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Want $1 Million In Retirement? Invest $250,000 in These 3 Stocks and Wait a Decade.
Key Points
Amazon is leveraging growth from numerous key sources, including its booming cloud business.
Reddit is leaning into its flagship ad business and newer sources of growth to drive profits forward.
Joby Aviation could revolutionize the eVTOL space, and is getting ever closer to commercialization.
While $1 million may be a comfortable retirement goal for some investors, it's essential to personalize your savings target based on your specific circumstances and objectives for your life in your golden years. Even as there are multiple ways of shoring up your financial life to plan for a more secure future in retirement, building up a profitable stock portfolio is one key component you shouldn't overlook.
No investment, regardless of how quality the underlying business, is totally impervious to the ups and downs of the market. However, if you have a larger amount such as $250,000 to put to work into fantastic businesses, it isn't a far stretch of the imagination that you could turn that investment capital into $1 million in roughly a decade. In fact, with a starting amount of $250,000, that would require an annualized return of roughly 15%, which is just a bit higher than the average annual S&P 500 10-year return, including dividends (approximately 13%).
Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Learn More »
As you look to grow your personal nest egg to or above $1 million, here are three stocks to consider for your basket of buys that could warrant part or all of a $250,000 investment. Alternatively, you could distribute that $250,000 investment capital equally across these three stocks. Diversification is key for any stock market portfolio, so you can capitalize on the maximum sources of growth in your portfolio in a variety of stock market environments.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Amazon
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) remains a dominant force in several key markets, including online retail as well as cloud computing (AWS), and is bolstering a growing presence in newer arenas like digital advertising. Notably, AWS is the leading cloud provider and a major source of profitability for Amazon. Despite some concerns about slowing growth compared to competitors, AWS revenue continues to increase and benefits from the rising demand for cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.
Amazon's advertising business is expanding rapidly too, fueled by its vast customer base and integration across its ecosystem (e.g., Prime Video, Twitch). Even though this segment still represents a relatively small portion of the company's overall net sales, this is the company's fastest-growing segment and could become increasingly important for the company's overall financial health in the next decade. Of course, Amazon remains the largest online retailer globally and accounts for about 40% of U.S. retail e-commerce sales alone.
In Amazon's Q2 2025, the company delivered a 13% year-over-year increase in net sales to $167.7 billion, while operating income rose 31% to $19.2 billion. AWS saw a 17.5% year-over-year increase in revenue to $30.9 billion. While Amazon's North America segment saw an 11% increase in sales to $100.1 billion, the International segment delivered a 16% increase to $36.8 billion.
Another bright spot was Amazon's advertising business, which climbed 23% year over year to $15.7 billion. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $1.68, up 33% year over year.
AWS remains a dominant force in the rapidly expanding cloud computing market. This market is projected for significant growth that could reach nearly $2 trillion by 2030 globally, driven by technologies like AI and machine learning. AWS is investing heavily in AI infrastructure, with planned capital expenditures exceeding $100 billion in 2025.
This positions AWS to expand rapidly based on the increasing adoption of AI workloads and cloud-based AI solutions. It's conceivable that Amazon's role in the forefront of AI innovation, its flagship e-commerce business, and advertising presence are among the myriad of factors that could drive multibagger returns for shareholders over the next decade and well beyond.
2. Reddit
Reddit (NYSE: RDDT) is often called the "front page of the internet." As a popular social news and discussion website where users share links, posts, and images, which are then voted on and commented on within specific communities called subreddits, Reddit is known for its vast array of forums, covering almost every topic imaginable. From niche interests to general news and entertainment, the platform is a place for Redditors around the globe to converge and participate in all manner of discussion.
Reddit boasts a highly engaged global user base, with over 110.4 million daily active users as of Q2 2025. User growth has been particularly strong, with daily active unique visitors climbing 21% year over year in Q2. Reddit's efforts to expand internationally with machine translation, which is now available in 23 languages, are widening the potential reach of the platform. Advertising forms the core of Reddit's revenue at this point, generating $465 million in Q2 2025, up 84% year over year and accounting for 93% of the total revenue.
Reddit's ability to offer advertisers highly targeted audiences within specific interest-based subreddits provides a compelling value proposition, which continues to lead to increased advertiser adoption and revenue growth. Beyond advertising, Reddit is actively exploring new revenue sources, like data licensing.
The platform's vast archive of user-generated content is a valuable asset for training AI models, and Reddit has successfully forged partnerships with major players like Alphabet's Google and OpenAI to license this data. Data licensing generated $35 million in revenue for Reddit in Q2 2025, a 24% increase from one year ago.
Reddit's growing user base, robust advertising business, and valuable data assets paint a picture of a business still in the early stages of its growth story despite a company history that already spans two decades. The company's recent turn to profitability also bodes well for its financial health, bolstered by its asset-light, sticky business. All these factors could drive considerable financial growth and lead to share price appreciation in the next decade-plus.
3. Joby Aviation
While the previous two picks on this list are established businesses with well-outlined revenue and profit streams, Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY) definitely falls into the category of a high-risk and potentially very high-reward stock. Joby is still pre-revenue and burning significant cash, but the future for this company could be bright indeed if it achieves its long-term business ambitions.
The company is focused on manufacturing and commercializing all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for air taxi services. Joby is currently developing a four-passenger, piloted aircraft designed for vertical takeoff and landing, similar to a helicopter, but transitioning to forward flight like a plane. It plans to generate revenue through multiple avenues, including operating its own air taxi service, selling aircraft to other operators, and potentially offering transportation services to government agencies.
As both an operator and a manufacturer, Joby could take a vertically integrated approach to urban air mobility. Joby already partnered with various companies, including Toyota, Delta, and Uber, to develop and deploy its air taxi service. Joby also has a significant contract with the Air Force, under which it will deliver and operate up to nine of its eVTOL aircraft to this and other federal agencies.
As of mid-2025, the company has entered the final stage for certification by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for commercial passenger operations. Joby also just acquired Blade Air Mobility's passenger business to accelerate commercialization of its eVTOL aircraft, a move that provides immediate access to Blade's existing network of vertiports, customer base, and operational expertise. Blade's existing customer base, which included over 50,000 passengers in 2024, also offers a significant head start for Joby in building demand for its eVTOL services.
Joby is a leading contender in the eVTOL space, which is projected to become a trillion-dollar industry. Being an early mover with a strong technology and regulatory lead could translate to significant market share and profitability, which could also propel shares to soar a lot higher in the coming decade and beyond.
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Rachel Warren has positions in Alphabet and Amazon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, and Uber Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Delta Air Lines. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
