
Along with grunting and pointing, communication between humans had begun. Fast forward 40,000 years and things haven’t changed much in all that time. People still think they have something important to say and have this internal urge to “discuss it” like they’re going to explode if they don’t. And over the years the methods of communicating have changed but the act of communicating has basically endured undisturbed.
Now I don’t want to get into a long discussion about human discourse from cave drawings to smoke signals to the internet because there are so many better sources for that kind of information than I can present here. (If you’re really interested try this article on the History of Communication in Wikipedia) The point I want to make is that humans want to communicate more than almost anything else that they do. So much so that it’s often hard to find a nice quiet place to either read or think without that constant low level background noise.
Today this trend is continuing and at a faster pace than ever before. It appears that it’s not about to stop or even slow down any time soon, if ever. Communication today seems to be traveling in multiple directions over the internet, cell phones and to a lesser extent television.
Now when I start to think about things like this I ask myself “How can I, as an individual investor, make a buck here?” Then I ask myself “Who’s making money here?” and “What's the common denominator in all of this?” What company makes money off the internet, cell phones, and television? Are any of these companies listed as a Dividend Aristocrat? Do they increase their earnings and dividends consistently and over time? Will they be around for awhile? Do they have a future?
What I discovered was that there are two companies - Verizon and AT&T - that fit this description. Both appear to be fundamentally sound investments and seem to be worthy of owning if the price is right. The only problem now is determining at what price I would be interested in accumulating a position. For me that can only be answered through a technical analysis of their stock charts and their market indicators. But that will have to wait for another posting.
(NOTE: Please remember that this is my personal blog and it is not intended to be a recommendation for or against any type of investment. Please do your own research and most importantly take responsibility for your own decisions.)