I believe that being able to predict how things will turn out is an essential need for everyone who wants to get rich. Holding your eyes open and having an idea how things might turn out before they happen is always a recipe for success and money.

Our predictions for 2012:
(To see our predictions for 2011 go here.)

The World Will Not End in 2012

Despite popular opinion the world will still be here in 2013. Sure we might have more earthquakes, storms and catastrophies than usually but in the long run things even themselves out. It is my opinion that there are no real reason that the Mayans decided to end their calendar in 2012. The only one I can think of is that they ran out of space to add more years
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Obama Will Stay President of the USA

As I correctly predicted in our predictions for 2011 Obama has been losing credibility all throughout the previous years as president. At one of his lowest points of popularity it is difficult to believe that Barack Obama will be re-elected for a second term as president but that is exactly what will happen.

There is a major lack of a great Republican candidate and Obama will once again make America believe in a better future. This is a great situation for Obama to be in considering how much money the president makes.

The Euro Zone Will Not Collapse

In the beginning of 2012 the markets seem to agree that the Euro Zone will collapse.

The year 2012 will be a year of many difficulties for the monetary union but the Euro will persist.   I personally feel that countries like Greece that are in heavy debt should be evicted from the Euro Zone but this will not happen. The 2012 will not see a country kicked out of the Euro zone.

After surviving the hardships of 2011 and 2012 people will have renewed faith that just like the US dollar the Euro is a stable world currency.

New Apple Products

2012 will see a range of new Apple devices.

Ipad 3 – The Ipad 3 will launch as an all around better device than the Ipad 2 but there will not be anything revolutionally innovative. It will have better resolution, more memory, better processors and better cameras.

Ipad mini –  Although Steve Jobs has said that there will never be an Ipad with a smaller screen because it would be too small for a good user experience we will most probably see a device with a smaller screen. The market has shown that devices with smaller screens like the Amazon Fire and the Samsung Galaxy Tab can be popular. The new and smaller Ipad mini will become an instant hit.

Iphone 5 - In 2012 we will see the long awaited Iphone 5. It will have a  new design and hopefully a NFC chip. A NFC chip is basically an RFID tag that will allow us to make payments with our mobile phones by swiping the phone near a payment terminal. There will probably be a way to use it with your credit card. Going one step further we might see Apple launching a service similar to Paypal that allows us to make fast payments to other NFC devices and Apple Accounts.

Apple TV - Apple will come out with their TV. It will probably have apps and voice control.
I am also hoping it to have some sort of hand or body gestures (think Microsoft Kinect). Apple will also launch an app that you can use with your iPhone or iPad to control your new AppleTV. As always it will be absolutely beautiful, easy to use and people will generally like it.

Unfortunately for Apple the TV sales will not be as fast as they would like. Since everyone already has a TV it is a tougher market to conquer.

Apple Stock Price Will Drop

The Apple stock price has been increasing almost nonstop from 2003. On December 31st 2011 it was exactly 405 dollars and there was no sign of falling prices. Although Apple will launch some great new products in 2012 the stock price will not continue to increase.

Bitcoin Will Become More Popular

The digital currency Bitcoin that is still unknown to most people will start catching on. We will probably see a few Bitcoin booms and crashes. People who know what they are doing can use Bitcoin to make some relatively easy money speculating.

Bitcoin does not have any transaction fees, it allows immediate money transfers and is totally anonymous. This is all too good to be true and the governments of the world will try to shut it down. The main fear is that since it is totally anonymous it can be used for terrorism or for illegal activities such as paying for drug trafficking.

Occupy Wall Street Will Survive

In 2011 the government ignored the Occupy Wall Street movement and hoped that the problem will go away. In 2012 we will see Occupy Wall Street getting stronger and new protests with more people. Despite the media blockade the average Joe will slowly start to see that to get what he wants means he needs to take action.

Throughout the year there will be many politicians trying to win the support of the Occupy Wall Street movement. I would not be surprised if the movement would play a major role in the upcoming presidential elections.

Kim Jong-Un Will Stay in Power in North Korea

After the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il the power has now gone to his youngest son Kim Jong-Un. Despite his youth and the general agreement that he will be overthrown from the government I predict that he will successfully stay in power. Being young and ambitious we will see several new things happening in North Korea.

What we will not see is Kim Jong-Un losing power.

Google+ Will Become Popular

After the launch of Google+ in 2011 we are seeing a growing amount of industry leaders voicing their opinions that Google+ is a flop and a failure. I believe that just the contrary is true – Google+ is just getting started.

