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There's this weird social energy surrounding index funds that's very aggressive about preaching that they're the only viable option and that everything else is

There's this weird social energy surrounding index funds that's very aggressive about preaching that they're the only viable option and that everything else is ridiculous. To be honest, this energy is another input that increases my skepticism of the whole thing. These days, whenever you see an argument downvoted instead of rebutted, there's likely something to it.

guenthert 6y ago
I didn't downvote the earlier comment (and wouldn't as I'm quite clueless about financial matters), but felt the need to downvote another comment in an unrelated article recently. There I noticed, that once I applied the downvote, I couldn't see the comment being downvoted anymore. I meant to reply then to that comment on why I downvoted the comment, but couldn't anymore. I guess, that's the reason why one sees here so many downvotes by anonymous cowards.
mancerayder 6y ago
I think voting can mean different things to different people. Some people upvote or downvote because they agree or disagree. They view it as a "vote" for the opinion. Others upvote or downvote because they thing the argument is strong or weak, or maybe because someone said something nice and positive to another person or someone said something mean or hostile to another person. I strongly favor the second approach.
hansjorg 6y ago
Ever since Vanguard started there has been a constant barrage of anti index fund propaganda in the US. One of the early slurs was that index funds were communism (pretty daft, but probably effective in the US). The latest is this scaremongering "what if all investment were into index funds" (answered several times in this thread). From the perspective of index fund advocates, unsophisticated investors are systematically getting ripped off and the daft propaganda only adds to the offense. This is probably why you're picking up an aggressive preachy vibe from advocates. The empirical data is however unambiguous and there is now a lot of it.
imtringued 6y ago
Index funds allow amateurs to make money without losing it to "competent" active fund managers. That's all there is to it. You might not understand how many middlemen insert themselves between the amateurs because you're not one of them.

guenthert 6y ago

I didn't downvote the earlier comment (and wouldn't as I'm quite clueless about financial matters), but felt the need to downvote another comment in an unrelated article recently. There I noticed, that once I applied the downvote, I couldn't see the comment being downvoted anymore. I meant to reply then to that comment on why I downvoted the comment, but couldn't anymore. I guess, that's the reason why one sees here so many downvotes by anonymous cowards.

mancerayder 6y ago

I think voting can mean different things to different people. Some people upvote or downvote because they agree or disagree. They view it as a "vote" for the opinion. Others upvote or downvote because they thing the argument is strong or weak, or maybe because someone said something nice and positive to another person or someone said something mean or hostile to another person. I strongly favor the second approach.

hansjorg 6y ago

Ever since Vanguard started there has been a constant barrage of anti index fund propaganda in the US. One of the early slurs was that index funds were communism (pretty daft, but probably effective in the US). The latest is this scaremongering "what if all investment were into index funds" (answered several times in this thread). From the perspective of index fund advocates, unsophisticated investors are systematically getting ripped off and the daft propaganda only adds to the offense. This is probably why you're picking up an aggressive preachy vibe from advocates. The empirical data is however unambiguous and there is now a lot of it.

imtringued 6y ago

Index funds allow amateurs to make money without losing it to "competent" active fund managers. That's all there is to it. You might not understand how many middlemen insert themselves between the amateurs because you're not one of them.