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History says 99 of 100 people will never beat the Vanguard total stock market index fund (or better yet the Target Retirement Fund)… so long as they purchase re
by keernan 3y ago
History says 99 of 100 people will never beat the Vanguard total stock market index fund (or better yet the Target Retirement Fund)… so long as they purchase regularly and never sell before age 65.
And not having the funds is just an excuse. Start with $100 a month buying etf shares. And never stop.
- noduerme 3y agoI actively trade and my usual go-to for when I don't beat SPY for the year is that no one else can either, (on a consistent basis), but at least I had fun. And a hell of a lot of extra stress.
- keernan 3y agoThat's the danger of investing. It's boring. Trading is so much more fun. I've adopted the Bogle recommendation to set aside a percentage of the portfolio for trading never to exceed 10%. But that 10% can eat up an entire portfolio without a downside limit (which I haven't yet figured out how to implement). Worse, it's a slippery slope. I end up convincing myself that reducing my stock exposure when the market is expensive (extreme Schiller levels) is not "timing the market" (ie I'm not studying technical charts). Then I try to convince myself that even if I am timing the market, it is a wise thing to do when the market is so expensive (ignoring the fact that for the past decade my stock allocation has been only half of my full target). Oh the lies we love to tell ourselves about how smart we are.