I was just ruminating about the impact of the Internet on the perceived value of information.

Undoubtedly, the web has changed the ways in which people learn and inform themselves.

Not long ago, people congregated in quaint settings such as classrooms, bookstores, libraries, and magazine stands, because thats where the information was stored.

I feel Im describing 19th century America, a place of marching bands and traveling sideshows, but really, it has just been about ten years since the Internet became widely accessible.

Just ten years; imagine that!

Anyway, if you want to learn more about the life of Catherine the Great, you dont have to take a class or read a book. You can Google her, and you might even find someones web site that is devoted to the study of this fascinating historical figure.

So, that type of information is readily accessible, and for the most part free.

And by free, I mean there is no charge for it, as youd suffer if you bought a book, but also, because your search and retrieval are nearly instantaneous, you experience no loss of time, and theres no investment in transportation; in other words, no transaction costs, apart from your computer and Internet connection fee.

If all of this information is free, then why pay for it?

This is the question haunting conventional publishers, who under the best of circumstances, had difficulty selling books and magazines and newspapers.

And it brings up the all important question: Which kinds of information will people (gladly, we hope) pay for now that the overall perception of the value of information has declined?

I believe there are a few categories:

(1) Truly professional content, carefully controlled and dispensed by licensed people such as physicians and lawyers, and

(2) Judgment and expert interpretation, based on current information.

As a way of explicating the second category, let me say that I happen to like a particular stock, having made a decent return by owning it.

But what will the future bring? Will its price go up, stay the same, or decline?

Nobody can say for sure, but there are newsletter writers and web sites that contend they have better judgment about this security than I have, and I believe them.

I need their judgment and expert interpretation of events that impact my holdings so I can make better decisions, and unfortunately, quality input such as theirs ISNT free; I have to pay for it.

Paying is cheaper than ignorance; I can prove that!

Consultants cant allow themselves to compete on informational grounds, alone. There will always be people that will assert theyre privy to the same facts, at a lower cost.

The rarest product that a consultant can claim is discernment, judgment, and the unique interpretation of facts and events.

This is the future of anyone in the information business. Data is everywhere, and its free.

But the value that others will pay top value for, is in the timely, penetrating and useful analysis of the data everyone can see, but few can understand.