Investing When It Feels Risky Can Lead to Superior Gains
The first thing I noticed was his breathing.
Shallow. Rapid. Almost panicked.
Then his hands – gripping the armrests so tightly I wondered if he might tear them loose.
He kept shifting in his seat, glancing at his watch every few seconds, as if time itself were the enemy.
Millions of Americans display the same telltale signs – tight shoulders, nervous fidgeting, racing thoughts – as they prepare to do something that fills them with dread.
You may feel it yourself.
I’m talking about flying.
For many people, boarding a plane feels like taking an enormous risk. Their heart rate spikes. Their palms sweat. Every bump of turbulence feels ominous.
And yet, here’s the strange part.
Those same people think nothing of driving to the airport—merging onto highways, sharing the road with distracted drivers, speeding trucks, and unpredictable traffic.
Statistically, that drive is far more dangerous than the flight itself.
According to the National Safety Council, more than 44,000 lives were lost in traffic crashes in 2023. By contrast, the National Transportation Safety Board reports just 188 fatalities from commercial aviation incidents in 2025.
Flying isn’t risky at all. It just feels risky.
And that distinction – between what feels dangerous and what actually is – explains why so many investors miss their biggest opportunities.
Because in markets, just like in life, we don’t avoid risk.
We avoid discomfort.
And waiting until something “feels” comfortable often turns out to be the riskiest decision of all.
Why Waiting Feels Safe – But Isn’t
The moments that feel safest are usually the ones where most of the upside is already gone. My colleague Jeff Remsburg highlighted this in the Digest on Thursday.
Jeff cited a Research Affiliates study showing that market dominance is often the start of underperformance, not the reward for past success.
The takeaway from their study was simple: once a company reaches the summit of market cap dominance, the forces acting against it begin to multiply.
Expectations soar. Scrutiny intensifies. Competitors sharpen their knives.
And what once looked like unstoppable momentum turns into a battle just to justify today’s valuation.
Waiting until a stock pick feels comfortable can leave you with a portfolio of underperformers.
It’s the moments that feel uncertain – when the evidence is there, but the outcome isn’t guaranteed – that are the moments when people tend to talk themselves out of acting.
The risk isn’t any different. But it feels less comfortable.
One of the advantages of watching markets for a long time is learning to recognize those uncomfortable moments for what they are.
Luke Lango has built his career around that exact skill – spotting inflection points before they become consensus trades.
It feels like a long time ago, but it was just over three years ago, in November 2022, when ChatGPT was revealed to the world. Here is what Luke wrote just days later…
From a financial perspective, ChatGPT represents the technical beginning of a multi-trillion-dollar AI Revolution that will fundamentally reshape the global economy.
ChatGPT can already tutor and educate students on any subject in an on-demand, step-by-step fashion. I’m not saying ChatGPT is ready to replace all teachers today. But I am saying that AI software will certainly have a profound impact on the education sector over the next decade.
That’s a $10 trillion market. AI will reshape it.
ChatGPT can also probably fix code better than most coders these days. It’s only a matter of years before it can write code better than most, too.
The global software market is marching toward a $1 trillion valuation. AI will reshape that industry, too.
All content creation is moving toward automation. Altogether, we’re talking trillions of dollars being disrupted in those industries.
Long before artificial intelligence became a daily headline, Luke was urging subscribers to pay attention to the early building blocks behind it.
One manifestation of the AI boom is what Luke calls “Physical AI”, otherwise known as robotics. Back in 2022, Luke noted that robotics would be the future of the supply chain. Here is what he wrote then:
The best way to reduce labor costs is to cut them and the best way to cut them is through robots. Robots don’t need salaries. They don’t need benefits, health or dental insurance. They don’t need to sleep or take lunch breaks. They don’t take vacations, and they don’t quit.
To that end, a capable robot can do as much work as a whole team of manual workers at a fraction of the cost and with a much higher degree of reliability. They are the solution that companies need to localize their supply chains without bloating costs. And in 2022, that need is huge.
Luke recommended the promising robotics start-up Symbotic (SYM), which isup almost 300% since then.
The opportunity appeared first as an idea that felt uncertain. Then, gradually, as something that felt inevitable. If you weren’t willing to get in early, some of the biggest gains were already behind you.
That history matters – not because it guarantees outcomes, but because it highlights a discipline most investors struggle to maintain: acting when the evidence is forming, not after the crowd has arrived.
Now, Luke is tracking another early opportunity. It’s a $500 billion government mobilization that officially launched on November 24th.
Its goals are to:
- Use AI to accelerate energy advancements
- Invest in a quantum ecosystem for scientific breakthroughs, and
- Develop AI for national security
It explicitly compares itself to the Manhattan Project and the Apollo Program – both huge government programs that made savvy investors wealthy.
When the government threw its financial weight around like this before, companies like DuPont and Boeing delivered gains of 1,844% and 24,400% respectively. This time, 52 companies have been named to win the AI race against China, with hard deadlines starting February 22nd.
These companies are not household names. Instead, they are small companies in quantum computing, nuclear energy, and advanced semiconductors.
Luke has spent two months analyzing this opportunity, and he has the names for your portfolio, which he’ll highlight in a new briefing on Tuesday, January 27.
Luke is unveiling a brand-new free Genesis Mission broadcast — and it’s focused on the next major catalyst tied to AI, national security, and U.S. industry.
I’d strongly recommend watching it as soon as it hits your inbox… this is the kind of event investors talk about after the window closes.
Investing in small names might “feel” riskier, but really, the risk is the same. Investing when it feels uncomfortable can often lead to the biggest gains.
Enjoy your weekend,
Luis Hernandez
Editor in Chief, InvestorPlace
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