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birb_cromble  4d ago (text post)   937 thread views

Weekly Finance Thread

Since a lot of us here have expressed interest in not starving to death in a gutter, I figured I'd start a weekly thread to discuss financial matters.

Ground Rules

  • Remember that we're all just Internet randos. Don't bet your life savings on a hot tip from this thread.
  • Keep culture war in the culture war thread. Yes, global events may impact our personal finances, but that does not mean we have to incessantly harp on culture war aspects here. If you are going to discuss it, please stick to the practical impacts of it on an individual level.
  • Be kind. Remember that everyone here comes from different circumstances. We all have different resources available and different risk tolerances.
  • Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Better is better. Celebrate people when they take a step up and work to move their finances in the right direction. Don't flame out because they haven't followed what you consider the optimal path. Everybody has to start somewhere.
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I've beaten the S&P by about 1.5% over the last 20 years. I do it with a fairly simple buy and hold strategy of broad market index funds, and a few tilts into growth and value funds, along with some real estate funds. The main thing is that I just... don't sell. I may stop putting more money into a fund, but I don't sell it. The market is pretty cyclical, so it seems to work ok.

I don't think that kind of buy-and-hold strategy is what OP is talking about regarding "active trading" though, compared to someone actively buying and selling individual stocks, relying on timing for profitable buys and sells. And I agree with the OP, this is generally a losing strategy over time compared to dumping things into funds and sitting. But it can be fun in the same way that sports betting can be: if you think you really do have a better-than-average insight into some company or another, you can lose up to 100% of your investment (avoiding margin), but you can make 100% or more.

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