[bdub]

Originally Posted by LJalberta

Warren Buffet, "Basically any attempts to pick the times to buy or sell, I think, are a mistake for 99% of the population. And I think that even attempts to pick individual securities is a mistake for people.”

"They don’t need to do anything but (invest in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund). Then they’ll get a decent result over time. To some extent, the smarter you try to be, the worse you do in investments. Now, there’s a few professional investors that will do better than the S&P over time. But the average individual isn’t going to be able to find them. And they don’t need them. That’s the beauty of it."

Yes, fees are a part of it, but he's not simply talking about mutual funds. I bet if people who are doing individual stock selection did an honest and accurate comparison of their position over a 15 year period had they simply placed their investment money into an index fund and left it, they would be shocked at the results.

95% of mutual funds underperform the S&P 500 Index accounting for fees. The present average fees ranges between .5-1%.

As an individual investor, selecting individual stocks and allocations, again over the long term that is an incredible accomplishment to beat the markets, and to any who truly do. Congratulations, that's impressive.

I agree 100%.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....ract_id=244153