The Top Markets Right Now

When asked why he robbed banks, gangster Willie Sutton gave a simple and obvious answer: "'Cause that's where the money is."

Now, unless you're Bernie Madoff or Raj Rajaratnam, there aren't too many parallels between investing and criminal activity, but Sutton's observation still applies. Put simply, you can't make money unless there's money to be made.

What this means for you
Consider the newspaper industry. Although it has a glorious history, thanks to the disruptive power of the Internet, these days it's where good money goes to die:

Data from Capital IQ.

If you're looking to make money in the stock market, you should stay away from newspapers. There's just not a lot of potential profit here for long-term, business-focused investors.

On the flipside
Contrast that with emerging markets such as China and India. China's GDP is expected to grow between 8% and 9% in 2010, and India's between 7% and 8%. In other words, there's a lot of money to be made in these markets next year and beyond -- so that's where you want to be investing. Incidentally, GE (NYSE:GE) recently said its business in China isn’t slowing down! This is why YUM! Brands has already expanded aggressively in China, and recently announced plans to accelerate its expansion in India. This is why JPMorgan Chase predicts that emerging markets will "surge" in 2010. And this is why famed Fidelity Special Situations fund manager Anthony Bolton, a man who earned nearly 20% annually over a 28-year career, is coming out of retirement to launch a China fund.

But I'll let him tell you about that
The Bolton news is particularly interesting. After all, this man's had a phenomenal career. He needs nothing more to burnish his reputation or financial security. Yet as he wrote in a recent Financial Times editorial, he sees something in China that he's never seen before:

I recently spent three months based in Fidelity's Hong Kong office. ... After a few weeks there, I said to my wife that the exciting opportunities available in China, and my belief that the market could go a lot higher over the next few years, made me wish I was still managing money. Rather to my surprise, she said that as I only had one life I should consider running a fund again while I still had the opportunity.

Furthermore, Bolton agrees (as I do) with the assessment by Goldman Sachs' Jim O'Neill that "what is going on in China remains ... the most remarkable and important story of our, and possibly our children's, generation."

Put it all together, and emerging markets today present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that is prompting at least one of the world's top money managers to redirect his life's course! Given all of that information, I have to ask: Are you investing in emerging markets this year?

You may not be
Many individual American investors are scared away from emerging markets by their volatility, cultural differences, and inconsistent accounting standards. These are reasonable fears, but they should not make you miss out on the incredible profit opportunities that emerging markets offer today.

This is why we launched our Motley Fool Global Gains international stock research service: To help more American investors get comfortable investing in these top markets. Our team travels the world to meet with companies and investors, and we recommend two stocks each month for you to buy. We're pretty good at that: Our picks rose more than 71% on average in 2009, making us the Fool's top-performing team of analysts (against some serious competition)!

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This article was first published on Dec. 18, 2009. It has been updated.

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Tim Hanson is co-advisor of Motley Fool Global Gains. The Fool's disclosure policy dances like no one is watching.