How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History

"This is the calm before the storm." Harry Dent was referring to the real estate market in September 2006, as he addressed the Network Advisors at a conference in Tampa. His research suggested that we were in the greatest housing bubble that we have ever experienced, which was about to rapidly deflate. Dent uses the same forecasting methods to predict the future of our economy in his newest book "The Great Depression Ahead".

Dent's insight, research and practical forecasting methods are a tremendous advantage in providing information to our clients about the changing economic environment that we are facing, and the importance of demographic trends on our lives. In "The Great Depression Ahead," Dent uses demographics to not only determine that there will be hard times ahead, but also to aid his readers in finding ways to prosper during these times. This key guidance has impacted the investment strategies that we use in creating portfolios, allowing us to factor in economic sectors, investment classes, and geographic regions of the world that Dent believes are favorable for investment during the various economic seasons.

The book certainly gets people to THINK outside the fear zone.
All good things MUST come to an end as does the present "holograpic economy" we all created.
Harry gets into the meat here and links commonsense, emotions. demographics and trends together as one...

I found the book really good as a great guide into what the world seems to resist most-CHANGE!
Make NO bones about it the day of the I have a JOB is coming to a end as harry is pointing to...(the free ride is over for most people-sorry!)

Roll this book with the world is flat and you have a winning 5 star combo to mesh together as one...depends whether you see the world from glass half full or empty!

Thanks Harry mate!

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Firstly, I'm an Australian Financial Planning Advisor with 30 years experience and who is also a member of the HS Dent Advisors Network. Therefore, my comments are biased but soundly based. I find Harry's research to be a breath of fresh air in a world so lacking in real value. The big picture investment research we get in Australia is usually full of unsubstantiated statements rather than anything specific like 'what really drives the economy?' In the absence of anything else that remotely seems plausible, Harry's Demographic focus provides a sound and reasonable basis for understanding how the economy works. One thing that is irrefutable is that humans are creatures of habit. With this understanding it becomes easy to track this habitual behaviour and therefore to be able to predict trends. Harry's short-term views are just as cloudy as all other economists. Where Harry's views stand out is in their application over years and decades, not days and weeks. One thing I learned a long time ago is that it is foolish to ignore what seems like 'way out' ideas. Albert Einstein has been quoted as saying something like this - "If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it". Harry's ideas are sometimes absurd to the traditional thinker and that's what gives them so powerful. Read this book and find out for yourself that just like we have four seasons of weather every year, the world of economics also has regular predictable cycles.

Please read this interview done in 2007 where he forecasts 2008. [...]

To be completely honest, though, I believe the Kyiosaki's and the Daniel Arnolds of the world copied much of his work. Dent has been using demographics to try and predict the market from the beginning. I'll give him that much credit. He did predict a bust but his original premise for it was wrong.

The Great Depression Ahead: How to Prosper in the Crash Following the Greatest Boom in History

As a follower of Dent's macro economic predictions over the past couple of years, I've found his research to be the most credible. Compared to many economists who are only willing to forecast one to three years into the future, Mr. Dent is in a league of his own with predictions 10, 20 and 30 years out. His macro economic modeling using a variety of trends besides his basic demographic cycle, gives the reader credible research tools with patterns which can be verified looking back historically. As history typically does repeat itself, the underlying research into where our economy as well as other countries economies are headed, have proven true in 16 of 18 of Harry's predictions in his previous books in the past twenty years.

This book gives the reader an insight into the Dent research methodology from previous books, with helpful insight into why we may be facing difficulties in the future. Just understanding "why" events are occuring in our economy can help individual investors be prepared for uncertainty in their future as well as having insight into how one might overcome the current market volatility in their own lives as well as others.

When an economist can outline trends in such a way which lends credibility to their predictions and are easily verifiable from history and is clearly understandable, then I believe people need to be open to their predictions. No one, including Mr. Dent, can guarantee our future nor be completely 100% accurate in their predictions, but when you can read a book such as this one by an economist who has published documentation with a track record of 80% accuracy on his predictions in the past 20 years, I believe he is an author on the economy well worth reading.

