Most people are better off in an index fund. But if you want to beat the market, these are the principles that actually work.
A target-date fund is the single best investment for most people. Pick the year you retire, invest in that fund, and stop thinking about it.
Don't look for the needle in the haystack. Just buy the haystack.
Buy VTSAX. Hold it forever. Don't panic when it drops. That is the entire strategy. It is boring because it works.
The best investing strategy is the one you can actually stick to. Index funds work because they require almost no decision-making from you.
Index funds are boring. That is the point. Boring is how you build wealth without destroying it first.
You do not need to pick the next Amazon. You just need to own a piece of every Amazon — and every failure — through an index fund.
Index funds first. Everything else second. The complicated stuff only makes sense after the boring stuff is set up.
Stop trying to pick stocks. Seriously, stop. Even the professionals can't beat the market consistently. Buy index funds, automate your contributions, and go live your life. That's it. That's the whole strategy.
I just buy index funds. Seriously. I am not smart enough to beat the market and neither are you. And that is completely fine.
For individuals, the best approach is to invest in low-cost index funds. Don't try to be clever.
Boring investing beats exciting investing 99% of the time. Index funds are boring. They also work.
The investment industry exists for one reason only: to transfer wealth from clients to itself. That's not cynicism — that's arithmetic.