Housing prices shot up in the 2000s, although one stock performed even better — much better: Apple, according to analysis by TradeMonster.com.
In 2002, a $228,000 home would be worth the same amount today.
An investor who put that money into Apple shares ten years ago when shares were $12.19 would have $9.97 million right now.
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"This extreme exercise is not to show people how ‘dumb’ they were, but rather to illustrate how people put too much into their home a decade ago and that maybe they should have diversified their wealth over more asset classes," says TradeMonster.com co-founder Jon Najarian, according to CNBC.
"Right now we should be asking ourselves, 'What will be the most inflationary asset of the next decade? And how much money should I put towards it,'" Najarian adds.
Pricing assets in stocks or other assets isn't new, Najarian adds.
Take energy.
In 2002, filling a car with gasoline for a year would cost $840, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data.
"But if you took the bus" as Najarian tells the news channel, and bought 68 shares of Apple ($840/$12.19) instead, you would now own $36,244 worth of Apple shares, about a $35,000 profit.
Apple's shares are north of $500 and market capitalization recently topped $500 billion, making it bigger than most countries in the world, topping gross domestic product figures in Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, or Taiwan, CNNMoney reports.
There's room for growth as well.
"Although still far from Microsoft's record, set in late 1999 at $600 billion, at Apple's current growth, it might not be too long before it holds that title as well," writes Chris Dumont, a financial research analyst and contributing author at Investopedia.com.
Editor's Note: Use This Single Loophole to Pay Zero Taxes in 2012
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