06/18/2026
The US stock market is the most expensive it’s been in nearly a century.
Here’s the number nobody wants to look at.
Warren Buffett once called it “the best single measure of where valuations stand”: total US stock market value ÷ the size of the economy.
Right now it’s flashing red.
The reading sits near 230% — meaning stocks are worth roughly 2.3x the entire US economy.
For context:
→ Buffett once called 75–90% “reasonable,” and over 120% overvalued
→ The dot-com bubble peaked around 140% on this measure
→ We’re now ~65% above the long-term trend — about 2 standard deviations above normal
By this metric, the market has rarely — if ever — been this expensive.
Now the honest caveats, because I’m not a doomer:
→ US companies earn far more revenue overseas than they did decades ago, which inflates the ratio
→ It’s a useless short-term timing tool — markets can stay expensive for years
→ “Overvalued” has never meant “crash tomorrow”
And then the question none of us can actually answer:
Are we in the early innings of an AI productivity wave that rewrites what these companies are worth?
Maybe. The capital pouring into AI is staggering. If even half of it lands, today’s “expensive” might look cheap in ten years.
Or maybe it’s 1999 with better marketing.
I wish I knew. I don’t. And neither does anyone posting confident predictions on your feed.
Here’s what I do know: at these levels, you’re paying a premium for every future dollar of earnings. “Just buy the index and chill” was a great plan at 100%.
It’s a very different bet at 230%.
I’m not telling you to sell. I own equities and I’ll keep owning them.
I’m telling you that betting your entire future on one version of it — when even the optimists are guessing — is a choice, not a strategy.
So I hold the index.
I hold real estate.
I hold private credit.
I hold cash-flowing hard assets.
Not because I’ve called the winner. Because I’ve admitted I can’t.
The wealthiest people I know aren’t the best forecasters. They’re the best hedged.
If AI keeps booming — are you positioned to benefit? And if it doesn’t — are you positioned to survive it?