Forgive me for taking so long to respond, but it&#x27;s my suspicion that there&#x27;s too much money chasing the S&amp;P 500, driving prices artificially high (even for the most obvious dead companies walking) while creating bargains everywhere else in the world. I&#x27;m planning to look into REITs and MLPs -- &quot;real estate investment trusts&quot; and &quot;midstream limited partnerships&quot; (oil and gas pipeline operators) respectively -- as an initial wealth-building mechanism, although I might change (especially towards railroad stock) as I start accumulating wealth. Both of these investment vehicles are legally required to pay out most of their profits as dividends, producing sustainable dividends around 10% instead of around 3-4%.<p>Part of my interest in them is that the world&#x27;s population is stagnant and will begin to decline soon -- creating an environment in which growth will be impossible, quality will prevail over quantity (goodbye, Caterpillar and General Electric!), and rent-seeking will be much more successful than profit-seeking.