The Landlord Ledger ·Everyday spending and market power
No American can avoid these 12 landlords.
Choose any three companies. We’ll compare an illustrative $1,000 investment with cash held since 2016, using the dated snapshot below. It is a historical illustration, not a forecast.
$721
$1,000 held as cash since 2016. Illustrative purchasing-power estimate: $721 — a $279 difference.
12 market-power case studies
Pick any three of the twelve.
0 of 3 picked
YOUR RESULTS · $1,000 IN EACH · 2016 → PUBLISHED SNAPSHOT
Context: hindsight makes winners easy to spot. The S&P 500 line is a reference point, not a recommendation.
Total return incl. dividends, split-adjusted, Jul 2016–Jan 2026;
estimates pending verification. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.
See all 12 monopolies
NVDA
The Chip Landlord
$1,000 → $160,000 ×160
TSLA
The EV Landlord
$1,000 → $28,000 ×28.0
NFLX
The Binge Landlord
$1,000 → $11,500 ×11.5
AAPL
The Phone Landlord
$1,000 → $11,000 ×11.0
MSFT
The Software Landlord
$1,000 → $9,500 ×9.5
GOOG
The Search Landlord
$1,000 → $8,000 ×8.0
COST
The Pantry Landlord
$1,000 → $6,400 ×6.4
AMZN
The Commerce Landlord
$1,000 → $6,200 ×6.2
META
The Attention Landlord
$1,000 → $5,200 ×5.2
V
The Tollbooth Landlord
$1,000 → $4,600 ×4.6
SPOT
The Sound Landlord *
$1,000 → $4,400 ×4.4
SPY
S&P 500 ETF proxy
$1,000 → $4,000 ×4.0
CMCSA
The Pipe Landlord
$1,000 → $1,300 ×1.3
CASH
inflation-adjusted
$1,000 → $721 ×0.7
* Spotify listed Apr 2018; its figure runs from listing. Median of the 12: $1,000 → $7,200. Figures are estimates pending verification.
Estimate your annual spend
Choose the services or products you use and we’ll estimate the annual
spending routed to the companies in this illustration.
MONOPOLY MOAT
YOUR SELECTIONS
NO. ········ · AS OF JAN 2026
No selections yet.
ESTIMATED ANNUAL SPEND$0
10-YEAR ESTIMATE AT TODAY’S RATES$0
private browser estimate · mplymoat.com
What the average American pays them
estimated $ routed to each per year — methodology in the disclosures
AMZN$1,400
CMCSA$1,080
AAPL$780
V$420
META$360
TSLA$300
GOOG$260
NFLX$240
MSFT$180
COST$130
NVDA$120
SPOT$120
Three ways to study market power
These ETFs offer different ways to study companies with durable competitive
advantages. MPLY actively selects companies with issuer-defined monopolistic
attributes, including public SpaceX Class A stock (SPCX). TOLL focuses on durable
quality and currently discloses indirect private Kalshi exposure through an SPV. MOAT
follows a valuation-disciplined wide-moat index. Former fund CZAR ceased Nasdaq trading
on Jul 28, 2026 and liquidated around Jul 31, so it is shown only as a historical record.
PERFORMANCE SNAPSHOT · ACTIVE FUNDS VS AN S&P 500 ETF PROXY
Issuer-published NAV total returns — MPLY as of Jul 31, 2026; MOAT as of Jul 31, 2026; TOLL as of Jul 31, 2026; SPY NAV as of Jul 31, 2026, labelled as an S&P 500 ETF proxy. Trailing 1Y appears only with a complete live Marketstack snapshot. CZAR ceased trading Jul 28, 2026 and is excluded. Figures are estimates pending verification. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.
PERMANENT HEAD-TO-HEAD GUIDES
Go beyond the summary table.
Each comparison uses the same dated fields, primary-source links, risk questions,
and no ranking or recommendation.
A concise reference for readers and answer engines. Every factual
fund statement below points back to an issuer or regulatory source.
What is a monopoly ETF?
There is no SEC-defined fund category called a “monopoly ETF.” We use the phrase as
editorial shorthand for ETFs whose stated strategies target durable competitive advantages,
economic moats, or monopoly-like market positions. Each fund defines and selects those
businesses differently, so its prospectus—not the label—controls.
Which US monopoly and economic-moat ETFs are currently trading?
As of August 2026, we follow three current US-listed funds in the category:
MPLY,
MOAT, and
TOLL.
CZAR ceased Nasdaq trading on July 28, 2026 and subsequently liquidated, so we retain it only
as a historical record.
How do MPLY, MOAT, and TOLL differ?
MPLY is actively managed around companies the adviser identifies as
having monopolistic or oligopolistic characteristics. MOAT tracks an index of US
companies Morningstar assigns wide economic moats and applies a valuation screen.
TOLL is actively managed around durable-quality companies with structural
competitive advantages. Their holdings, concentration, fees, turnover, trading liquidity,
and selection processes differ materially.
How should ETF performance be compared fairly?
Use the same start and end dates, the same return basis, and the same treatment of
distributions. Our daily panel accepts only one complete, same-date set of Marketstack
adjusted-close market-price returns for MPLY, MOAT, TOLL, and SPY: YTD from
the prior year-end and trailing 1Y from the last common trading close on or before the
one-year anniversary. These are distribution-adjusted market-price total-return estimates,
not official issuer NAV returns. The pre-rendered fallback uses separately labelled
issuer-published NAV YTD returns. SPY is an ETF proxy, not the S&P 500 index itself.
What risks matter when comparing monopoly or moat ETFs?
The label does not remove ordinary ETF risks. Review concentration and valuation
risk, active-manager or index-methodology risk, fees and turnover, bid-ask spreads and
premiums or discounts, private-asset valuation where relevant, and the possibility that a
small fund closes or liquidates. Read the prospectus before investing.
Is Monopoly MOAT affiliated with an ETF issuer?
No. Monopoly MOAT is an independent publication. We are not owned by, operated by,
affiliated with, or compensated by the issuers, sponsors, or index providers covered here.
No issuer has approved or endorsed these comparisons. See the
full disclosures.
PRIMARY SOURCE SPINE
Check our work
Issuer pages control current fund facts. BLS controls the CPI series. The SEC filing
controls the CZAR closure record. Our research standards
explain how those inputs become the figures shown above.