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21-Jun-2006 11:28
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the stocks stated are US but the theory is applicable By You live a charmed life. You wake up feeling refreshed as you get out of your adjustable air-chamber bed. Your commute to work is made easier thanks to the tunes and timely podcasts that you have loaded into your iPod or the commercial-free music you're streaming through your satellite radio receiver. Work is work, but that online connection helps you tap into relevant discoveries and land a great deal on that novelty lunchbox you thought you'd never find. You then come home to find that your home has been vacuumed clean -- but you don't have to fumble through your pocketbook, because no one ever tips a robot. This may not be you, but it's a reasonable composite of what you could be. It wouldn't even run you all that much. You can get the most popular Select Comfort (Nasdaq: SCSS) "Sleep Number" mattress -- the 5000 model -- for about $1,600 as a king, and considerably cheaper for smaller sizes. Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) can furnish you with an iPod for as little as $69 for its smallest iPod shuffle player, or $399 for the largest of video-enabled models. Satellite radio providers XM (Nasdaq: XMSR) and Sirius (Nasdaq: SIRI) will often provide a meaty rebate on their affordable receivers, with a subscription running you roughly $13 a month. Scouring the Internet with search engine leader Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) may only cost you your lunch break. As for that Alf lunchbox on eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), only the bidding process will tell. The housekeeping automaton in your home? iRobot (Nasdaq: IRBT) will set you up with a Roomba for about $200. The point of this virtual shopping spree Today's technology has created new ways to free up more of your time, and enhanced the ways you can spend those greater chunks of free time. Better yet, you can pad your portfolio by investing in the companies that are making it possible. I'm not the first to advocate buying the companies behind your favorite products. Peter Lynch made a killing as manager of the Fidelity Magellan mutual fund by doing just that. He parlayed his skill into a lucrative early retirement as an award-winning author of common-sense investing gems like One Up on Wall Street and Beating the Street. Some of his best stock ideas came from simply taking his wife and kids to the mall and gauging which specialty retailers were winning them over. That strategy continues to pay off today. Apple has sold more than 50 million iPods since the portable players rolled out less than five years ago. There's a fair chance that you own one, or possibly bought one as a gift for someone else. Still have the receipt with the purchase date on it? Good. Pull up a split-adjusted quote for Apple on that day, then realize how much money you left on the table by not snapping up Apple shares the day you bought an iPod. One a year ago? Apple shares have risen 60% in that time. Two years? Ouch! The stock has soared 350% higher in that time. Three years ago? Brace yourself: Apple has been a seven-bagger since then. So it goes. The benefits of familiarity If you're fanatical about certain products or services, think back to when they became an indispensable part of what defines you. Pull up a historical quote -- which may sadly become a hysterical quote -- to see how much better your portfolio would be performing if your head listened to your heart. I go through that kind of self-discovery every month as I write my Early Adopter Roundup column for readers of the Motley Fool Rule Breakers newsletter service. The premium research publication ferrets out disruptive technologies, recommending two new stock ideas every month that are reshaping their sometimes-sleepy industries. iRobot and XM have been two recent selections. Where will the next double come from? If my aim is true, it may be just a few feet away from you, making your life a little better -- and silently pleading to make your stock performance a little better, too. If you don't believe me, come join the growing Rule Breakers community and see for yourself, courtesy of a free trial subscription. Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has been writing the "Early Adopter Roundup" column since the newsletter's inception in the fall of 2004. Sadly, he does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned in this story. Select Comfort has been an outstanding selection for Hidden Gems subscribers, and eBay has been a longtime favorite of Stock Advisor members. The Fool has a disclosure policy. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. |
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