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It’s May the 4th, making it the official Star Wars Day. It turns out that there may be at least some wisdom in movies. Though Star Wars is science fiction, and despite there being much in economic activity as a theme in the movies, there are many lessons for investors that can be learned from and used directly from Star Wars.

Before thinking this entirely a joke, please understand that the raw real-world economics of Star Wars had been about $30 billion, even before Disney bought the rights and ownership of Star Wars from George Lucas in 2012.  That creates serious direct opportunities for investors, and it creates serious lessons around other thematic investing.

Obviously there are some tongue-in-cheek phrases and references here. And, admittedly, sometimes it is hard to take some things too seriously in life. Still, here are eight investing lessons, not in any particular order, that investors can take from Star Wars.

1. Disney Baby!

Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) already owned Pixar and Marvel, but the company created a multi-generational slam-dunk victory when it spent $4 billion to acquire Star Wars. Our own speculation was that it would easily be a $30 billion or more gain for Disney, and the only thing that will change that is if real-life aliens ever arrive on earth. Star Wars will help Disney raise its dividend for a decade, and it is still a stock to own for the next decade. Disney shares were roughly $50 back when the buyout was announced in late-October of 2012, versus $110 or so now — and its $0.75 annualized dividend the following year is now $1.56 annualized.

2. Use the Force!

The Force in investing and trading is momentum, trends, whatever you want to call it. There is a saying that “The trend is your friend!” What this simply means is that if the market (or a stock) acts like it wants to keep rising, you don’t fight it and you stay in. If the market is acting like it wants to keep selling, you don’t want to fight the trend. You may have heard that there is always a bull market somewhere. That’s the force, at least for technicians.

3. Investing Can Be in Memorabilia Too!

Did you ever think about memorabilia as an investment? Go beyond baseball cards and comic books. There is a market worth endless money around the Star Wars genre, as well as other science fiction items. This can be movie props, comics, toys, games, limited edition items, autographs and on and on. The Star Wars site even had a getting started collecting area. Some of those old Star Wars toys you bought and wrecked as a kid could be worth hundreds (or thousands) of dollars today.

4. Lessons for CEO Credibility and Short Sellers

Overstock.com Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) CEO Patrick Byrne went off on a tirade against naked short sellers and a conspiracy to drive down his stock price more than a decade ago. He referenced a Sith Lord as a criminal mastermind from the 1980s that was trying to orchestrate lower share prices with short selling for Overstock. This caused a serious reputational blow at the time, and Mark Cuban and others became short sellers after the note. It took years for Byrne to get past the issue, but oddly enough he predicted the massive recession coming months before the real Great Recession ever arrived, and heeding his warning could have saved many investors had they listened to him. Anyhow, a CEO who wants to keep his or her credibility strong might want to avoid going off on unnamed people as evil Star Wars characters conspiring against their company. It probably will bring out more short sellers.

5. Stock Baskets and Thematic Investing

Whether you prefer mutual funds, exchange traded funds or even baskets of stocks, it is always easy to find a whole host of companies that can and will benefit from major upcoming themes. Star Wars has created buzz like this on multiple occasions over the years. You can create customized baskets at Motif Investing, or you can do your own research and due diligence on individual companies. Star Wars created buzz around multiple stocks (theaters, toys, Disney, online sellers, and so on) in the past, and it is important to recognize when this occurs elsewhere that opportunities are there for traders going long and for short sellers alike. This might be Pokemon, 3D printing, or myriad other trends. Just don’t forget that there is almost a “Sell the news!” trade coming that can be painful if you don’t plan for it.

6. Staying on Target

In Episode IV, the phrase “Stay on target.” was used by rebel pilots attempting to destroy the Death Star. That unfortunately did not work out too well for the pilots, even though Luke Skywalker saved the day. The real-world investing application for staying on target in investing is the only way to win over the long haul. Having a long-term financial plan that you can stick to is crucial to your ability to retire comfortably. Short-term market noise is one thing, but understanding that markets have always recovered and gained over time is crucial to avoid being shaken out during brief periods of uncertainty. Even in the Great Recession, many 401(k) investors were shaken out into cash and did not buy stocks when the market was selling off and then bottoming out. This “not staying on target” interrupted retirement timelines for hordes of investors who missed out.

7. Beware Companies With Star Wars Entity Names

Investors are going to have to worry about fraud from time to time. Enron was one of the largest frauds of a lifetime, and had public investors known how the company’s finances and structure were truly handled they might have saved endless billions in losses. Enron had endless numbers of subsidiaries that were merely trading vehicles, and some of the names that surfaced were Chewco, JEDI and others. When Enron officers were asked about them they cited “confidentiality” to not explain. If companies have trading and special purpose entities named after Star Wars characters in the future, the health of your assets might be better elsewhere.

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8. Investing Has Its Own Dark Side

No matter what you invest in, there is almost always a Dark Side. That will of course not turn out to be Darth Vader, a Sith or any of the other Dark Side characters from Star Wars. What a real dark side might be boils down to the unknown risks or unknown traits that investors often ignore. It could be that you may be taxed on tax-free municipal bonds. It may be that “units” are different from “shares,” or it could be that some exchange traded funds have literally no real assets behind them. Or maybe a dark side is that some companies that pay huge dividends shouldn’t be paying a dividend at all. Always understand exactly what it is that you are investing into — otherwise you might feel a crushing financial pinch in your throat.

May the Fourth be with you!