If you were able to identify in advance the rare stocks that could turn $1,000 into a cool million, you wouldn't have to do much to be set for life. But no one has a crystal ball, which is why diversification is just as important as picking top stocks. There are all sorts of factors that could send any given stock plummeting or skyrocketing, and you can never know which ones will carry the day (or week, or month, or year).

The hard part of investing isn't necessarily coming up with the funds to invest or agonizing over corporate financial statements. Often, the hardest part is maintaining the fortitude to hang on to your investments through the tough times and let the magic of compound growth do its work.

Consider Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), (NYSE: WMT), and Home Depot (NYSE: HD). Each of these stocks has had major downswings at times, but if you'd invested $1,000 in any of them when they went public, you'd have more than $1 million today.

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Source Fool.com