The Meb Faber Show · Friday, July 10, 2026
Dr. Joseph Moore challenges the common perception that real estate is the primary path to great wealth, citing that none of the 100 largest US fortunes were initially made in real estate. He highlights that while real estate has been a significant tool for average Americans to build modest fortunes, particularly through leverage and favorable inflation, it's not the engine for massive wealth creation seen in industries like manufacturing or tech.
“Real estate is a great way to build a modest fortune. It is not the way to build a great fortune.”
“To that stat, like if you look at the four 500, like they're not real estate magnates. They may put things in real estate after the fact, but that's not how they get there.”
“And I looked at the data, I think over the last 100 years, it's like 70% of the fortunes of the S&P 500 were made in manufacturing, tech, and communications. Real estate was something like 5%.”