Investing in the Next Big Idea

Success is the greatest revenge.

In fact, I would even say that it is one of the greatest motivations for achieving success.

Why else do you think the computer nerds and science geeks of the 1970s and 1980s now rule the world?

Sure, guys like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have always taken pleasure in the ones and zeros that control our lives. But don’t think for a second that their goals of domination weren’t, in some part, motivated by their desire to offer a proverbial middle finger to the bullies that likely taunted them in their early years.

And this goes well beyond the painful tragedies of puberty and schoolyard tauntings.

In fact, I would argue that you will find no bigger bullies than those who drag their knuckles along the gutters of Wall Street.

Fear Breeds Contempt

Most of the guys I know on Wall Street really offer little in the way of value — unless you’re already a billionaire.

They spend their days treating their eyeballs to roller-coaster rides on blinking charts while maintaining a steady diet of overpriced lattes and mountains of cocaine.

They follow algorithms as if they were ancient Norse gods leading them to the gates of Valhalla.

And if they discover a company that doesn’t fit into their self-imposed boxes of blinking lights and trading triggers, they either write it off as unworthy of their time or ridicule it because they find no better displacement for their ignorance than mockery.

Take Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), for instance.

I remember when Amazon first went public.

Reading the S-1, it was all about being the “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore.” But it was never really about books. It was about creating a superior retail platform that would essentially become the model for all future online retailers.

It was such a big idea that few could actually wrap their heads around it. After all, this was 1997, and the idea of buying anything online was met with fear and confusion. What else could you expect, considering that until this time, nearly all retail transactions were conducted with real people in real time?

The thought of typing in your credit card number for anyone to see scared the hell out of a lot people. And as you know, fear breeds contempt.

In the early days, and certainly after the Internet bubble burst, Amazon was slammed by the Wall Street elite.

Never could such an idea work!

Jeff Bezos was out of his mind.

He was going to lose everything while going down in history as the guy who created a product that would be about as relevant as a whale oil factory in the 21st century.

Truth be told, I actually felt quite bad for the guy.

He had a big, bold idea that was going to change the world. And it made sense. But the Wall Street guys were only interested in looking for any excuse to dump all over the stock.

Of course, it was Bezos who got that last laugh.

Today, nearly 20 years later, Amazon is doing more than $100 billion a year in net sales, and Jeff Bezos is now worth more than Warren Buffett.

It’s true.

According to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, Bezos is now worth $66.5 billion.

Early investors made out quite well, too. Check it out…

Gains in Excess of 1,000%

I’m quite certain that Jeff Bezos is thoroughly enjoying his revenge as he rolls around in his success like a pig in slop. Early investors, too.

But I’m not telling you this story today to tell you how much money you could have made or to blow up the ego of Jeff Bezos. Instead, I’m simply using it as an example of what truly separates the well-off from the disgustingly wealthy.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years about billionaires, it is that they don’t become billionaires by investing in the status quo. They take big risks and they invest in big ideas, like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and, of course, Amazon — all companies, by the way, that have had their fair share of negative press from “know-it-all” analysts who would sell you their mothers if they could get a good price.

So whenever someone asks me why I take big risks on big ideas, I simply tell them that this is what billionaires do.

Look, do you think I got many words of encouragement after recommending Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) when that company first went public?

I was called everything from a moron to a pump-and-dumper. As if Tesla ever needed a guy like me to “pump” its stock.

But as you probably know, early Tesla investors made a fortune.

Six years ago, you could’ve bought shares of Tesla for $20. Today, the stock is trading around $230.

While the naysayers did what they did best on the eve of Tesla’s IPO, those who think big ponied up for a piece of the future. And if they still own shares today, they’re sitting on gains in excess of 1,000%.

Of course, the early money has already been made on Tesla, but what Tesla has created continues to be insanely lucrative.

The Tesla Juggernaut

The company that essentially launched the electric car revolution has also launched the biggest bull market we’ve ever seen for lithium, which is a key ingredient in electric car batteries.

With electric cars expected to account for 35% of all new vehicle sales by 2022, you have an opportunity to invest in a big idea that’s still in its earliest stages.

Look, when the first Model T rolled off the line, savvy investors started buying oil stocks.

And today, now that the first electric cars have rolled off the line, savvy investors are buying lithium stocks.

Of course, if you don’t believe that the future of the auto industry is electric and you’re convinced that the internal combustion engine is here to stay, then you might want to consider finding a typewriter company to invest in.

But if you really want to create wealth, and I mean significant wealth, then you absolutely must get exposure to the electric vehicle market. And right now, the best way to do that is to sink your teeth into a few quality lithium plays, which you can read more about here.

To a new way of life and a new generation of wealth…

Jeff Siegel

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Jeff is the founder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks. For more on Jeff, go to his editor’s page.