Is it better to build my own business or invest in the stock market?

The transcripts lean toward building your own business, though a few guests also endorse investing. Several billionaires said owning a business is how real wealth gets made. One London guest said you don't get rich by working for someone else or by being paid a salary, and that you get rich by building a business and selling it. He also said investors take their chances, while a businessman depends on his own abilities and skills. A Palm Beach guest said that owning your own company, rather than being a salaried employee, is how you avoid working for the bank. Other guests pointed to the stock market: a Wall Street bond trader told young people to invest early and buy the S&P 500, and another guest said kids should be invested in the stock market and that the richest people put their money into equity in their own companies. A Boston guest said the richest people put money into index funds, and a billionaire woman said wealthy people keep most of their money in marketable securities, with some in real estate and alternative investments. So the consensus is that owning a business builds wealth most directly, while index-fund investing is the common recommendation for the money you keep and grow.