Sorry I was unable to reply sooner. This debate is perhaps one that will never be settled; here's a discussion on the front page today: https://news.ycombinato

Sorry I was unable to reply sooner. This debate is perhaps one that will never be settled; here's a discussion on the front page today: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8508382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8508382 > I completely reject the idea that my personal decision to purchase stocks instead of bonds is work. But you can see, can't you, that what active traders and investors do is work? I'm talking about the people who do select individual stocks and do attempt to time the market. To do that with any degree of success takes both skill and work. And is what you're doing really different in kind from that activity? I understand that it's different in quantity; you're now just following a plan that you decided on previously, so the amount of work you're doing is very small by comparison. But is it really zero? You did a certain amount of reading and study before coming to the conclusion that your preferred strategy is to buy equity ETFs. Wasn't that work?