I'm looking (like everyone else) for anything that will beat the S&P index and is safer. It seems the S&P index has been "too high" for a long time.

Not that anybody cares, but I would pick Alphabet over Apple at this juncture. Different strokes. The combination of Apple's realistic growth prospects, valuation, and China risk exposure leave me cool. I would prefer taking the LLM risk to Google keyword search, which I think is a pinch overblown: slowing, not existential.

Looking further afield, try reading about Investor AB. A Sweden-based company, essentially a publicly listed *old* family office, that has some wholly owned subsidiaries with unusually good economic characteristics, and also a public equity portfolio with a good history. Cash flow from those operations is reinvested in acquiring new wholly owned units. Perhaps best valued as book book of the listed items plus a multiple of smoothed earnings on the subs, or as an overall multiple of look-through earnings. Many people use price to book. Seems to be stuffed with conservative, honest management. They don't seem to have Russian operations. Does any of that sound familiar?

They are a bit more international in their equity portfolio, but the operating businesses tend to be closer to home where they know and understand the operating landscape.

Stock returns (in kronor) 15.4%/year in the last 20 years. Includes a modest dividend.

There is a blogger who has very good write-ups about them so you can understand what they're about.
Jan 2024 outsiderscorner.substack.com - Investor ab a well oiled dual growth
Oct 2024, "Part II" outsiderscorner.substack.com - Investor ab part ii
Feb 2025, review of 2024 results outsiderscorner.substack.com - Investor ab update

Jim