Twenty years in the past, I realized an essential lesson: when you can’t beat them, be a part of them. And when you can’t discover a job with the monopolies, then you definately would possibly as effectively spend money on them!
Take what occurred on September 1, 2025. I received an electronic mail from Apple saying my Apple TV+ month-to-month subscription was going up from $9.99 to $12.99. My first response was annoyance. Who desires to pay an additional $3 a month for a similar reveals? The whole lot must be free, like my weekly e-newsletter serving to readers obtain monetary freedom sooner!
However as a shareholder, I used to be pumped. A 30% value hike is very large for profitability given Apple’s hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Then there’s the worth hikes of its newest laptops. That is the kind of pricing energy you solely get whenever you’ve constructed a monopoly-like ecosystem.
The one logical factor I may consider after that electronic mail? Purchase extra Apple inventory.
For reference, a monopoly is a market construction the place a single firm or entity dominates the availability of a selected services or products, giving it vital energy to set costs, management distribution, and restrict competitors. As a result of obstacles to entry are excessive—reminiscent of patents, unique assets, authorities regulation, or sheer economies of scale—the monopolist can preserve outsized earnings and pricing flexibility over time.
Money Hoards And Massive Ecosystems
Historically, Apple’s inventory sells off after its annual occasion the place it unveils new merchandise. The hype by no means fairly matches Wall Road’s lofty expectations, and 2025’s showcase was no completely different. However I’ve come to understand one thing: Apple doesn’t have to innovate in the best way we predict—by launching world-changing devices yearly. Simply transferring the digicam lens 1 millimeter is sweet sufficient.
The actual “innovation” is Apple’s potential to lock in clients and cost a toll. The App Retailer’s 30% fee is the proper instance. If you happen to’re a developer and also you need your app to succeed, you don’t have any alternative however to be inside Apple’s ecosystem. And Apple is aware of this. The iPhone, Mac, iPad, AirPods, Watch—all of those {hardware} merchandise feed into one sticky universe of recurring income. When you’re in, you don’t go away.
That’s why Apple is simply going to proceed dominating. As an investor, betting towards Apple is betting towards super-normal earnings.
Google’s Monopoly Seems to be Good Too
Then there’s Google, one other monopoly-like juggernaut. Google pays Apple $20+ billion a yr simply to be the default search engine in Safari. Think about that. How can every other search engine compete when Google buys the pole place on the world’s most respected and in style units?
Google nonetheless instructions roughly 90% of the worldwide search market, and that dominance stays unshaken regardless of the rise of AI LLMs. To my dismay, Google now lifts writer content material and shows it in its AI Overviews, making it even more durable for publishers to seize helpful search visitors.
In September 2025, Google was spared the worst attainable judgment in its landmark antitrust case. Decide Amit Mehta dominated that whereas Google can not enter into unique agreements with corporations, it’s nonetheless allowed to pay companions like Apple to distribute its providers. Translation: Google can preserve sending tens of billions to Apple, and Apple can preserve cashing the checks.
That could be a win-win for each corporations—and their shareholders. It’d even be a win for Decide Mehta and his household.
How Many Corporations Can Compete at This Degree?
Solely a tiny handful of companies on the earth have the monetary firepower to play at this degree.
The one firm that might theoretically compete is Microsoft, with Bing, which no one cares about. If Microsoft ever decides to go bananas and bid towards Google, we would see Apple’s annual payout rise into the $30–$40 billion vary. That’s greater than the annual GDP of some small nations.
From an investor’s standpoint, you root for these bidding wars. So long as Apple stays the gatekeeper of the world’s most coveted person base, it’s going to receives a commission.
And as historical past has proven, regulators and courts hardly ever break aside such entrenched dominance. When you’ve gotten sufficient scale, cash, and affect, you may bend politics and coverage in your favor.
Strategically, Google ought to spend extra on politicians, as an alternative of the $20 – $30 million a yr on lobbying, to guard its monopoly and acquire even additional floor.
The Winners Hold On Successful
This dynamic isn’t restricted to firms. It’s the identical in private finance.
Take into consideration the rich particular person in 2010 who had $10 million in investable belongings. If that particular person merely plowed all of it into the S&P 500 and reinvested dividends, they’d have round $57 million immediately, assuming the S&P 500 closes up 10% in 2025. They’ve turn into a semi-human monopoly—in a position to purchase affect, present multi-generational wealth, and safe benefits most individuals can solely dream of.
Now distinction that with somebody who purchased an excessive amount of house in 2006, received foreclosed on in 2010, and declared chapter. As a substitute of compounding hundreds of thousands, they ended up with destructive web value and a credit standing in tatters for seven years. They’re just like the small competitor making an attempt to claw market share from Apple or Google. The hole solely widens with time. The principle technique is to in the future promote to Apple or Google, not compete with it.
Similar to corporations, people who have already got the assets are likely to preserve pulling additional forward. The snowball impact is actual.
Human Monopolies and Duopolies
For this reason I consider traders ought to focus extra of their consideration on monopoly-like and oligopoly-like corporations. If the federal government isn’t going to cease them—and historical past suggests it hardly ever does—you would possibly as effectively profit.
OpenAI and Anthropic, for instance, are the 2 rising giants in AI giant language fashions. Whereas each are non-public for now, their oligopoly construction is already forming, together with Llama and Gemini.
In client merchandise, Coca-Cola and Pepsi dominate international comfortable drinks in a traditional duopoly. If you happen to consider the world will preserve guzzling sugary drinks regardless of the well being dangers, these shares make sense.
In funds, Visa and Mastercard type one other entrenched oligopoly. If you happen to assume customers will preserve spending past their means and paying double-digit rates of interest on revolving credit score, proudly owning these corporations is a rational alternative.
The sample is obvious: these entrenched gamers are allowed to develop larger and extra worthwhile whereas regulators look the opposite means. Politicians usually personal shares within the very monopolies they’re supposed to control.
So why shouldn’t you?
Adapt or Perish
After all, disruption is at all times attainable. OpenAI and Anthropic have already taken bites out of Google’s search enterprise as extra individuals depend on AI-generated solutions. That is one more reason why I’ve determined to spend money on each OpenAI and Anthropic as a hedge.
However disruption doesn’t remove the monopoly dynamic—it simply shifts it. Right this moment’s upstart is tomorrow’s entrenched winner. For now, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Visa, and Mastercard are nonetheless firmly in management.
Firms adapt. Traders should as effectively. The choice is irrelevance.
My Investing Philosophy Going Ahead
For the common particular person, investing in a low-cost S&P 500 ETF stays the only and best wealth-building technique. However when you’re studying Monetary Samurai, you seemingly care about cash greater than most. Consequently, you’re prepared to assume strategically about tips on how to tilt the percentages in your favor.
That’s why I like constructing concentrated publicity to pick out monopolies and oligopolies inside your portfolio. These are the businesses that may seemingly generate essentially the most constant earnings, wield essentially the most pricing energy, and ship the strongest returns over time. When these corporations inevitably appropriate, I’ll purchase extra.
Sure, complain about injustice if you would like. Sure, fear about inequality. However on the finish of the day, if it’s authorized and worthwhile, the rational investor joins the successful facet. As a result of when you can’t beat them, you would possibly as effectively spend money on them.
That’s not cynicism. That’s survival.
Readers, are you investing in monopolies and oligopolies as a part of your technique? Or perhaps backing startups that might in the future get acquired by them? I’d love to listen to your perspective—why do you assume the federal government and courts aren’t extra proactive in breaking apart these giants for the sake of customers?
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