You have done exactly what I have done, except I’ve been doing it for 20 years. I buy the stocks of companies I and people I know use and like.

I first bought Apple back when I walked by their very first store in MA and saw people crowding the place. I bought Google the minute they went public because I and everyone else was using Google and Gmail. Same for Netflix, Tesla, and so many others.

No great fortune here; with two kids and a disabled wife, I never could put much money into it, but the growth has piled up enough to add almost ten years to my retirement money. Without that, I’d probably still be working now.