S&P price appreciation is roughly the inflation rate, isn't it? So he did outperform inflation which isn't the case for many and I'd guess most investors.

About the enjoyment: I think he found plenty of enjoyment thanks to the kind of work he did. He basically considered reading books a part of his job, and he loved reading books, so he very much enjoyed his work which was basically to better understand the world and the economy which is what he wanted to do anyways.

About the "for any winner there is a loser"; I don't see it that way. In many cases there's winners on all sides. We're all different, often want different things and value things differently and that scenario opens up win-win transcactions where we both feel we both win.

Zero sum scenario's, scenario's where one winning necessarily means another loses also exist I think that's true, and I think it's a good idea for humanity to avoid these kinds of situations where we can