We Asked Meb Faber Why US Stocks Won for 250 Years — And If It Can Continue

Meb Faber, co-founder and CIO of Cambria Investment Management, joins Excess Returns to discuss his new book, Investing in America: The Rise of a 250 Year Bull Market.
We explore why the United States became one of the greatest long-term compounding stories in market history, what investors can learn from 250 years of booms and busts, and why Meb can be optimistic about America while still cautious on today’s expensive market-cap-weighted S&P 500.
Investing in America: The Rise of a 250 Year Bull Market
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Meb Faber on X
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Main topics covered
• Why America can be viewed as the ultimate venture capital success story

• How joint stock companies, risk-taking and ownership helped shape the U.S. economy

• Why studying 250 years of market history changes how investors think about volatility

• The long-term case for stocks and why the time horizon matters so much

• Why bear markets are a natural part of capitalism and long-term compounding

• How U.S. market dominance happened and why it was not preordained

• Why expensive valuations, low dividend yields and new supply may matter today

• The role of dividends, buybacks, shareholder yield and reinvestment in long-term returns

• Why diversification across global stocks, bonds and real assets can help investors stay invested

• What gold, REITs and foreign stocks teach us about starting points and narratives

• Why early investing, child investment accounts and compounding can change investor behavior

• How creative destruction reshapes sectors, companies and the market leaders of each era

• Why Meb remains optimistic about America while still cautious on parts of the U.S. market

Timestamps
00:00 Why America was not guaranteed to become the market winner
01:15 Meb Faber on writing Investing in America
02:25 America as the ultimate venture capital success story
06:22 How a culture of ownership helped the U.S. stock market compound
09:19 Why studying 250 years of market history matters
12:00 Why ownership is the core investing lesson
15:14 Bear markets, recessions and the danger of recent history
18:16 Why U.S. stocks beat the rest of the world by so much
22:20 Lessons from financial history that surprised Meb
27:05 Why stocks can lose for long periods and bonds can win
30:00 Why investors need to get used to being in a drawdown
33:24 Dividends, buybacks and the importance of reinvestment
37:27 Why gold and REITs beat the S&P 500 after 2000
40:55 How balanced portfolios survive different market regimes
43:03 The power of starting early and letting compounding work
48:16 Why global diversification matters outside the U.S.
50:40 Creative destruction, sector change and market leadership
55:20 Why Meb is still optimistic about investing in America
59:33 Where to find the book, Cambria and Meb online