6A- Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends


Four Opportunities

Climate Change is Causing More Natural Disasters (Regulatory)
TheBalance.com is a website with contributions from financial and economic authors on the world of personal finance. An opportunity exists in this area because, while this is about society, there is a profitable market. Rescue equipment, lobbying for regulatory change in conservation, sales of insurance to high or low-risk areas all make up the disaster industry. Customer with the opportunity: Uninformed, likely rural populations with varying amounts of assets and capital. They would be the easiest to target for all of the products and services listed above. This is an opportunity that would be relatively easy to exploit because of the state of the current world media. If a tornado happens in Kansas, everyone will be able to know about it within days and because of the way that the news can sometimes make natural disasters seem worse, it strike fear into the hearts of the population and makes the products/services of the disaster industry easier to sell.

I was able to identify this opportunity just because of personal beliefs in cynicism and that the economy is numbers based, but people are emotionally motivated. If someone sees that hurricanes are happening more frequently on the news, it presents an opportunity to upcharge them for hurricane insurance if they are in a low risk area, applying the fact that I know it is a low risk area when the customer may not.

Baby Boomers are not retiring (Economic)
TheBalance.com is a website with contributions from financial and economic authors on the world of personal finance. An opportunity exists here because the elderly are a market to themselves. They need different products than middle aged and young people. The prototypical customer is an elderly person who has to/wants to work still, but cannot accomplish the same feats they once could, be that physically or mentally. This is an opportunity difficult to exploit because it varies amongst that generation. Each person ranging from 60-80 years old, they are in different conditions.

Others might not be able to identify this is a potential opportunity because of differences in personal experiences. I know, having grandparents in the Baby Boomers generation, how they operate with current technology and culture. My grandfather is 83 years old and still driving, and has a woodworking hobby. My grandmother, however, lives alone and cannot drive for vision reasons. A self-driving car or a check-in service makes her the prototypical customer.

Global Economic Trends on National Policy (Regulatory)
IMD.org is the website for the International Institute for Management Development, based in Switzerland. The article I read on the site suggests that Global Economic Trends affect National Policies in different ways. This may seem obvious, but there is an opportunity here to make profit in lobbying. The most prototypical customer is a large corporation involved in multiple industries. Lobbying is a very potentially lucrative business if the global economic trends can be analyzed the correct way. This would be a very difficulty opportunity to exploit because there are so many moving pieces and people involved from the varying governments your would have to work with and the bureaucratic large corporations.

I was able to see this opportunity because of the different classes I am taking and have taken at UF, as well as my personal experiences. In Business Finance, I learned about arbitrage. Using what you know, and others don’t (in this case which way global trends will affect nation’s economies) to benefit yourself (in this case the company that employs you to work with the government). This is a fascinating area that I hope to find out more about.

Tax Reform Taking Hold (Economic)
JP Morgan is the Chase Banking website which has contributors write insightful articles for consumers. With tax reform taking hold, there is a great possibility for growth. It was heading into 2018 when the article discussed the opportunity for $205 billion dollars to be cut from federal revenues and left to the taxpayers to use for themselves. With this boost, they GDP would have enormous potential to expand. The prototypical customer for this would be stock market investors. People with extra money on their hands are going to spend it, this is a basic economic principle. They would then be likely to invest in stocks, which you know would grow because of the expansion of the GDP and markets, thereby making it a win-win for oneself and the investor.

This is an opportunity that I was able to recognize because of my basic understanding of the stock market and the economy, as well as some background knowledge of tax reform from previous classes.


Comments

  1. Hello Jacob,

    You did a great job at recognizing the opportunities that these problems present. I do believe though there would be more people affected by tax breaks than just individuals who want to invest in stocks. People tend to take out bigger loans to purchase bigger items when they are able to keep more of their income. This could also be a potential opportunity for developers to expand production on houses as well as anyone involved in luxury items.

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  2. Jacob
    I appreciate the articles you posted and your judgement in the opportunities they present. The Baby Boomers article is interesting and hits close to home for me as well. The cost of daily living and increased medical premiums means that many older than 60 are forced to continue working. I feel that the employer is also a prototypical customer as they make accommodations to employee the elderly, or should.

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  3. Hello Jacob,
    The media plays a huge role in the opportunities we are able to find. All of what the media produces is some form of propaganda, good intentions or not, that is trying to get the nation as a whole to think a certain way. Seeing how bad natural disasters are, and sometimes glorifying them, makes people not only fearful, but it also pushes them to take more action that they believe will later benefit them.

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