10 Stats from Investing in America

10 numbers from Investing in America that sound made up:

𝟭. $1 invested in US stocks in 1800 grew to $4,227,433 in real terms by 2025. The same $1 in bonds? $898.

𝟮. The best-performing US stock of all time is Altria (formerly Philip Morris). Total lifetime gain: 265,528,901%.

𝟯. Of the 100 best-performing US stocks in history, only 6 averaged annual returns above 20%.

𝟰. Stock investors spend about 80% of their time below their previous peak wealth. Only 20% of the time are you sitting at an all-time high.

𝟱. When Cornelius Vanderbilt died in 1877, his $100 million fortune was larger than the US Treasury. At a 1973 family reunion of 100+ descendants, exactly 0 were millionaires.

𝟲. The US holds 5% of the world’s population and 5% of the world’s land. It also holds 60% of the global stock market and has won 40% of all Nobel Prizes ever awarded.

𝟳. The US dollar has lost 97% of its purchasing power since 1913.

𝟴. Save $5,000/year from age 20 to 26, then stop. You retire with over $1 million at 70. Wait until 40? You need to put in $270,000 instead of $30,000 to end up in the same place.

𝟵. In the last 225 years, the global stock market has never experienced a 20-year period where stocks lost money in nominal terms.

𝟭𝟬. In 1945, the United States produced more than 50% of the world’s industrial output. It’s the highest share of global production any single nation has ever held.

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