Forgive me for taking so long to respond, but it's my suspicion that there's too much money chasing the S&P 500, driving prices artificially high (even for the

Forgive me for taking so long to respond, but it's my suspicion that there's too much money chasing the S&P 500, driving prices artificially high (even for the most obvious dead companies walking) while creating bargains everywhere else in the world. I'm planning to look into REITs and MLPs -- "real estate investment trusts" and "midstream limited partnerships" (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%. Part of my interest in them is that the world'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.