So, actually, fun fact, this is false!<p>The stock price doesn&#x27;t just reflect the amount of money the company has. The stock price reflects the &quot;fully loaded&quot; expected value of that stock. That means it prices in ALL expectations.<p>If the company you buy performs exactly as expected, then you don&#x27;t actually make any money because you paid the price that reflected those expectations, so whatever dividends the company issues will only compensate you for the premium you paid<i>. So the stock has to outperform expectations before it&#x27;s worth buying.<p></i> The &quot;expected value&quot; of the company actually discounts dividends and the like, because the value of money in the future is less than the value of money today.<p>There&#x27;s an amusing side point to this, which is that a perpetual annuity actually has a finite value [1].<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Perpetuity" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Perpetuity</a>