Dip buyers have yet to pile into stocks en masse following the recent market crash. This is a mystery to me given some of the rock-bottom valuations that many terrific companies are currently dealing on, firms that could help long-term share pickers retire rich.
Sure, news about coronavirus (and to a lesser extent, trade wars) might be dominating the investor mindset today. But it’s important to take a step back and look at the broader picture for the next decade and beyond. Some truly exciting investment trends have emerged in recent times. And some of the best UK shares out there remain in great shape to make big profits from them.
Getting online
The rapid growth of e-commerce was one of the big stories of the 2010s, but there’s still a lot further to go. Prior to the Covid-19 lockdown, online retail sales accounted for less than a fifth of all retail revenues. Following the crisis, of course, e-commerce adoption has risen.
A wide range of stocks are well placed to capitalise on this trend. Online-only retailers like grocery giant Ocado and clothes sellers ASOS and Boohoo are some of the most obvious ones. But think, too, of providers of warehousing and distribution spaces like Tritax Big Box, online retail software providers such as Sage, and delivery companies like Royal Mail.
More stocks to help you retire rich
Another white-hot trend that stock investors should try to ride involves the UK’s rapidly ageing population. The boffins at Statista reckon that the elderly population (i.e., those aged 60 and over) will swell from a shade over 16m in 2020 to around 22.5m three decades from now. And they expect all age groups over 60 years to expand in that time.
There’s multiple ways to play this theme, too. One can buy shares in healthcare-related stocks like pharmaceuticals developers GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, private healthcare providers like Spire Healthcare, or owners of primary health care facilities like Assura. Buying shares in social care providers like Mears or residential home operators such as Impact Healthcare are other ways to piggyback this trend.
Going green
Investing in some choice ‘green’ stocks could also help you in your retire-rich quest while also saving the planet. Reducing our carbon footprints and improving sustainability has been a particularly hot topic in the past couple of years. The drive to live more environmentally friendly lives has gained fresh momentum since the Covid-19 outbreak, too, with influential bodies branding the crisis as an opportunity to ‘reset’ the push for a greener economy.
Share pickers can do this by buying into providers of renewable energy like SSE or Greencoat Renewables. Buying into recycling plant operators like Renewi is another sound idea. So too are firms whose products are crammed with recycled material like packaging provider DS Smith. Buying platinum group metals (PGMs) like Tharisa might also be a good idea. Their products are used in increasing volumes to clean up exhaust emissions inside cars and trucks.
