Investment More Lucrative Than $AAPL, $TSLA, $NVDA COMBINED!

In an age of trillion-dollar company valuations, record-breaking IPO entries, and mind-blowing merger and acquisition activities, there is still one little-known investment that gets overlooked. The investment opportunity is in one of the oldest conglomerates in the world, brings multi-fold returns, has international locations, partnerships with the wealthiest individuals and companies in the world, priceless equity, an endless pipeline of catalyst products, contributed to some of the greatest products in history, and attracts billions of customers per year. Sounds like a great investment? If an investment in museums was possible, it would be the largest and most profitable investment of all time! Rather than trying to buy a building full of priceless artifacts, invest in an annual museum membership, preferably one that is a part of the Associations of Science & Technology Centers (ASTC).

Still not convinced? When was the last time you stood under a massive blue whale fossil suspended 40-feet in the air or gazed upon the contours and vivid colors of a Van Gogh painting in person? How about seeing complete T-Rex and Alamosaurus dinosaur fossils? What compares to walking through a NASA space shuttle, witnessing the scale of a launch-ready Saturn V, or picnicking under a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket? The endless list of awe-inspiring experiences abound at modern museums. But what good investment isn't shared or passed onto the next generation?

Museums have come a long way since the 1980s, where most current adults spent hot summer school trips in a poorly-lit musty building, with fixed "Do Not Touch" artifacts, obscure facts without context, and sectioned-off exhibits. Modern museums have embraced the "learn through play" concept, creating inviting environments for visitors to touch, experience, and emulate. Museums are a far cry from the long walking tours of the past where visitors only looked. Today, there are even children's museums, literally, CHILDREN'S MUSEUMS. Some built as indoor gyms with three-story tall climbing apparatus, mind-opening technology experiences, reading rooms built into treehouses, life-enriching miniature worlds with real-world jobs and tasks, create-your-own LEGO race car tracks, and obstacle courses that provide a rigorous fitness regimen. All tailor-made for kids!

Enough with the excitement, this is an investment article. Here are the economics. A 2-person annual CORE membership to the Dallas Perot Museum of Nature and Science is $100.00. This includes 2 membership passes good for unlimited museum visits throughout the year. Membership comes with 50% ($5) off on parking, access to exclusive Museum After Dark events, and entry to all Associations of Science & Technology Centers WORLDWIDE. In comparison, 2 one-time admission tickets cost $50.00, half the price of a two-person annual membership. But who goes to only one museum per year, or sees everything during the initial visit? By the second visit back to the museum, the membership has already paid for the initial investment, plus the additional savings of parking. Without even taking into account the exclusive member events, the membership is already returning net positive. Add another museum on the ASTC list, such as the NASA Space Center in Houston, TX. Two adult tickets at NASA Houston cost $60 online or $70 in-person. But with the annual membership, IT'S FREE! Now, the membership investment just gave a 63.6% return. Add another venue, The New York Hall of Science, $38 for a pair of tickets, and that gives a whopping 98.2% return. All subsequent visits to the thousands of worldwide museums are free and add to the return on investment (ROI) of the initial museum membership, easily returning several hundred times on the initial $100.

Does an investment into a museum membership live up to the article's title, an Investment More Lucrative Than $AAPL, $TSLA, and $NVDA COMBINED? For every museum visit after the second, an additional ~50% return is added to the ROI, by the fourth visit, that's a return greater than 200%. By the sixth visit, that's a 300% return. Even though $NVDA had a breakout year, returning 198.71%, $AAPL adding 41.8% and $TSLA providing 132.45%, the combined average return is only 124.32%. A museum membership outperforms the returns on top US companies, while granting access to the wonders and excitement of seeing, trying, and learning something new, creating priceless memories with the next generation.