Mo Ansari had a real good show today! I wish I could've heard more of it, but it was interesting to hear him talking about the markets in terms of politics, because he made the comment that they're not really as intertwined as most people think. Not that the markets aren't intertwined to politics, but the part about people thinking. Most people want the market to move in the way that their political thinking is going, but they don't. You cannot will the markets into going down, or going up, because the markets are reacting to so many different factors all at once that attempting to predict the markets in advance is pointless.
My investment company Vanguard has nine "We Believe" statements, and I did a presentation on them this year. I forget the exact statement, but my summary for one was "beating the market returns is not worth the effort or the risks involved," and it's true. When the stock market as a whole averages 9%-11% over its lifetime, then you can just learn to expect that as a return, and do the simple things to keep pace with it. Otherwise, beating the market becomes this full-time job where for every percent you outperform the market, there is an equal percent of under-performance, and which side you end up on is really just 50:50 chance. That's where the phrase "let your money work for you" comes from. If you're doing all the work, then you might as well just consider the gains a paycheck. Then, good luck finding freetime to enjoy that bonus pay if you get any! Chances are you'll lose those gains before that happens.
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