When you think about the economy of the future, what do you think about? It might include electric vehicles, wide use of solar power, and many other options. At the moment, one of the driving forces to bring these ideas to reality is Elon Musk who made a great deal of money through pay-pal and invested it in Telsa, SpaceX, Solar City and other things. When he began his investments the infrastructure did not exist, thus his story makes a wonderful read. One of the books about him is called Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance published by HarperCollins, NY, 2015. Often people believe if you made millions, you can establish brand new worlds, although it is possible, it is also expensive, which is why most people only do a part of it. Elon Musk was fortunate he was able to do 3 industries and to have sales pick up, just as he need even more money to continue the work.

One of the advantages large companies have is access to financing or credit, with access to credit companies can and do throw money at problems or possible solutions to the future. In every industry there is more than one alternative and until the market embraces the technology no one really knows how the market will react. In Mr. Musk’s example, the electric car has been thought up by many, including GM’s Volt version. There are many wonderful things which can happen, and it might be Telsa will be part of the future if the price of the car comes down for the average consumer. If that happens, it could be the standard, but for now the development of the car is similar to many other industries. People began working on it, and seemingly the barriers to entry are falling in the auto industry, which is why it is a good learning lesson. In the case of Telsa, through software what used to take physical cars and testing can be done in much short time periods with greater learning. The difference in procedures to achieve similar results between the established companies and Telsa are amazing and speaks highly of the understanding of the information age. The connection of the engineers to the people in the plant and when they work together – America could actually have a manufacturing base.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, for many years, the thinking has been dividend paying stocks because they are profitable have a tremendous advantage over their competitors. The financing or access to credit is important, however small teams of people working for dreams can partly overcome the barriers. Thus it is important not just to look at how the barriers to entry are holding up, but how does management uses its people to bring products and services to consumers? Small nimble teams are trying to do break down the barriers and gain a piece of your pie.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.