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There are companies, even in these unsettled times, that offer a measure of security, a promise of income beyond the meager offerings of the broader market. With a few thousand dollars, a man or woman can build a small stake in these enterprises, a little patch of ground where growth isn’t just a hope, but a likelihood. Here are two such names, weathered but resilient, offering a yield that might just ease the burden of these lean years.

Walmart, bless its heart, started with actual stores. Physical buildings filled with…things. Ten thousand of them, apparently. It feels…sturdy. Like a sensible pair of shoes. Amazon, meanwhile, began as a digital phantom, a collection of algorithms and one-click purchasing. Now it has stores, too, after acquiring Whole Foods, but it feels like a late addition, a desperate attempt to appear…grounded. Like a tech CEO trying to learn how to bake bread during a pandemic. Most of their revenue, though, still comes from the internet. Which, let’s be real, is where we all do most of our damage these days.

The immediate danger is not, as many assume, a sudden downturn triggered by economic data. It is a more insidious threat: the erosion of faith in the very institution designed to manage the economy – the Federal Reserve. The public squabble between the former President and the current Chairman, while diverting attention, is merely a symptom of a deeper malaise.

The history of speculation is replete with false prophets and vaporous promises. Yet, certain instruments, like the Apple of legend or the Nvidia engines of modern calculation, have proven to be more than mere illusions. They have materialized, defying the entropy of the market and creating, in their wake, fortunes that seem almost… improbable. Quantum computing, however, presents a different order of complexity. It is not merely a faster calculation, but a fundamentally different mode of being – a realm where the laws of probability hold sway, and the very notion of determinacy begins to dissolve. To invest in this nascent field is to wager not merely on a technology, but on a possible future – a future that may or may not resemble our present.

Now, XRP (XRP 0.82%), the digital doodad associated with Ripple, hasn’t exactly been leading the charge. It’s underperformed, dropping a respectable 22% to $2.08 over the last twelve months. But Geoffrey Kendrick, a fellow at Standard Chartered Bank who clearly has more faith in these things than I do, anticipates a rebound. He suggests that regulatory clarity (a concept that feels perpetually just over the horizon) and the arrival of spot Exchange Traded Funds – ETFs, to those in the know – could propel XRP to a rather optimistic $12.50 by 2028. That, he calculates, represents a 500% upside. A significant return, even for those of us accustomed to the occasional lucky punt.

The S&P 500, currently performing a rather boisterous jig, has, predictably, convinced many that gravity no longer applies. Nineteen percent up in a year? A delightful illusion, but illusions, like bubbles, have a habit of bursting. Even if this exuberance continues—and let us not be naive—it won’t last forever. A prudent portfolio requires ballast, something that doesn’t evaporate when the music stops.

Still, Nvidia has done rather well for itself, hasn’t it? A gain of 977% over the last three years is nothing to sneeze at. Their graphics processing units – GPUs, to the knowing – have become the very gold standard for this AI business. And after such a breathless sprint, a little pause for refreshment is perfectly understandable. The stock currently sits a modest 12% below its recent peak, which, frankly, seems a perfectly reasonable place to be.

In the most recent accounting, this Druckenmiller divested himself of holdings in Broadcom, a purveyor of the essential, if largely invisible, infrastructure of the digital realm. He simultaneously initiated a position in Sandisk, a manufacturer of flash memory. A thousand and fifty percent increase in valuation since its separation from Western Digital, they report. Such numbers possess a certain terrifying beauty, a testament to the capacity of the market to generate phantom wealth, divorced from tangible creation. It is a spectacle worthy of careful, if melancholy, observation.