We live in very exciting times, and we have witness small, yet innovative companies become power houses. One can argue that these companies have shown us the power of creativity and thinking outside of the box. A perfect example of this is Google Inc. Google with about 19,000 employees continues to dominate the areas of technology, search, software, advertising, retail and much more. Google has also been a popular cultural phenomenon with such statements as “Google me” made famous by Teyana Taylor and various hip hop artists. Google is not only a great search engine but a very profitable company.

Last week the company released earnings that were very impressive. Google’s income rose 37 percent to $1.96 billion, or $6.06 a share, from $1.42 billion, or $4.49, last year. Google’s Adsense platform continues to grow and just recently Google decided to enter into the smart phone business. The phone Nexus One uses Android software created by a Google-led group of companies. Google sold 6.8 million Android phones in 2009.

Many of us have used Google as a search engine, but how many of us have used Google as an investment source. Google as an investment has been amazing! The company was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The two partners named the search engine they built “Google,” a play on the word “googol,” the mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros.

Larry and Sergey founded the company in 1998 but the company was not issued its stock until 2004. The stock was introduced to the world on August 19, 2004 with the ticker symbol GOOG. The initial stock price was at $85 a share. If you purchased all the stock you can buy for $1,000. You would have 11 shares of Google stock (1,000/85=11). Now Google trades around $545 a share! The 11 shares you bought in 2004 for $1,000 would be worth $5,411, today. Google is a perfect example of how popular technology that we all use can also be a great investment.

If you missed the Google’s at $85 do not be alarmed there will be many more. But will you be ready to take advantage of the opportunity when it comes? As you enjoy new technology it is good practice to keep current on the latest stock opportunities. One never knows where the next investment opportunity will come from. NB

Nars Dargenson is a financial consultant. He is also the editor of The Side Step Newsletter and http://www.narsbusiness.com.