Great Boom Ahead: Your Guide to Personal & Business Profit in the New Era of Prosperity

by Harry S. Dent Jr.

Book Overview

Predicting the decline of Japan and the re-emergence of the United States as the most powerful economy on the planet, the Harvard economist offers readers practical advice on taking advantage of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1562827588
• ISBN13: 9781562827588
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.8"
• Age Range: 17 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 12 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A must read book for all to easily understand our economy

I recently received this book as a gift. If I had read this book when it was first published, I would be financially and intellectually wealthy. After reading it, I am at least the latter. Everyone should read this book! I am on this web site to purchase the Roaring 2000's. If it is half as good as The Great Boom Ahead, it is well worth it. Bravo Mr. Dent!

Real estate predictions in this book are right on the money

I am a real estate developer of "exurb" properties just North of Dallas Texas and was introduced to Harry Dent's books just recently by an investor in our projects. After reading this book it is almost as if I read first then developed a business around Mr. Dent's real estate predictions. In fact it was just the opposite. I highly recommend this book. I know from first hand experience that when he states 20%of Americans are leaving the cities looking for homes in the exurbs, small towns within a convenient drive to the cities, that it is happening today. I have ordered several copies of this book and have given it out to my bankers, attornies, investors and customers. It is exciting to be part of the real world as predicted by Mr. Harry S. Dent, Jr.

Right on!

I read the hardback edition of this book soon after it was published. I considered it an interesting hypothesis at the time, but never expected it to be as accurate as it has proven to be. Not only have we had the incredible boom Mr Dent predicted, but now we see ample evidence of global recession orginating out of asia.

Great Theory...Mediocre Forecast

If you've been invested in stocks the last 15 years, most likely you are very satisfied with your results. If I said that the recent past was just a warmup for the next 10 years, you'd probably say I was out of my mind. When you look at the facts it appears that returns in the future could very well top what we've experienced over the past few years. A confluence of factors is about to change our society for the better; far better than most anticipate. In his 1993 book, The Great Boom Ahead, author Harry S. Dent, Jr. makes a very convincing case for a renaissance in the U.S. economy in the years ahead. I was a little skeptical when I picked up this book, but when I started reading it, it was obvious that Mr. Dent had done his homework. What's nice about reading a book like this, written several years in the past, is that a theory can be exposed for what it is; gold or hogwash. When you read this book and look at what has happened to the U.S. and world economies you can see that Mr. Dent has been very close to the mark. Granted, some of his specific predictions were more than a little off, but his big picture is correct. For example, he forecasted a major recession unfolding in 1993-94, along with a weak stock market dropping the Dow down to between 1700 and 2350. The Dow never got below 3000 after he published the book. However, the market was weak in '94, characterized by sector corrections. He did say that the market would reach new highs by the third quarter 1996, which was a great call, although he didn't specify a number. The most compelling theory Mr. Dent espouses is called the spending wave. Basically, Mr. Dent demonstrates with demographic statistics that peoples spending peaks from ages 45-49. After age 50, spending drops off dramatically. Mr. Dent also demonstrates that there is a strong correlation between the number of people in their mid-40's with the performance of the stock market. The larger the number of mid-fortyish people, the stronger the market. We've been bombarded by articles about the baby boom generation; the massive number of babies born in the late '40s through the early '60s. The baby boomers, of which I am one, are now between the ages of 37-52. They are divided in three major waves. The first and smallest wave has recently passed their peak spending years. The second wave of baby boomers is now at the mid-point of their peak spending years. The third, and largest wave by far, will be entering the peak spending years around the year 2000. If the statistics hold true, spending is going to dramatically increase in the next 10 years, accelerating economic growth. Another major benefit we should experience over the next 10 years is subdued inflation. Mr. Dent argues that the reason for our economic troubles in the mid-'70s to early '80s were due to the assimilation of the vast number of young baby boomers into the labor force. When young people enter the work force, their productivity leaves something to be desire

A simple picture of why our economy is booming.

Harry Dent uses a simple and overlooked correlation between the age & size of the population and its relation to the value of the Standard & Poors index. The graphs in his book show a remarkable relationship between these two indices. The book, written in 1993 when the Dow Industrials stood at 2800, predicted a solid boom in the US stock market. And indeed it has happened, our current Dow in February of 1997 at 6800. A must read for the investor who wants to know why the economy is growing so prolifically, inflation is now deflation, and unemployment is so low in the USA