Internet marketers and brands will slowly discover the enormous benefits they get from being in Google+. Having your product featured in Google’s newest social network means a better ranking in Google’s search engine and therefore increased traffic.

We will see major brands duplicating their Facebook campaigns in Google+. This will give the average users an extra reason to join.

Facebook Ads on Third Party Websites

Facebook will launch an expansion for the famous Facebook Ads. In addition to advertising on the social network they will allow advertising on third party websites.

This means that everyone can sign up and publish Facebook ads on their website and earn money. This simple move will over through Google Adwords and Adsense as the number 1 advertising platform on the internet.

The Ultra Rich Will Ask for Higher Taxes

Throughout 2012 we will see extremely rich people saying they would love to have higher taxes. Some of the ultra rich will let the public know that they are OK with paying more.

Nokia and Windows Phone

Although late to the smartphone party Nokia will aggressively move to get its mobile phone market share back. By the end of 2012 we will see Nokia starting to increase its market share and the Windows Phone platform getting more popular.

What are your predictions for 2012? Let us know in the comments!

Since I am a small fan of science and also fiction I decided to post some of Arthur C. Clarke’s predictions that he made for the 21st century. in 1999.

Who is Arthur C. Clarke?

Arthur C. Clarke is a fiction writer who among other things is the person who was first to come out with the crazy idea that you can use satellites in order to send and receive radio signals – something that made possible continent-to-continent phone calls and later also internet.

Predictions

2009 - A city in a Third World Country is devastated by an accidental explosion of an atomic bomb. All Atomic bombs will be destroyd after a debate in the UN.

2010 – The first quantum generators are developed. Since they get their energy from space they can produce electricity indefinitely. Central power stations close down!

2013 - Prince Harry is the first member of the English royal family to fly into space!

2016 - All existing money currencies are abolished. The megawatt-hour becomes the new unit of exchange.

2020 - Artificial intelligence (AI) reaches the level of humans. From now on there are two intelligent species on Earth and one of them is evolving far faster than biology would ever permit.

2021 – Humans land on Mars – and have some unpleasant surprises.

2023 - Dinosaurs are cloned from computer-generated DNA. Disney’s “Triassic Zoo” opens in Florida. Despite some unfortunate initial accidents, mini-raptors start replacing guard dogs.

2024 – Infra-red signals are detected coming from the centre of the galaxy. They are the product of a technologically advanced civilisation but attempts to decipher them fail.

2040 – The “Universal Replicator”, based on nano-technology, is perfected: any object, however complex, can be created – given the raw material and the appropriate  “recipe”. Diamonds or gourmet meals can be made from dirt. As a result, agriculture and industry are phased out, ending that recent invention in human history called work! There is an explosion in arts, entertainment and education. Huge areas of the planet, no longer needed for food production, are allowed to revert to their original state.

2050 – “Escape from Utopia”. Bored by life in this peaceful and unexciting era, millions decide to freeze themselves in order to be unfrozen in the future. These people are in search of adventure. Vast “hibernation zone’s” are established in the Antarctic and on the moon.

2095 - “The development of a true “space drive” – a propulsion system reacting against the structure of space-time – makes rockets obsolete and permits velocities close to that of light. The first human explorers set off to nearby star systems that robot probes have already found promising.

You can find these and some more predictions here. To tell you the truth, most of Arthur C. Clarke’s predictions for years 2000 to 2008 have not come true, so I only posted the ones that can still become true

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In the beginning of January last year we made a post about what we predicted will happen in 2009.

2009 is now over. Here is a look back to the predictions and how well we did.

1. The dollar will fall 20% or more against the Chinese yuan.

Verdict: WRONG! The Chinese yuan has staid on the same level in regards to the dollar thanks to the Chinese policy of keeping it fixed to the US dollar (+ some other currencies).

2. The price of gold will be up 10% by the end of the year.

Verdict: WRONG! The price of gold is up 23.4% in 2009. This means that jumped well over the 10% we predicted.

3. The price of oil will stay between 40 and 60 dollars for the most of the year and will rise to as high as 75 dollars/barrel by the end of 2009.

Verdict: CORRECT! The price of oil climbed gradually throughout the year but managed to stay in the 40 to 60 dollars range all the way from January to July. The end of the year saw oil prices rise as high as $79.

4. The Dow Jones Industrial Average will be up about 15%.

Verdict: CORRECT! The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 19% in 2009. That’s close enough!

5. The world economy will not recover from the financial crisis by the end of 2009.

Verdict: CORRECT! Unemployment rates are the highest in decades. The real estate bubble has not bounced back. The economies of the world are still weak.

