If you're a tech investor, it's important to study the financials of the companies you follow. Knowing not only sales level and profitability of companies, but also the rate of growth for those metrics is extremely important. 

While investors need to study financials, it's also just as important to look at the big picture. You need to understand the total size of end markets that companies sell in to. 

In the This Week in Tech video below, The Motley Fool's general manager, Eric Bleeker, and tech bureau chief, Max Macaluso, talk about the consumer spending landscape. They focus in on data from researcher GfK, which highlights consumers spending in different categories. That data is especially important for Apple (AAPL 0.51%) investors, as it gives a good look into where the company's growth could come from in the years ahead. It can be found in the Tweet below. 

GfK points to smartphone spending being 38% of consumer technology spent this year. That dwarfs the 12% slated to be spent on LCD televisions. It is also significantly larger than the 20% of spending in a catch-all "other" category, which happens to be the category a future iWatch release would fall in. 

As Eric notes, the chart is a fantastic reminder that while a device like an iWatch could be a nice revenue driver in the year ahead, its impact pales in comparison to the release of a larger screen iPhone 6 that could steal market share in the smartphone category that dominates consumer spending. 

To see their full thoughts on what this data means for investors, watch the video below.