Why bother picking stocks, just go with S&P index etf (SPY)

[project2501]

I spent my whole life investing in various stocks, thinking I was smarter than the others and could outperform the market. I did ok, but some of the success could have just been luck. I now only trade in stock indexes, as I hated the insider information and manipulation that would occur with individual stocks. I don't believe that is possible with a large index fund such as SPY. So in your AA, whatever portion you put into stocks, why not just purchase SPY (or another equivalent index fund)? I don't think I will ever purchase an individual stock again. I am curious why others don't follow this method.

I know I don't post any, but noticed SPY so thought I'd drop this link in here. If want a little more risk/bang for index there's XIV and SVXY. Been doing very very well with SVXY.

2 Amazing ETFs For S&P 500 Exposure: VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short Term ETN, ProShares Trust II (NYSEARCA:XIV, NYSEARCA:SVXY) | ETF DAILY NEWS

 

[papadad111]

Follow a LazyTraders slice and dice 6 fund portfolio..... very low cost Total stock market, Total International, Emerging Markets, Total Bond, Small Cap and an FTSE all World except US. That gives you diversification. Maybe add some TIPS for inflation protection.

Are these ETF's and if yes, can you provide the ticker symbol and suggested asset allocation?

Or are these all mutual funds which are not as liquid?

thanks.

 

[travelover]

Are these ETF's and if yes, can you provide the ticker symbol and suggested asset allocation?

Or are these all mutual funds which are not as liquid?

thanks.

The funds mentioned are all Vanguard. Find ETFs here:

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/etf

 

[heeyy_joe]

I only index invest in the international portion of my AA. only own a few foreign issues or ADR's separate. My domestic AA in equities is all research stocks. I may have been ahead of the curve six years or so ago by investing in large cap high dividend companies. Over past five years, entire portfolio beats S&P500 by 2%. Whether or not the extra 2% is worth the additional effort would be a personal decision, but for me I'll stick with hand picking until I decide to get lazy and then I will index the domestics too.

 

[rkser]

MY 80% of the investments are in VANGUARD INDEX Funds, and very happy with the results with 50/50 AA. I remove the Fund Managers Risk and do not follow or buy/sell individual stocks. Minimum effort and close to max results.

There are enough academic papers written about Index beating 75% of the actively managed funds in any given year and the 25% of the funds which beat the Index are like a revolving door, i.e no one fund beats the Index consistently.

Follow the Bogle way, you will not be disappointed. Set up a suitable Index Fund AA and re balance it when the percentages are disturbed by more than 3% period. I get my thrills in other ways... sports etc..and sure do not talk about the "HOT STOCK TIP" on social events.

 

[cranberryjoe]

I have about 5% of my portfolio in individual stocks, enough to satisfy the urge to tinker, but small enough that if I lost most of it due to bad decisions I won't lose any sleep. At least half of my remaining portfolio is in index funds, and during my annual rebalancing ritual I tend to direct more money to the index funds.

 

[Fermion]

I also have a small portion of our stock allocation in individual stocks. It is up 30% this year and spends probably 80% of the time in cash. It is only 10% of our total stock allocation, and 5% of our net worth.

If you do the math, that means even though it is up 30%, it has only added 1.5% to our net worth. So I am not kidding myself that I am doing anything more than having fun gambling.