Elections come and go, pundits discuss markets, and the media often shouts how bad the world is. The three main things that the media says are threatening us (a global epidemic, war in the middle east and coming problems with our economy) have not changed for 100 years. The ironic thing is we hear little about the one wildcard that improves our lives, our economy and our country and when presented this too is often discussed as a threat to our way of life. Over the last 100 years there have been global pandemics (tuberculosis, polio, AIDs, Ebola, bird flu etc.); terrorist events (pearl harbor, the USS Cole, The World Trade Center, etc.) and natural disasters. What we don’t hear about though is how much technology impacts us positively.
Regardless of the political climate, or how the economy is doing one wildcard has always been technology. Technology can increase efficiencies, create new markets and create new demand for goods and services while shaping entirely new industries. The cool thing is that the pace development and invention continues to grow exponentially. Focusing on politics, economics or social issues can lead one to miss some of the most important developments for each of us personally and our country generally. New technologies continue to change the way we live, work and play and in so doing generate new jobs and opportunities.
Think about just the last 14 years Camera phones were introduced to the North American marketplace in 2002, an estimated 80 million camera phones were sold in 2003. In 2003 the iPod was brought out and in 2004 DVRs and Facebook went live for the first time. In 2005 YouTube was created and opened to the public. The original smartphone first hit store on June 29, 2007 just nine years ago. On a snowy Paris evening in 2008, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp had trouble hailing a cab. So they came up with a simple idea—tap a button, get a ride. Uber was born. The iPad was introduced in 2010 and then in 2011 Siri. Just to name a few. Do you use any of these technologies? Have they positively impacted your life.
New technology creates new paradigms for everything from shopping to travel. Consider all of the business’ that have been built around eBay and now Uber. Think about how airBNB has grown the lodging and travel market or how ubiquitous smart phones are. As we see more innovation and new ways of doing things new jobs are created.
We believe that the pace of this innovation will continue. Moore’s law refers to an observation made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965. He noticed that the number of transistors per square inch on integrated circuits had doubled every year since their invention. Moore’s law predicts that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future. This is used as the current definition of Moore’s law. On a broader scale technology generates new technology – for example Uber would not exist if we did not have smartphones.
We cannot predict exactly what new technologies will be developed or how they will impact our society. We do know that new technologies will change (for the better) how we live and continue to generate opportunities for those who take advantage of them. The future is incredibly bright in this regard. This is a key wildcard for the future of our economy and country.
At Carver Financial Services Inc. we believe is using cutting edge technology to help manage your wealth and vision planning as well as communicating with you. Each year we hold a Resource Breakfast’ to discuss what resources are available to you. You are invited to join us on January 14th, 2017 for this year’s event.
There is a place for high tech and a place where people make a difference. While many firms are moving to more automation for everything from phone calls to portfolio’s we continue expand our team of people. We do not believe that technology can replace the care and understanding that a person can provide. We have continued to expand our service team to better serve our clients and do not utilize things like robo-advising, model portfolios or limited investments. The unique synergy between our team and the utilization of technology where it is best deployed creates a both a personalized and efficient experience to best serve you. We have developed and refined a process for helping you that takes advantage of high tech while providing a personalized high touch experience.
The media will often focus on the negative in most things including technology. No doubt the headline when the first light bulb came out was “death of the candle industry”. We believe that tech will continue to improve our lives, our economy and our country. Those who take advantage of it will benefit while those who do not will be left behind. We look forward to having you take advantage of the new resources coming in 2017 and beyond. Feel free to contact me personally – randy.carver@raymondjames.com or (440) 974-0808.
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