(02-02-2020, 01:09 AM)navyjagfan Wrote:

(02-01-2020, 08:39 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: "Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered."  

Why do all that work trying to beat the average, and risk doing worse than the average, when you can get the average for no work at all?  Just buy the index and hold it forever and you will do really really well.  I know it's boring, and people like to think they're smarter than the average investor, and they just have to "do something," but in most cases, people do the wrong thing.  That's a fact.  Most investors trail the market because they cannot resist buying, selling, moving their assets, and just in general trying to be smarter than average.  They think they can predict the future.  There's no need for that.  Just buy the index, hold it forever, and you are 100% assured of achieving the market average.  And that will be pretty darn good.  

I am no paragon of virtue on this subject, by the way.

That's what I've been doing for the past 20 years and will continue for the next 20 more. A few index funds is all you need.  Just keep investing and watch your portfolio grow.  No excessive work, no excessive risk, extremely low fees.  

Gotta love the gains since Trump became president.  Whether you like him or not - he's been great for the market and the economy.

This is the heart of what I do as well.  I use only a small fraction of it to harvest additional returns.  I regularly take that profit, and reinvest in EFTs that have a history of outperforming the indexes.

It's a bit absurd to think it's just a few clicks of a mouse, a few keyboard strokes.  But that's also ignoring the decision making process that's made it work for me.  It's all about refining the process and being disciplined.

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