The Stock Market isn’t Where you Get Rich

As a society we praise people who make it rich in the stock market.  Every day we hear stories about money managers who “beat the market”, the stock that rose 100% in a matter of days or some myth about Warren Buffett.  This get rich story is all a very enticing story and it’s even true on many occasions, but the problem is, we’re often grappling with the tail of an elephant thinking we’ve got him by the trunk.

When you buy shares of stock on a secondary market you are not “investing” in the true economic sense of the word.  That is, you’re not spending for future production.  In fact, the firm whose production you’ve bought into doesn’t even care if you own the stock or if your neighbor owns the stock because they’ve already raised the capital (capital that can be spent for future production) by issuing the shares in the first place.  What most of us do with these already issued shares is simply an allocation of unspent income.  In other words, we’re actually just savers looking for various asset classes in which we can hold that savings to achieve various financial goals.  The real “investors” are people who start businesses and actually allocate capital for the purpose of generating future production.  I hate to break it to you, but you’re most likely not an “investor” when you buy stocks or bonds.

This is important to understand because it’s rather backwards to view the purchase of stocks on a secondary market as the place where you “get rich” or where you “invest”.  On average, the stock market generates a real, real return (that’s the after taxes, fees and inflation return, ie, the “in your actual pocket” return) of about 6.75% over the long-term.  So, if you’re a young aspiring “investor” who allocates, say, $10,000 to the S&P 500 at the age of 25 you can expect to have a whopping $70,000 or so after 30 years (assuming no further contributions of course).  Not exactly the “get rich” plan you thought, eh?  But that’s the idea that is continually pounded into our heads through various media sources – this myth that the stock market is somewhere where you get rich.  The reality is exactly backwards.  Most of the time what you’re buying when you buy stocks on a secondary exchange is a claim on assets that made SOMEONE ELSE rich.

You see, when shares are issued on a secondary market they’re being issued by companies that have to meet extremely stringent listing requirements.  And by the time any corporation has grown to the point that they’ve met these listing requirements they’ve likely established a business and source of output that is extremely valuable.  “Going public” and listing their shares on an exchange like the NYSE gives the firm access to funding, but it also gives the owners an exit from what was their real investment (most owners actually fronted capital for future production and later sell their shares to you as they reallocate their savings).  These owners spent for future production (made real investments by building a productive asset) and are likely exiting from their investment on the secondary market.  In other words, you’re allocating your savings into what was really someone else’s investment.   And there’s virtually no doubt that by the time the firm has achieved the growth necessary to be listed on a major public secondary market that its owners are fabulously wealthy.  If you don’t believe me just have a look at the Forbes 400 wealthiest – the vast majority of those people didn’t get rich picking stocks.  They built companies, built real goods and services over a long period of time and the only reason you likely even know what the firm is or who runs it is because they’ve already built something incredibly valuable.

Now, this doesn’t mean it’s impossible to become wealthy picking stocks on a secondary market.  There will always be people who “beat the market” and ride stocks to riches.  But that’s not the point of this story.  The point is, in the aggregate, the market returns the market return and the market return isn’t likely to make investors rich quickly in the aggregate.  In fact, you’re almost certainly buying an asset that has already made someone else rich well before you ever had the opportunity to own a claim on that asset’s cash flows.  This doesn’t mean that buying stocks and bonds is bad.  It doesn’t even mean you can’t “beat the market”, but we should be careful about the concept of “investing” and how it actually leads to us becoming wealthy.  You’re much more likely to become wealthy investing in your own ability to generate future production than you are by buying an asset that was actually someone else’s investment.

Related:

• Pragmatic Capitalism – What Every Investor Needs to know about Money and Finance
• Understanding the Modern Monetary System