(Click for video linked to a searchable transcript on this Mad Money topic)
As it turns out, the rich really are different from the rest of us. And you can profit from them.
Earlier this year, Jim Cramer introduced something he calls the Gatsby Index, a composite of 13 stocks that he believes can be used to track sentiment among the affluent. These are stocks of companies that make or sell things to the wealthy or those aspiring to become wealthy.
The stocks include the high-end food plays—Whole Foods (WFM), Starbucks (SBUX), and Panera (PNRA); upscale department stores Nordstroms (JWN) and Saks (SKS); specialty retail Michael Kors (KORS), Lululemon (LULU), Ralph Lauren (RL), Coach (COH) and Tiffany's (TIF); cosmetic bellwether Estee Lauder (EL); boat company Brunswick (BC)—which also sells billiard tables, fitness equipment and bowling equipment; and Toll Brothers (TOL) , a high end home builder.
If returns since February 25th, when Cramer first introduced the Gatsby index, are any indication, it seems the rich feel pretty good. "Not only is it killing the averages, it's generating almost double the return," Cramer said.
But what the Gatsby Index has done is neither here nor there. What matters now is that Cramer thinks the outperformance speaks to the state of the market and could signal which stocks continue to perform well in the days to come.