6. There will not be any more major bank failures. We will possibly see governments taking proactive steps to save banks and other major companies before they are in actual trouble.

Verdict: CORRECT! Following the failings of 3 major banks in 2008 we have not had any major bank fail in 2009. All the large banks and insurance companies have been saved by the government before they went under. There have however been a large number of smaller banks that have failed and that have not been saved that remain mostly unknown to the public.

7. None of the three big US auto companies will fail in 2009.

Verdict: CORRECT! Despite fears in 2008 and the beginning of 2009 – Ford, General Motors and Chrysler are all here!

8. The housing market does not bounce back.

Verdict: CORRECT! The housing market is down and it doesn’t look like it will bounce back any time soon.

9. Inflation in the US rises.

Verdict: WRONG! According to official figures the inflation plummeted from 3.8% in 2008 to 1.8% in 2009. The USA has however changed how it used to calculate inflation. Using the old method it should be around the 10% figure.

10. Obama’s stimulus package passes in his first months in office.

Verdict: CORRECT! The controversial 800 billion dollar stimulus package was passed in February 2010.

11. More bailout money will be needed by large companies.

Verdict: CORRECT! Bank of America received an additional 20 billion dollar loan  in January 2009 in addition to the 25 billion dollars that bailed them out in October 2008.

12. US economy will not come out of recession.

Verdict: FALSE! The 3rd quarter of 2009 was the first quarter in more than a year that saw economic growth in the US. That means that officially the recession is over. In reality however unemployment rates are highest in decades, consumer fears are still rising and people are saying that it is still a recession.

13. There will be an assassination attempt on Barack Obama. If you won’t hear about it, it is because it will be kept secret.

Verdict: CORRECT! Obviously! Could it have been any other way?

14. Apple will launch a smaller version of the iPhone.

Verdict: FALSE! Although we saw the iPhone 3G S, we are still waiting for a smaller and cooler model. Odds are that we will be waiting for a long time…

15. Financial Jesus will end the year with more than 1000 subscribers.

Verdict: FALSE! 2008 started with a whopping 119 subscribers and ended with 469. We were about 500 users too short.

Total Score

9 out of 15. That is pretty decent if you ask me!

“Never make predictions, especially about the future.”
Casey Stengel

One of the worst things you can do is to predict the future. Your predictions will almost always be wrong and you will look like a fool. Looking back – you have no idea how you couldn’t even predict the simplest of things.

Regardless, here are the predictions of Financial Jesus for 2009.

1. The dollar will fall 20% or more against the Chinese yuan.
2. The price of gold will be up 10% by the end of the year, as uncertain investors will be looking to gold for support.
3. The price of oil will stay between 40 and 60 dollars for the most of the year and will rise to as high as 75 dollars per barrel by the end of 2009.
4. The Dow Jones Industrial Average will be up about 15%. If you correlate this with the falling dollar it will actually mean that those investing in the US will actually lose money.
5. The world economy will not recover from the financial crisis by the end of 2009. We will see the making of an economic crisis that has its roots in the credit crunch of 2008.
6. There will not be any more major bank failures. The governments of the world will not let that happen. We will possibly see governments taking proactive steps to save banks and other major companies before they are in actual trouble.
7. None of the three big US auto companies will fail in 2009. They will get enough help to just “hang in there” for a year or possible more – only then will we see a failure among the big three.
8. The housing market does not bounce back. We will see falling prices throughout next year.
9. Inflation in the US rises. Fears of deflation are largely without grounds and are only fueled by the falling real estate prices. Oil and gas will be on the rise and will therefore help to fuel the inflation.
10. Obama’s stimulus package passes in his first months in office but it fails to address the real problems. This is sadly realized only toward the end of 2009.
11. More bailout money will be needed by large companies. The government can’t deny their help because “everyone will already expect them to help”.
12. US economy will not come out of recession.
13. There will be an assassination attempt on Barack Obama. If you won’t hear about it, it is because it will be kept secret. (Yes, I just made sure that at least 1 prediction will become true)
14. Apple will launch a smaller version of the iPhone. Let’s call it the iPhone nano.
15. Financial Jesus will end the year with more than 1000 subscribers.

“My predictions are notably inaccurate.”
Robert Caro

“I figure lots of predictions is best. People will forget the ones I get wrong and marvel over the rest.”
Alan Cox

What are your predictions for the coming year? Let us know in the comments so we can find the best fortune teller when we sum things up in the end of 2009!