It's All About the Benjamins, (oops) Make That Washington's Baby

P. Diddy got it right. It's about the valuation or at present devaluation of US currency. I'm always stating the importance of long term investing and that over time history is normally on your side. But there's always the what ifs...

Our current "what if" is the sinking US dollar aka US peso.

So how does the individual investor take advantage of this?

Let's talk about what not to do first:

Yes, yes currency trading is an option. In my opinion, a bad option. Most currency traders lose an insane amount of money before they ever become profitable. But shh, don't tell, it may prevent you from going online at 3:27 in the AM to trade against Euros. Let me share a secret wit'ya, "It's not regulated!"

Which means no one and I mean no one has your back.

Gold is always an option and actually performed incredibly well as the dollar was falling. But now it's pulled back considerably from that $1000 an ounce price. Do you jump in now or wait? Before gold made such a fantastic move it traded in the $500's an ounce and it could be headed back. You could be catching a falling "chain saw" if you're not careful.

So where does that leave us?

Stock market projections are based on history and the dollar has been weak before. Not just this weak. One way investors can benefit from the weak dollar is to concentrate on sectors that have strong overseas sales, such as consumer goods producers, drug makers and heavy equipment manufacturers.

Consumer goods companies like Proctor and Gamble make stuff that we can't do without like deodorant, soap, etc. Well they need it overseas too. Drug companies make drugs for the entire world not just us. They usually show overseas revenues totalling 40%. Look at your feet. Wearing a pair of Nike's?

Anyone been to KFC lately? A billion Chinese men believe that taking a date to KFC in Beijing makes you the man! It's the same as Morton's (well almost) but what do they know about steak in Beijing?

Companies that manufacture state of the art airliners for billions of dollars a shot aren't building these planes for US companies but they're sold out until 2020!

Foreign currency used to purchase US goods for public companies can place the investor of these companies in an advantageous position (see Black Financial Knight).

As a friend of mine likes to punctuate a good point...

Call me crazy but...I'm just saying.

The stock market constantly presents opportunities. As in everything, you have to know where to look. During the gold rush of the 1800's, you heard the saying, "Go west young man."

If you want to take advantage of a weak dollar, "Look overseas young man."