The 7 best investments of all time

Invest well is never an exact science, but having your money in the right place at the right time can pay big. Here are seven of the best investments of all time.

Ray Kroc bought the McDonald brothers of McDonald's original for 2.7 million $, or 20.4 million $ today. His entrepreneurial spirit was behind the brilliant idea of the burger franchise company. Kroc knew a good idea when he saw it. When franchises came with strokes of brilliance like the Big Mac and Egg McMuffin, he knew do these permanent fixtures on the menu. Kroc has worked diligently to ensure the success of McDonald's at the end. He worked until his death in 1984.

At that time, its investment in McDonald had risen to $500 million, equivalent to 1.1 billion $ today. During the life of Ray Kroc, his investment saw a return on investment of 54 times its investment.

Kleiner Perkins is well known for being at the forefront with wise investments. They chose these stellar winners like Google, Amazon and Electronic Arts. A promising project for the company was Netscape. In 1994, Kleiner Perkins jumped on the Internet bandwagon at the beginning by investing 4 million $ in Netscape for a 25 percent stake. AOL would later buy the company for a massive amount of 4 billion $. It is a return on investment of 249 times the initial investment. If you remember may not glory days of Netscape, you can bet that Kleiner Perkins has fond memories of them.

Alexander Y. Malcomson in partnership with Henry Ford in 1902 for founding the Ford Motor Company. John S. Gray was the uncle of Malcomson and his banker. Although initially skeptical about the company, he agreed to $10 500, making him one of the twelve original investors. Investors dozens, it was Gray money which has borne fruit with the larger sum. Unfortunately, he has never seen the product itself.

John Gray died in 1906, while now its stock in Ford Motor Company. His heirs sold the stock in 1919 to 26.25 million $. Cash today, the initial investment would result in approximately $264,000 with returns of 1.8 billion $. This King is 1 300 times the initial amount. If this massive number inspires you to invest somewhere yourself, a professional as the founder of Fisher investments can help steer you in the right direction.

In 1995, the venture capital company called Benchmark Capital has decided to invest in a small company called eBay. Together, the four partners have invested 6.7 million $. Today, it is equal to approximately 9.9 million $. The choice was a gamble at the time, but for Benchmark Capital it brought big fruit, in the form of a 714 times the original investment back. In 1999, the investment was worth 5 billion $, approximately 6.8 billion $ today.

Two investment companies going on this matter, and both learned to appreciate the massive gains. Sequoia and Kleiner above, Perkins set has invested 25 million $ in Google. It was in 1999 when only mathematicians knew the word (spelled Googol but with a similar pronunciation). Today, Google has its definition own dictionary, which means actually looking on the Internet. As for Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins, they experienced a return on investment of 863 times their investment. In November 2008, the market capitalization of Google sitting at about 108 billion $.

Peter Thiel knows what works on the Internet. In 1998, he co-founded PayPal. In 2005, he paid $500,000 for a 10 per cent stake in Facebook, at the time where MySpace has been the leader in social media. The rest of the story is a well known story. Social media users left mass MySpace and Facebook became the must-join site. When Facebook became public in 2012, Thiel has sold about 80 percent of its shares for a huge $400 million, giving it a return on investment of 800 times its investment.

In 1891, the recipe now coveted for Coca-Cola went to Asa Candler for $2,300. This investment equals about $58,000 today - still a good deal. He held to the company for only 32 years old, but it was more than long enough for the soft drink stand in America. Increase in sales of syrup for the concoction % of 4,000 in a single decade through aggressive marketing tactics of Candler. When he sold the company in 1923, it had a price tag of 25 million $. This is equivalent to approximately $20 billion today and gave Candler, a return on investment of 833 times the initial investment.

If you're ready to try your hand at investing, do your homework and take the leap. You can enjoy some fantastic returns.