly anyone does this.

The rule goes beyond what may seem obvious. Any investment strategy, no matter how sophisticated it is, runs out of steam once it becomes popular.

There is a corollary to this, equally important. Never do what the TV tells you. Once a piece of investment advice is on TV everyone has heard it, lots of people are going to do it, and it's going to stop working.

This is true for even the hoariest of TV truths. Dollar cost averaging, for instance. If you did that over the last year you got hammered along with everyone else. Same with doing what Cramer tells you. This is not because Cramer is a bad guy — when he kept his mouth shut and used the advice he is now giving, back in the day, he made money for his clients. But once it is out in the air, it's too late. Too many people are doing it, it's not going to work.

So what should you be doing? Now is probably a very good time to spend, and to invest. There are going to be bargains everywhere in the economy over the next several months. It would be very hard to go wrong picking strong stocks right now, although you will have to be patient.

That advice sounds scary, doesn't it? It may even sound crazy. And it's also likely that, like me, you're not in a position to step up and buy right now. Just do what you can. All I ask is that you not put it all in a mattress or (worse) buy treasury bills for zero percent interest. Because that's what everyone else is doing. So it won't work. Inflation means that money socked away in "safety" is going to be worth less when it comes back than it is now.

Don't have two dimes to rub together? Then at least get busy. You have a resource available that your parents and grandparents never had at times like these. As I sometimes say, "You're soaking in it." (Pictured is my own local coffee shop with free WiFi, called Gathering Grounds.)

The Internet is the greatest tool for learning, and for building careers, ever invented. You can study any field you might want on this medium. You can learn new languages, both computer and human. You can learn about new cultures, you can learn about the environment. You can interact with people who aren't a bit like you.

Choose your course of study. Learn what is around you, in your city or neighborhood, and build a directory of it. Go to some neighborhood meetings, talk to people, and maybe you'll be a real journalist before you know it. Or perhaps you'll become a politician.

There are too many online colleges to count. Their fees are reasonable. Get to work on a degree. Or create your own course of study.

I have been amazed several times, over the last years, at how many links I could collect just on a single blog post, on nearly any subject. (The first link here, to the Filipino business magazine, is a classic example.)

Follow your links. Find your passion. Find people on this medium who share that passion, and follow it somewhere.

Even if you're having trouble with the rent there is nothing to stop you from plunking $400 right now on a Linux Netbook with WiFi, and either taking it to your local library or nursing a cup of coffee for a few hours.

I suggest the latter course because you don't just want to find dry facts right now. You want to find people. If you're unemployed now is a great time to make friends and become a community volunteer, even a leader. (It's amazing how fast a good volunteer in any community can be asked to lead.) Find a church home. Find something.

The point is to stay busy, to stay active. You don't have to fall into a Hooverville. You don't have to veg out in front of the TV until the repo man comes to take it away. You have this medium, this medium my generation built for you, the boomers' greatest contribution to the growth of civilization.

If you can't spend money, spend time. But spend. You will find a return. Maybe not the return you expect, but you will get one.