> it is in your best interest to convert your money into stuff Not necessarily. If by "stuff" you mean "real estate" -- since that is what this part of the di

> it is in your best interest to convert your money into stuff Not necessarily. If by "stuff" you mean "real estate" -- since that is what this part of the discussion was talking about -- keep in mind that it's taxed annually as an asset, at least in most places in the US. Plus any structures get older every year, and things break, and needs heated in the winter even if unoccupied (if you live in the frozen northlands as I do, this is necessary to keep ice from forming in the pipes and causing them to rupture). You have to have renters for real estate to become viable as an investment. And there are a ton of regulatory headaches to comply with. It can be difficult to get rid of problematic tenants because of Equal Opportunity and whatnot, in some places you have to deal with Rent Control, etc. If you've ever watched Judge Judy, you know that some tenants like to trash their place, use your property for illegal activities, make subleases which you wouldn't approve of if you knew about them... In short, being a real estate mogul is a business like any other business: You have to have your hand on the tiller if you want to steer a successful course. For set-it-and-forget-it investing, I'd stick to an index ETF. How either real estate or stock investing is "suboptimum in terms of societal interests" is something I fail to follow.