Comment by liendolucas
2 months ago
Coincidentially today I've just finished reading: "The Little Book on Common Sense Investing" by John Bogle. What's described in the article is exactly the opposite of what people should be doing if interested in serious investing. The book mostly focus on index funds and I highly recommend its reading to anyone who wants to understand and embark on investing seriously. The book is short, extremely easy to read, full of examples, wise advices and quotes from remarkable people of the investment sector.
I’ll add it to my reading list, but I think a lot has changed in the world since this book was written.
What hasn't changed:
* US economy has been growing steadily, and will do so for the foreseeable future
* Index funds are still a great way to invest your money
And more importantly,
* Most people suck at picking stocks (including the average Joe, mutual fund managers, YouTube/TikTok influencers and "stock analysts"). It's better to just leave it to the market, aka SPY(VOO)/VTI etc., and have good sleep.
Fair. Many people will continue to invest in ETFs for a long time, but when people start retiring and selling from their ETFs, then the party is going to end.
ETFs, because of their algorithmic known trading, don’t always get the best price for their underlying assets. Notice how before an ETF is created (see bitcoin) or a company enters the snp500, the stock shoots up in price.
Online stock trading has gone from cheap to free, but that doesn't affect the worthiness of the book.
It’s a cheap way to purchase a diverse subset of the global economy. That’s as timeless as it gets.