The market may be manipulated, but it is still entirely possible to build great wealth in the stock market through compounding dividends of blue chip companies.

It only works if you hang on the for long run though, in spite of the crashes(which are caused/fueled by the central banks), long term compounding still works, unless you think the world will literally end from nuclear war soon, in which cases precious metals won't do much good either.

I agree with all of your tips btw, I just wouldn't ignore compounding assets.