AI Stocks: Remember the Pickaxe Sellers
The AI boom has minted fortunes for investors in companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Google. If you owned these stocks coming into 2025, congratulations—you've likely done very well. But before you chase the next hot AI name, here's a historical parallel worth considering.
During the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, hundreds of thousands of prospectors flooded into the Sierra Nevada foothills, each dreaming of striking it rich. Most went broke. The ground was picked over quickly, competition was fierce, and the lucky few who found gold often squandered it just as fast. You know who actually built lasting wealth? The merchants selling pickaxes, shovels, tents, and denim pants. Levi Strauss didn't pan for gold—he sold sturdy trousers to the men who did. And 170 years later, Levi's is still around.
