Mag7 Market cap

I saw an Instagram video last week where a financial analyst compared the total amount of gold mined to the market caps of the Magnificent 7. Roughly speaking, the total value of gold ever mined is about $22 trillion and the total market cap of the Magnificent 7 is around $15 trillion.

The analyst then declared that this ratio is unsustainable. In his mind, the only real money is gold, so he thinks it's crazy that just a handful of companies are worth all the gold ever dragged out of the ground. He's comparing apples with goats. Humanity's wealth is how productive we are, not how much gold our ancestors mined.

Would you rather own a few gold bars, which cost money to store and doesn't grow, or stakes in seven companies that are central to how humanity operates, and have managers working hard to grow profits and pay dividends? One is a useful asset, and the other is a shiny rock.