Investing Fads and Themes by Year, 1996 to Present

Take a trip down memory lane with me, if you would, and maybe even have a chuckle at your own expense. After all, at one point or another, we've all been caught up in a few of these over the years.

Here is Investing Fads and Themes by Year, 1996 to Present

It's right around now that discussions with clients begin on what some of the upcoming investing fads, themes and trends might be for the coming year.  We don't "believe" in any of these crazes, but recognize the potential opportunity in being early on a few of them.

It's hard to formulate a hypothesis of what next year's investing themes may be without any idea of what's come before.  I put the above chart together to remind myself of just how much I've seen since my first job (summer intern) on Wall Street back in '96.

Below is the all-text version,  Enjoy!

Investing Fads and Themes by Year, 1996 to Present

1996 - Initial Public Offerings, Microbrews, Irrational Exuberance  (Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve Chairman)

1997 - Viagra, Cigars, Telecom/Cable  (John Malone, Chairman of Liberty Media)

1998 - E-tail, Venture Capital, Clicks & Mortar (Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com)

1999 - B2B Internet, Y2K, Tracking-Stocks, Carve-Outs (Frank Quattrone, Silicon Valley Investment Banker)

2000 - Wireless, Optical Networking, Competitive Local Exchange Carriers, Linux (Jack Grubman, Smith Barney Telecom Analyst)

2001 - Old Economy, Defensive Stocks (Warren Buffett, Legendary Value Investor)

2002 - Security Tech and Defense Companies  (Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense)

2003 - Biotech, Fiber To The Premise, More Biotech (Mark B. McClellan, FDA Commissioner)

2004 - VoIP, 3G Wireless Rollout, China  (Patricia Russo, CEO of Lucent Technologies)

2005 - Oil, Homebuilders, India, Viaticals/Life Settlements  (Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy)

2006 - Residential Real Estate, Green/Cleantech, LBOs, Video Games and Consoles  (Bob and Bruce Toll, Home Builders)

2007 - Private Equity, Hedge Funds, LBOs, BRIC, Commercial RE  (Stephen Schwartzman, CEO of Blackstone Group)

2008 - Gold, Leveraged ETFs, Short-selling, The Safety Trade  (John Paulson, Hedge Fund Manager)

2009 - Dollar Carry Trade, Emerging Markets, Commodities, Forex  (Benjamin Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman)

2010 - Hmmmm....

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Eight Trading Superstitions (TRB)

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