[Retric]

Owning stock is not investing in economic terms. Companies are going to maximize profits independent on how much individuals pay in capital gains because nothing about capital gains changes the companies costs or profits.

Buying existing properties is the same thing. If no assets are created then it's not an economically useful investment.

VC money is often thought of as rich people investments, and it is an investment in economic terms. However, Pension funds, endowments, charitable foundations, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, and large corporations are more often than not the source of these funds.

Generally rich people are rich because they have invested their money they don't simply sit on piles of un-allocated resources.

[AnimalMuppet]

Buying stock is investing in economic terms if it's a new issue. Buying bonds is investing, too (again if it's a new issue), and the bond market is twice as big as the stock market.

[Retric]

A relatively small amount of new stock is issued each year on the open market when you exclude companies that trade their own stock. Bonds are often issued for things like taking a company private which are again not really investments just asset transfer. Further, profitable companies often issue bonds even if they have cash on hand or regular dividends.

So again it might be a useful investment, but that’s not nessisarily true.