This is a book I have read and would highly recommend others reading at this juncture of our economy.

If you have been investing based on traditional asset allocation models, allocating among the various asset classes, then 2008 was proof that this type of investing does not provide the same type of diversification that it used to. Harry Dent's research and forecasts has provided me a clearer understanding of what is driving (or not driving) the economy.

The media is full of doom and gloom, but Harry gives you insight on what investment strategies would be profitable even in such difficult times. This could be the most important time in our lives for making investment decision that are not the conventional "stay the course and be diversified". I highly recommend you search for your options by reading this book.

Harry Dent has a fairly consistent record: he is nearly always wrong-- that is until he changes his mind; then he claims that, actually, he was right. He did guess right once during the boom years of the nineties, invented a plausible demographic driven explanation, but then reality kicked in. Every book he's written since 1999 has been a fantasy and not one of the uplifting sort. The bright side is that had you followed his advice the past nine years, 2009 wouldn't seem so bad since your retirement account would have long since tanked. Amazing that he keeps getting book deals, though. Maybe he should write a book about how he manages that.

Mr. Dent's last book "The Next Great Bubble Boom" predicted Dow 40K. Completely, extremely, ridiculously wrong, now he writes "The Great Depression Ahead." Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and you would think Mr. Dent would have or should have just gone away after his last ridiculous book, but I guess he just can't lose, because people continue to hand their money over and buy his books, whether he is right or has been proven so wrong.

In this economic enviornment, one must educate themselves as to the various possibilities that can occur based upon the data we have. No one is psychic. All we have are indicators that give us clues which we must use to formulate our own opinions and make our own decisions. Dent's research and forecasts make logical sense and should be considered. This is a great book because Dent offers a very unique perspective.

The fact that this guy has had this book published this year, when so many people have lost a good portion of their retirement investments, after he predicted that this would be a fantastic year for the market in his earlier book, shows an incredible lack of insight.

I have been reading about the economy for over 25 years. Harry Dent made 18 controversial predictions in 1990 and I followed as 16 of them happened when and how he predicted. That is way more than luck ~ his process is based on completely objective data (demographics and spending patterns of people in different stages/ages of their lives). Do you spend the same amount of money in the same way on the same things at age 21 as you do at age 55? Harry's brilliance is based on the obvious, but his discovery of these trends has been repeatedly proven: See Japan from 1980 to 1995! BUY THIS BOOK AND DISCOVER FOR YOURSELF THE PROCESS OF DEMOGRAPHICS AND SPENDING PATTERNS!

The Great Depression Ahead provides key insights into important trends effecting the economy now and in the future. Dent's work helps to put in context the larger cycles that drive the economy and explain where we have been and where we are going. Through his work one can understand the current credit crisis as a symptom rather than a cause of the current recession.

The writing is engaging and easy to read and understand. He does a great job of clarifying issues without over simplifying them.

I highly recommend the book for anyone who is curious about what is going on in our economy for themselves or for advising others.

Just finished the book last night. He has some interesting things to say, especially about the buying habits of groups as they age.

However, he completely destroyed his credibility when, for some bizarre reason, he decided he had to work man caused global warming into the book 50 to a 100 times and how we have to do something about it. If he was just giving advice on how to make money off this power grabbing scam I could understand, but he is serious. If this was 10 years ago I could understand, but he wrote this in 2008. This makes me wonder how much of his other stuff is a bunch of crap.

Save your money, get this at the library. If your local library doesn't have it, fill out the form for an inter-library loan.

Before any gw nut writes to tell me how stupid I am, yes I know the earth was warming slightly a few years ago. But unless you include an explanation of how man was causing some of the other planets to warm up at the same time, don't embarrass yourself.

