Make Millions From Thousands

I could write this article the usual way -- by showing you how to turn your thousands into millions through investments in solid, growing, well-known companies. Both Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Walgreen (NYSE: WAG), for example, have returned an average of 16% annually over the past 20 years. Not too shabby.

But can such returns turn your thousands into millions? Yes, eventually. An investment of merely $10,000 would turn into $1 million in 30 years, if it grew at an annual average of 17%. But that's a fairly steep average to count on for your stock investments -- a number to which only a select few master investors can aspire. It's safer to have more conservative expectations -- perhaps closer to 10%, the stock market's historical average annual return over most of the past century.

A fine balance
So what should you do if you don't want to wait 50 or more years to make millions? Here's one option: Take a few chances.

With most of your money, you shouldn't take crazy risks. You might want to sock much of it away in a broad-market index fund, such as the Vanguard 500 Index (VFINX). That low-cost fund should earn you close to the market's historical return over long periods of time. You might also try S&P 500 Depositary Receipts , an exchange-traded fund also known as SPDRs. Either of these options will instantly invest your money in 500 major American companies, including stalwarts such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Merck (NYSE: MRK).

But once you've done that, take a few chances and supplement your index with growth-stock picks. That's what I'm doing in my own investment account. I don't want all of my money in an index fund because I'd like my portfolio to grow faster than average, so a chunk of my nest egg sits in a variety of individual stocks.

This strategy should help moderate volatility, and it can also allow you to do well with some carefully chosen stocks -- as it did for me, when I turned $3,000 into $210,000. (It also helped me triple my money in a year.) If you don't believe me, read Paul Elliott on how one stock can change everything, as he describes how $1,800 can turn into $190,000 -- yes, the value of a fancy television can turn into the value of a home when you break rules.

Aiming for the stars
Such returns, which come from classic Rule Breaking companies, are too tempting for me to ignore. That's why I'm still on the lookout for young, dynamic companies that are breaking the rules as they grow and prosper.

The kinds of companies I'm talking about are tomorrow's MasterCard (NYSE: MA), Automatic Data Processing (NYSE: ADP), and Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA).

Think about how different the world was before their industries. We had to carry enough cash or checks to pay for whatever we wanted to buy, and we had to have the funds available. Companies had to prepare their own payroll and manage their own employee benefits, no matter the cost. Television was limited to just a few stations you could pick up with your antenna.

Even Ford was a rule-breaking company once, daring to make a luxury item available to the masses at an affordable price. These companies broke their industries' molds and introduced newer, better systems.

Find some rockets
The strategy of seeking out and investing in Rule Breakers certainly requires patience and entails risk. However, just one growth rocket has the potential to supercharge an otherwise stodgy index strategy.

If you're interested in adding some rockets to your own portfolio, consider our Motley Fool Rule Breakers service free for 30 days. In that time, you'll be able to access all past issues and every recommendation. Headed by Fool co-founder David Gardner, Rule Breakers pays special attention to cutting-edge fields such as biotech, alternative energy, and nanotechnology. Check it out to learn more.

Copyright © 2008 Universal Press Syndicate.