|
EC SD | I have been trading individual stocks for 25 years now, with terrible results at first, then mixed results, and finally some good results decades later. In hindsight, my best move would have been to buy and hold a S&P 500 index tracking ETF, like SPY or VOO. When I say hold, I mean diamond hands hold. Yes these ETFs have large draw downs of 50% or even a bit more, during one crisis or another. Every time the pain seems unbearable, but they have always found a bottom and then roar back to new all-time highs. The common mistake is to sell out at 30%, 40%, or 50% losses, but that cements these incredible losses in place, and it hurts so bad you miss the bounce back to the new highs... It is super hard, but just diamond-hand these ETFs for the bulk of your retirement savings, and you would have had the absolute highest returns over decade plus timelines.
There are literally thousands of other ETFs, mutual funds, and fixed income products to invest in. All of them, and I mean all of them, massively underperformed the S&P 500 index ETFs over any long time period. So much so, that it is was a huge guaranteed opportunity loss in comparison.
So looking ahead now -> This phenomenon really started with the launch of 401K plans in the 90s. A literal ton of cash flows into the S&P 500 index stocks with every payroll across the nation. No fund manager or alternative asset investment can compete with this continuous niagara-falls-like pouring of cash into the S&P 500 index stocks. It is like the best pro football team playing a little tikes team. Not even a contest of any sort. Until this phenomenon ends, likely decades from now, just buy these S&P index ETFs and never, ever sell them, no matter what the market does.
If you want more risk to get more gains, then put some percentage (based on risk appetite) into the tech-only ETF called VGT, or some high-flying individual stocks like NVDA, but keep the SPY/VOO ETFs as your "home" asset that you just keep buying and never sell, until you need to draw it down during retirement.
Use any discount brokerage, like Schwab, like I use.
Don't take investment tips from friends, the news, or social media, especially the r/wallstreetbets crowd. Just diamond-hand SPY/VOO. Ok - this is honestly my best recommendation on this topic, but remember I am not a financial advisor and this is not financial advice!! | |
|
investment?