Harry Dent has an outlook based on a solid foundation that has been greatly accurate since his first book many years ago. While nobody can predict the future, Harry gives a wonderful guideline to follow, and offers interesting angles on economic cycles and prosperity. This book is a quick read, and will give you an edge in all of your investing ventures.

I have been reading Harry Dent for many years. Anyone who has the guts to forecast always runs the risk of being wrong. Fortunately for Mr. Dent he has been right far more than he has ever been wrong. This book takes a sobering look at the reality of the worlds demographic trends, the convergence of technology and many other issues impacting corporate profits. There are some hard truths presented that help one understand why economies like ours grow and at times decline. I strongly suggest that this book be read by investors or anyone trying to make sense of where the economy is headed. The book is presented in a straightforward easy to read manner making sometimes difficult information understandable. This is a must read.

The Great Depression Ahead is filled with a lot of very good information. Mr. Dent goes to great lengths to support how he is able to forecast future economic events by studying reoccurring events. From this he gives insight and advice on how to survive the expected depression and prosper.

The book is well written and easy to follow.

It's all about Trends...having a base knowledge and understanding of demographic trends helps me weed through all the noise I hear every day on CNBC. Everyone is trying to sift through endless information and different commentary regarding our present economic problems and the government stimulus programs. Having Harry Dent's demographic information will help you understand why the government is behind the eight ball regarding their stimulus and rescue plans. Everyone should educate themselves on the impact of demographic trends and this book will help you in that process.

Harry Dent is a classic example of "Those who can't do, teach and those who can't teach write books." While Dent is a brilliant speaker, writer and marketer, he is in no way qualified to give investment advice.

If he was even a half-way decent investor, he would manage a mutual fund or hedge fund. I challenge Dent to post his personal investment holdings and portfolio performance for the world to see.

Harry Dent has provided a huge service to the country. No one is looking at demographics. His long-term economic projection is simple to understand and accurately presented. He doesn't claim to forecast the stock market, commodities, or bonds in the short term. However, I have read every book he has published, and no one can dispute the results equal the original 1993 forecast. I have used his materials in creating hundreds of retirement plans; and when the stock market dropped, none of my clients lost any money.

The science of Demographics are totally fascinating to say the least. History does tend to repeat itself because things change but people don't change their choices.(read"the forgotten man" by amity shales) Harry Dent is a student of the cycle we as creatures of habit seem to repeat. This is "big wave" stuff not day to day trading info (which at last count 89%~ of traders loose 100% of what they're trading). Demograhics gives some rhyme/reason to the cycles better than anything I've seen in my 26yrs career as an financial advisor. Compare to the general consenus of most economists that are wrong the majority of time. Or how about modern portfolio's track record?(read "the day genius failed"). These priciples are to be applied to the general shift in the tide (ie bullish/bearish) not moment by moment trading as NO ONE gets that one right even most of the time(even bernie madoff). Apply these priciples in a discplined, balanced approach with the focus on a "windshield" view of the general tide and consider 16/18 accurate predictions equates not to 100% but 88.9% will stand up to anything I've seen over the last 20 years. Thanks for the great work Harry.

1st, Harry Dent is NOT an economist, he works with demographics. 2nd, in his last book "The Next Great Bubble Boom: How to Profit from the Greatest Boom in History: 2006-2010" he predicted the Dow to be 40,000 in 2009. You call that spot on?? Is that just a finer detail?? Was 2006 the start of the Greatest Boom in History as the title indicates? Harry Dent is very good at putting quotes in books and his newsletters that he can draw on as being right no matter what happens much like a psychic reading. When he has made big calls to the extent of making it the title of a book, he was dead wrong. Both AIM and Mass Mutual once had mutual funds based on the Dent philosophy and were sub-managed by him. Both have gone bust as being some of the worst performing mutual funds in recent history. If you followed his investment advise over the last 5 years you would be flat broke by now.

