Have you ever walked around your grocery store during the holidays, seen a can of Coke, and wondered, "What do Santa Claus and polar bears have to do with pollution and obesity?"
“Sleighing It”
I have. Because watching Fed Up four years ago caused me full-blown obsession with this crookedness:
Armed with the scientific certainty that sugar is more addictive than cocaine, major corporations strategically inserted sugar into baby formula.
Unleashing a long-term monsoon of obese children afflicted with what used to be "adult-onset diabetes."
Pioneering a planet where more people die from malnutrition than starvation, and where parents are expected to live longer than their kids (both historical firsts).
Just to guarantee that a few gigantic companies grasp enough repeat-business to keep growing.
Between that toxic reality and the dystopian depravity that "the U.S. government is subsidizing the obesity epidemic," there are no shortage of excuses to feel victimized and powerless.
“Making A Meal With The Devil”
But here's the thing about calamity: It presents eternal opportunity to those who can calm down, zoom out, and remain long-term optimistic during the short-term horror show.
While reflecting on that epidemic, I also learned that change is coming, began to notice patterns suggesting that sugar will end up like CD's and DVD's, and racked my brain for Fat Fish that might create and prosper from this progress.
Expanding your "circle of competence" takes more effort than my preferred game of "invest in your addictions" (mining the areas of your life where you've conducted so much "field research" that you're already an expert), but this Fat Fishing expedition felt right to me on instinct and turns our scary, tragic present into an exciting, life-changing future.
“The Truvia Shall Set You Free”
Investing in "End of Sugar" companies has performed well for me financially—one of these investments was responsible for my 825% return from January 2016 to December 2019 (the product is sitting in your kitchen, you might be sipping it right now)—but more so psychologically, as they upgrade my involvement from powerless observer to powerful participant.
That's what this experience shows me about what "buying stock" really means:
You can take ownership of any solution under the sun. You can attack the problems that scare you with lucrative, intelligent action. You can support the leaders who need you, directly and personally (the smaller the business, the more true this is). You can vote, with time and money, unlike the yapping posers who play angry at their protest parties then do profound amounts of nothing.
“Fin-Tight Hipster Jeans”
And if you aren't appalled by obesity or intrigued by "End of Sugar," there are countless other opportunities. Because as we all realize in real-time, there are countless other problems.
This begs three important questions that will launch your lifetime of investing:
What winners can you conjure from the information you're consuming?
What opportunities to transform your net worth—maybe your self-worth—are sitting in your kitchen?
What do you see, that most miss, when you walk around your grocery store during the holidays?
-Cole
PS: Want help looking through the prism of consumer then the prism of investor? Watch this presentation.