St. Patrick’s Day: Green, Irish, Beer And Investments?

St. Patrick’s Day brings 3 words to my head each year: Green, Irish, and Beer. So in honor of St. Patrick’s Day we are going to take a look at how those 3 words can be looked at in terms of investment.

We all know that if you don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, you are going to get pinched. In addition we also know that green is the color of money, or at least of the U.S. dollar, and the point of investing after all is to make money. The catch right now is that the greenback is losing so much value that investors are better off keeping their hard earned money in currencies other than the dollar. The Euro has been the alternative of choice for most people, but it is not green…oh well.

Irish...this one is much tougher to think of in terms of investment, but an Irish pub might be a good investment for the right individual. For more information about opening a bar, read our article: Owning and Operating a Pub or Bar. The food and beverage industry has some of the highest failure rates for new businesses, so it is not an easy thing to do, but the right person with the right motivation and ideas can have great success. The Irish Pub Company, which offers consulting and design services for bar owners, makes the following claim on their website: “In Britain analysis of the sales performance of Irish Pubs reveals that where an existing pub has been converted in to an Irish Pub outlet the total sales turnover has frequently more than tripled.” That is a pretty dramatic improvement, and although the statistics are based on numbers in Britain, Irish Pubs are gaining popularity in the U.S. and this could well be the reason.

Beer of course is related very closely to the Irish Pub business, but is also possible for investors to invest in beer manufactures or even to start their own brewery business. For a list of the various brewers listed on the NYSE, click here. If you are an aspiring brew master, I wish you the best of luck. Starting a successful new brewery business will not be easy, but nevertheless appears to be a fun venture. To get you started, here is a website with the basics of beer brewing.

Green, Irish, and Beer are obviously not the 3 words that best express the true meaning of this holiday, but they are representative of what the celebration has become in the U.S. For those who want to know more about the history of St. Patrick’s Day, visit the History Channel’s website where they have a great background on the holiday.