The old gold rule to do it by yourself

A_T

never heard of this "gold rule" before

Malthusian

Thrugelmir said:

AnotherJoe said:

Malthusian said:

Buffet has said almost as many things that he never said as Winston Churchilll. "If you buy index trackers, it's a big mistake, if you buy funds, it's a minor big mistake" makes zero sense. Index trackers = funds, and that's just for starters. We're in not-even-wrong territory. Sometimes people post threads so others can correct their misconceptions and sometimes it's very difficult to make out what the misconceptions even are.

There is no evidence that anyone can consistently beat the market. Most punters who try it, especially on the likes of Trading212 and HL, lose money.

Yep, Buffet has  publicly said that when he dies his wife should put 90% of the money in index funds and also had a bet a few years ago with a managed fund manager that over a 10 year period the index would beat the fund managers fund. He won the bet. (From memory the prize was $1M)

More specifically S&P 500 index funds.  Always interesting how the spoken word progressively gains a reinterpretation as it passes through a number of hands. 

To the average American an S&P 500 fund is a global equity tracker. [/racism] The risk of the USA having a "lost decade" a la Japan was arguably unthinkable for much of Buffett's youth and middle age due to its significance in the global developed capitalist economy. With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the rise of Asia Pacific and emerging markets, that is no longer such a safe assumption.

veekking

Looking back, certainly the easiest & gold rule is to buy iShares S&P ETF every month for 10 years, but how about from this point onward? post COVID-19, post Brexit... 

Mickey666

Thrugelmir said:

AnotherJoe said:

Malthusian said:

Buffet has said almost as many things that he never said as Winston Churchilll. "If you buy index trackers, it's a big mistake, if you buy funds, it's a minor big mistake" makes zero sense. Index trackers = funds, and that's just for starters. We're in not-even-wrong territory. Sometimes people post threads so others can correct their misconceptions and sometimes it's very difficult to make out what the misconceptions even are.

There is no evidence that anyone can consistently beat the market. Most punters who try it, especially on the likes of Trading212 and HL, lose money.

Yep, Buffet has  publicly said that when he dies his wife should put 90% of the money in index funds and also had a bet a few years ago with a managed fund manager that over a 10 year period the index would beat the fund managers fund. He won the bet. (From memory the prize was $1M)

More specifically S&P 500 index funds.  Always interesting how the spoken word progressively gains a reinterpretation as it passes through a number of hands. 

Ah yes, the old joke about army headquarters receiving a much relayed message from the front line; "send three and fourpence, we're going to a dance" 

Albermarle

veekking said:

Looking back, certainly the easiest & gold rule is to buy iShares S&P ETF every month for 10 years, but how about from this point onward? post COVID-19, post Brexit... 

Seems highly unlikely the S&P 500 would be affected by a local issue in a much smaller country , like Brexit.

Thrugelmir

Malthusian said:

Thrugelmir said:

AnotherJoe said:

Malthusian said:

Buffet has said almost as many things that he never said as Winston Churchilll. "If you buy index trackers, it's a big mistake, if you buy funds, it's a minor big mistake" makes zero sense. Index trackers = funds, and that's just for starters. We're in not-even-wrong territory. Sometimes people post threads so others can correct their misconceptions and sometimes it's very difficult to make out what the misconceptions even are.

There is no evidence that anyone can consistently beat the market. Most punters who try it, especially on the likes of Trading212 and HL, lose money.

Yep, Buffet has  publicly said that when he dies his wife should put 90% of the money in index funds and also had a bet a few years ago with a managed fund manager that over a 10 year period the index would beat the fund managers fund. He won the bet. (From memory the prize was $1M)

More specifically S&P 500 index funds.  Always interesting how the spoken word progressively gains a reinterpretation as it passes through a number of hands. 

To the average American an S&P 500 fund is a global equity tracker. [/racism] The risk of the USA having a "lost decade" a la Japan was arguably unthinkable for much of Buffett's youth and middle age due to its significance in the global developed capitalist economy. With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the rise of Asia Pacific and emerging markets, that is no longer such a safe assumption.

The 80's was a lost decade. S&P underperformed both inflation and cash. Buffet spent the end of the decade buying Coca Cola and cementing his reputation for posterity. Have to be both brave and conviction to hold 40% of your portfolio in a single a stock. Likewise who remembers when IBM (PC launch) and General Electric dominated the index. 

Malthusian

Thrugelmir said:

The 80's was a lost decade. S&P underperformed both inflation and cash.

Where do you get that idea? $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 on January 1 1980 was $69,650 on January 1 1990. 3 times the rate of inflation over the period.

Buffet spent the end of the decade buying Coca Cola and cementing his reputation for posterity. Have to be both brave and conviction to hold 40% of your portfolio in a single a stock.

Indeed. Most of the managers who held 40% of their portfolio in a single stock dramatically underperformed the market, got fired / closed down / merged, and are long forgotten.

RobHT

Malthusian said:

Buffet has said almost as many things that he never said as Winston Churchilll. "If you buy index trackers, it's a big mistake, if you buy funds, it's a minor big mistake" makes zero sense. Index trackers = funds, and that's just for starters. We're in not-even-wrong territory. Sometimes people post threads so others can correct their misconceptions and sometimes it's very difficult to make out what the misconceptions even are.

There is no evidence that anyone can consistently beat the market. Most punters who try it, especially on the likes of Trading212 and HL, lose money.

What's the point about the platform?

RobHT

AnotherJoe said:

Malthusian said:

Buffet has said almost as many things that he never said as Winston Churchilll. "If you buy index trackers, it's a big mistake, if you buy funds, it's a minor big mistake" makes zero sense. Index trackers = funds, and that's just for starters. We're in not-even-wrong territory. Sometimes people post threads so others can correct their misconceptions and sometimes it's very difficult to make out what the misconceptions even are.

There is no evidence that anyone can consistently beat the market. Most punters who try it, especially on the likes of Trading212 and HL, lose money.

Yep, Buffet has  publicly said that when he dies his wife should put 90% of the money in index funds and also had a bet a few years ago with a managed fund manager that over a 10 year period the index would beat the fund managers fund. He won the bet. (From memory the prize was $1M)

I think I recall that as well, the whole point is that in an index or fund, there are too many companies belonging to many different countries, very simple.
It's good if you keep an eye on them and see how the market moves, but if you are considering the correct index , but if you really want to have a bit of control of your investments, you can do it only if you invest in few companies (20-40?).

Potentially, you may see more money loss with few companies than with a fund in a short time-FRAME, but are you gonna loose money in all these companies? Don't you think that any eventual loss will be easily balanced by all the other success?
Simple math.
Given that you have chosen the good ones, not garbage  

RobHT

AnotherJoe said:

Malthusian said:

Buffet has said almost as many things that he never said as Winston Churchilll. "If you buy index trackers, it's a big mistake, if you buy funds, it's a minor big mistake" makes zero sense. Index trackers = funds, and that's just for starters. We're in not-even-wrong territory. Sometimes people post threads so others can correct their misconceptions and sometimes it's very difficult to make out what the misconceptions even are.

There is no evidence that anyone can consistently beat the market. Most punters who try it, especially on the likes of Trading212 and HL, lose money.

Yep, Buffet has  publicly said that when he dies his wife should put 90% of the money in index funds and also had a bet a few years ago with a managed fund manager that over a 10 year period the index would beat the fund managers fund. He won the bet. (From memory the prize was $1M)

I didn't ask for a competition between funds and indexes.

He suggested that to the wife probably because she just needs a stable income, and who cares, put the money there and enjoy, it's so simple at that level, who wants to bother with investments???