I too read Harry's prior book, The Roaring 2000s, in which he claimed that the year 2009 would be the apex year in the greatest boom period in history with the DOW reaching unimaginable highs. Well, I was younger and more naive then. I've since learned that NO ONE can predict the stock market.
Fool me once, Harry, shame on you. Fool me twice, it ain't gonna happen.

For those looking for advise on careers, job skills and small business ideas that might make a depression survivable for the common (read poor) citizen, this is not the book.

This book is written for those who have wealth and are interested in keeping it.

The statistical trend analysis is worth a read, but investment advise is a bit lacking.

Most insightful and thought provoking book by harry dent. It presents true challenges and ways to address. must read

Mayur T Dalal, MBA
Chief Executive Officer

The Legacy Planning Group Inc
Lake Success NY

This book gives great insight of where we have been and where we might be headed in our economy. Dent outlines in very plain speak his theories of why we are headed in the direction we are headed. Harry has a great track record of predicting long term economic trends and I do not see any reason why this time will be any different. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in learning more about the direction of our economy.

Harry Dent does a fantastic job with his new book. His book comes at a great time to help us prepare for a very long period of time of negative returns in the market. I have used Dent's demographic ideas with my investing for years. I think all invetsors would be wise to read his new book. My advice would be to buy it. It's a very good tool.

This is absolutely great information!!! It's so good to see honesty and blunt realism regarding the devestating problems we are facing. I have greatly appreciated all of Harry Dent's previous books and I would simply say that Americans need to wake up and take care of some important things before the summer of 2009 or they will be very, very sorry!

Thank you!

Harry Dent has developed a number of new approaches to demographic trends since his last book which greatly enrich the quality of this work. Whether one agrees or disagrees with his conclusions, this book is a must read for anyone wishing to better understand the times we are experiencing.

Once again, Harry Dent makes sense of the economic trends ahead of the news media through his in depth demographic research. Since his first book, The Power To Predict, he is able to assist in seeing the major themes and trends to assist in making life's big decisions.

Does anyone remember how wrong this guy was with The Roaring 2000s? How about the Aim Dent Demographic Trends Fund? That beauty was based on Dent's keen insights. To the moon Alice. It came out right at the top of the market in '99, and it sank like the Titanic. They folded it into the Weingarten fund in 2005. This guy is absolutely clueless and is out for another quick buck -- hoping people won't remember his past mistakes. Hmmm....kind of reminds me of our buddy Jim Kramer. No...that would be dissin' Kramer. Ugh!

I have been in the financial services industry for 28 yeras. Dent gets it right on. His insights and understanding of the economy, particularly macro economics, is unserpassed. Dent helps you understand the cycles of the economy in an easy, understandable manner. This is a must read for all who are serious about their financial future. Great Book!

Totally kept my attention and is so current, it's like seeing todays news with a bit of "I see in your future", based on trends, history and facts.

A must read for everyone, even if you only have an IRA or 401k at work and are not a "hard-core" investor. Even if only half of what Mr. Dent believes will happen does take place, we haven't seen anything yet !

I have been a Harry Dent newsletter subscriber for a couple of years. Harry will always add two points of view when making a forecast. Such as.... "oil will go up short term and if it doesn't it will most likely go down" etc. O really? well that helps me.

Here is what he predicted for the closing markets in 2008

Given the continued headwinds from the Geopolitical Cycle, we have revised our most likely targets downward for late 2008 to: 3,200 - 3,250 on the Nasdaq; 15,500 - 16,000 on the Dow; and 1,700- 1,800 on the S&P 500.

I think he missed the mark by only 50%

Harry is smarter than me so yes I will be ordering the book.

I really like the fact that Harry provides concepts that no one else has. It is up to us the reader to digest this information. Some of his past predictions are very impressive. While he is not always right, neither am I.

Again another thoroughly researched and very informative book, based on indisputable and recurring economic facts of life. It's always much nicer to have an idea of what's coming so as to be prepared. As they say, "Forewarned is forearmed". We feel more secure now about ours' and our childrens' futures.