M
oneywise and Yahoo Finance may earn commissions from links in this article. Real estate has long been a staple for wealth building in the U.S., providing rental income and appreciation. Yet Warren Buffett, along with the late Charlie Munger, has repeatedly said he would gladly swap any property for a stock. At Berkshire Hathaway’s most recent annual meeting, Buffett explained that the U.S. equity market offers far more opportunities than real estate, citing the cumbersome, slow nature of property deals versus the quick, liquid transactions of the stock market.

    He noted that real‑estate negotiations involve multiple parties and can drag on for years, whereas a trade on the New York Stock Exchange can be executed anonymously in minutes. At 94, he prefers not to engage in protracted deals. Munger, who served as Berkshire’s vice‑chairman until his death in 2023, did a handful of real‑estate deals in his later years, but Buffett believes Munger’s true passion was always stocks. “If you’d asked him at 21 to choose between stocks and real estate for the rest of his life, he’d pick stocks in a heartbeat,” Buffett said.

    Thanks to Jeff Bezos, anyone can become a landlord for as little as $100—without the hassle of tenants or repairs. Meanwhile, Dave Ramsey warns that nearly half of Americans are making a critical Social Security mistake, offering three simple steps to correct it. For those approaching retirement with little savings, he lists six quick ways to catch up.

    Buffett’s legacy is built on capitalizing on market opportunities, and under his guidance Berkshire Hathaway has delivered extraordinary returns to shareholders over the decades.