I feel like both sides of the street understand compounding. It's a nice street & both sides RE investment has been compounding at roughly the same rate.

I'd wager both sides of the street have savings that are invested to compound.

I'd say the less rich side is made up of highly paid professionals & the wealthy side is more likely entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are able to extract the value of other's labour & can more easily scale theirs.

Compounding has a huge effect but it's the ability to scale your own efforts that sets you apart. Even the most sought after surgeon can only bill 40-50hrs of their time each week. The owner of the surgery can have 5 surgeons billing 40hrs a week & can add more with only a little extra effort/cost.

Really succeeding in the fiat world is determined by your ability to extract value from others.