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So painful to watch. Folks, just put your money in a stock market index fund. I know that sounds insanely boring - but the magic of compounding is real. I hav

So painful to watch. Folks, just put your money in a stock market index fund. I know that sounds insanely boring - but the magic of compounding is real. I have never been a big saver - but I have been a consistent one - and at 50 I am looking at retiring next year early. This also enabled me to buy a house (stock market is growing faster than housing market). If there is one piece of advice you take, save early, save consistently, put your savings in index funds (I target my portfolio at 50% VTI, 25% VEA, and 25% VCSH).

scarmig 3y ago
1000x. Moreover, the best piece of financial advice I ever got was that combined with automatically depositing as much of my paycheck as I could afford into an investment account with auto purchase set up. Simplicity trumps optimality. And VTI is close to optimal for most people, even (perhaps especially) people who think they can do better than it.
master-lincoln 3y ago
I don't think extrapolating from the past to the future will work here. Also the biggest companies are most often the least societal beneficial ones, so it's morally more difficult for me to justify investing at a stock exchange.
- DiggyJohnson 3y ago
  It really seems like you're arguing against "save money, make safe investments", no?
- coldpie 3y ago
  > Also the biggest companies are most often the least societal beneficial ones, so it's morally more difficult for me to justify investing at a stock exchange. Yeah, this is a hard one. There a handful of funds out there that invest in less damaging companies, obviously with a somewhat smaller return. I ended up choosing PAXWX, for example, though there are others. I'd be happy to hear others' ideas for ethical investing (preferably without a lot of effort).
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- rsynnott 3y ago
  > Also the biggest companies are most often the least societal beneficial ones, so it's morally more difficult for me to justify investing at a stock exchange. There are various funds which include or exclude companies based on various criteria, whether generic ESG ones or more specific ones.
bradfa 3y ago
Totally agree, but the problem with this plan is there's never any dopamine hit. Just 30 years later you look at your accounts and feel like you have enough money to live a nice life without having to work anymore. That's not exciting at all, it's boring. In this case, boring is the entire point, but it's hard to sell the average 20-something something boring that they won't get to use until 30+ years from now.
haunter 3y ago
Thanks, that's a helpful comment. I was actually wondering recently about how to buy Vanguard EFTs from the EU

scarmig 3y ago

1000x. Moreover, the best piece of financial advice I ever got was that combined with automatically depositing as much of my paycheck as I could afford into an investment account with auto purchase set up. Simplicity trumps optimality. And VTI is close to optimal for most people, even (perhaps especially) people who think they can do better than it.

master-lincoln 3y ago

I don't think extrapolating from the past to the future will work here. Also the biggest companies are most often the least societal beneficial ones, so it's morally more difficult for me to justify investing at a stock exchange.

DiggyJohnson 3y ago
It really seems like you're arguing against "save money, make safe investments", no?
coldpie 3y ago
> Also the biggest companies are most often the least societal beneficial ones, so it's morally more difficult for me to justify investing at a stock exchange. Yeah, this is a hard one. There a handful of funds out there that invest in less damaging companies, obviously with a somewhat smaller return. I ended up choosing PAXWX, for example, though there are others. I'd be happy to hear others' ideas for ethical investing (preferably without a lot of effort).
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
rsynnott 3y ago
> Also the biggest companies are most often the least societal beneficial ones, so it's morally more difficult for me to justify investing at a stock exchange. There are various funds which include or exclude companies based on various criteria, whether generic ESG ones or more specific ones.

bradfa 3y ago

Totally agree, but the problem with this plan is there's never any dopamine hit. Just 30 years later you look at your accounts and feel like you have enough money to live a nice life without having to work anymore. That's not exciting at all, it's boring. In this case, boring is the entire point, but it's hard to sell the average 20-something something boring that they won't get to use until 30+ years from now.

haunter 3y ago

Thanks, that's a helpful comment. I was actually wondering recently about how to buy Vanguard EFTs from the EU