Investor reveals how much you'd have if you invested just $5,000 in the biggest companies 15 years ago

Being well versed in the stock market is almost a route to easy money if you play your cards right, yet not every smart investment at the time plays out how you might have hoped over a decade later.

We've all seen plenty of stories where people have been able to make millions of dollars by betting on a company in its early years, as they're able to watch it blossom and cash in when the value is at its apex.

You don't even need to be a finance expert to benefit from this either, as one artist who painted Facebook's first office made bank after choosing to be paid in shares instead of dollars.

It's easy to look at smart decisions with the benefit of foresight though, yet one expert investor has revealed how much you could have earned today if you've bought up $5,000 worth of stock in some of the world's biggest companies 15 years ago.

Shared by Ticket Take founder Jon Erlichman on X, you could have turned a comparatively measly $5,000 into potentially millions by making the right predictions over 10 years ago, and for some you wouldn't even need that long.

At the top of Erlichman's list is none other than Nvidia, which currently sits as the world's most valuable public company as a result of the AI boom, with a market cap of $4.5 trillion.

Nvidia's stock right now is sitting at $184.84 per share, yet if you'd invested that $5,000 back in 2011, you would have earned yourself $1,650,000 in total by now.

Unlike most companies on his list, Nvidia benefitted from recent price explosions with the value remaining relatively steady until January 2023 when it began to skyrocket.

There was still a 2,555% increase between January 2011 and January 2023 though, and since the latter point the stock value has jumped by an additional 1,166%, marking a total increase of roughly 33,507% in 15 years for what was at one time 'just' the king of the GPU world.

It also won't surprise anyone to see Elon Musk's electric vehicle juggernaut Tesla in second place on Erlichman's list, as you would have turned that $5,000 into $1,455,844 across 15 years if you believed in his vision to take over the car world.

It only appears to be on the upward trend once again too, as Musk's record-breaking pay package relies on significant sales success for the company despite the removal of key regulation by President Donald Trump following his public spat with the tech mogul.

Value of $5,000 invested 15 years ago:

Nvidia: $1,650,000
Tesla: $1,455,844
Broadcom: $587,824
Lam: $222,916
Micron: $200,666
KLA: $179,635
ASML: $177,594
AMD: $168,521
Netflix: $159,942
Amazon: $132,339
Alphabet: $108,312
Apple: $107,320
Applied Mat: $106,372
Microsoft: $80,500

— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) January 22, 2026

Other smart bids in Erlichman's list include Netflix, as the streaming giant's continued success would have earned you $132,339, and the proliferation of Amazon in the modern world has made its stock price jump significantly, turning that $5,000 into $132,339.

While they were already more than established, tech giants like Apple, Google's parent company Alphabet, and Microsoft would have all provided you a return on investment of at least 1,500%, and would have been incredibly safe bets both then and now.

It goes to show that you don't necessarily always have to make a risky play to be successful on the stock market, but earning the figures right at the very top requires some clever foresight and a fair share of luck that not everyone can deal with.