Working with these assumptions is like playing a decades-long chess game with multiple moving parts. A game in which the rules keep changing. It's dangerous to generalize.

As an example, right now, my house is 'earning' more money every year than I do. It has increased in price by 60% since I bought it 9 years ago. But, if I had bought a similarly-priced house in another part of the country it would've 'earned' maybe 1% over the same period. That's less than inflation. I would have 'lost' money.

The massive gains my house has made seem wonderful; it has made hundreds of thousands of dollars just sitting there. But that's a false perspective. In practice, although the PRICE of my house went up a lot, the VALUE hasn't increased much.

That's because all the houses around here are more expensive now. If I sold my house and used the money to buy another home in the same area, I would have to pay a similarly high price. I wouldn't pocket any profits at all.

At the end of the day, the 60% capital gain I got only looks good on paper.