He was right.  According to the article Walmart is now holding farmers accountable for their farming practices.  It’s recycling its used plastic into dog beds, producing smaller laundry detergent bottles to reduce packaging, and it’s transporting its goods in hybrid 18-wheelers that, as the word ‘hybrid’ would imply, uses less fuel.

I liked the idea that Nathan’s investing strategy was driven by his desire for his dollars to be used in socially conscious ways.   Say what you will about Walmart, but when a company makes a commitment to train one million workers in sustainable farming practices, I’m in.

The fact that Walmart is going to save a lot of money by doing these things and, as a result, raise their income by 10 – 15%, shows that going green is a smart, bottom-line thing to do.  It happens to be a win/win.

So I was excited to share the article with Nathan.   But I was even more excited to share it with Ryan.  When he came down for breakfast, I waited until he had blended his breakfast (he doesn’t eat cereal) and read most of the comics, before non-chalantely bringing up the article.

Ryan has not invested in Walmart.  But what he has invested in (decisions made through his stomach and enjoyment of movies), have made a killing.  Unbelievable killing.  They’ve more than quadrupled in value in a very short time.  I kick myself every time I think about it.  I should have followed suit.

So my interest in sharing the Walmart article was purely selfish.  I was watching his reaction.  Is he excited about the direction Walmart is taking?  Does he think it might be a good investment?  Is he going to go in on it?  What’s Ryan thinking??

“Cool,” he said.  “Do you think I should invest in it?” he asked.

What?!  That wasn’t what I was waiting for.  He was supposed to tell ME whether or not it was a good investment.  After all, he had done it several times before…isn’t there some sort of vibe he gets?

“I dunno.  What do you think?” I asked, trying to appear disinterested.

“I don’t know,” he replied.  “I did really well on my last investments.  But I got lucky.   I don’t think that going to happen twice.”

It was then that I realized that he was a smarter investor than I was.  Here I was waiting to see if he got the “feeling” again while he was trying to consider the details about whether or not it would make a good investment.

He closed the comics and walked away.  Hmmmm.  Didn’t seem too interested.  Must not be feeling the vibe.  There I go again.  But, I’ll tell ya, if Ryan does decide to invest in Walmart, his mom is going to follow his lead…just in case.