2017 is already drawing to a close, and it’s time for smart investors to start looking forward to the upcoming year. We’re at an interesting time for investors. There’s a lot of political discord and some uncertainty as to which policies are going to move forward. For example, Congress is debating tax reform, which could mean the potential for big changes in the corporate tax rate.

The market is also at extremely high levels, and unemployment is reaching record lows.

The political and economic climates are mixed, to say the least, regarding outlook and expectations, but in general, the following are some things to think about as you shape your investment strategy in 2018.

Marijuana

Marijuana legalization and the great debate regarding this concept rage on around the country, but no matter which side of the argument you’re on personally, it’s undeniable that the legalization movement is making some serious headway. Even conservative politicians are expressing fewer reservations about legalizing it, particularly for medical use.

In the past, the idea of investing in marijuana stocks has seemed risky to say the least, and ridiculous to some people, but the time to take it seriously might be 2018.

Of course, there is still a lot of very mixed sentiment among voters and policymakers when it comes to marijuana, but there’s also a lot of research being done on the medical marijuana front, even by the federal government, so it’s a place to watch.

Consumer Spending In China

While the trajectory of consumer spending in the U.S. might still be shifting up and down somewhat, in China, that’s not the case.

Consumer spending from the middle and upper-middle classes in China is on the rise in a big way. It’s expected to hit the $4 trillion mark in the coming months, which has analysts looking to options like Alibaba, although of course there are plenty of other options as well.

Technology

New technology pretty dominates everything in the global economy. So where specifically are the areas of technology to look toward as you’re shaping your 2018 investment strategy?

Augmented reality is coming to the mainstream consumer in a big way, particularly with backing from companies like Google and Apple. Both companies are making significant strides to integrate augmented reality into their offerings.

Another area of technology that’s already making waves as we end 2017 is the world of autonomous driving, or at least semi-autonomous. There have been a lot of recent announcements and the forging of some key partnerships that could mean big things here.

Along with self-driving passenger vehicles, Tesla is likely to introduce their model for a semi-automatic truck driving system.

The U.S. Market

Finally, if you’re comparing the opportunities in the U.S. versus the global market, you may want to be more U.S. driven, at least according to some analysts.

There’s a lot going on regarding American innovation, so it could be valuable for investors to think domestically. This could be particularly true if some version of tax reform is able to pass that includes cuts for corporations.