Buy And Hold Beats Just About Everything in The Markets
This Bloomberg post reiterates what my readers already know; investing in index funds works. Better yet, dollar cost averaging in diversified low-cost funds works fantastic too.
“It’s clear that having a diversified portfolio is probably the best way to navigate the investment climate and the best way to do that is owning the S&P 500 — full stop,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth. “If you were to start this year by saying ‘everyone says there’s a recession coming so I’m going to invest defensively,’ you got punched in the nose.” - via The Wealth Advisor
People were panicking like crazy this year, trying to time the market and the Fed interest rate hikes and pauses. Me? I just dollar cost investing in funds and picked a few ETFs and stocks. The old Wall Street saying, “the markets climb a wall of worry” is spot on. While everyone was worrying about a stock market crash, the market raced higher.
I see all the search results hitting my site asking if a “stock market crash” is coming. No doubt they’re reading my “Is a Stock Market Crash Coming?” post.
Will a stock market crash come? Eventually.
Will it happen soon? Who knows, I certainly don’t.
Do I worry about it? Nope, not at all.
I sleep better than ever before by following simple investing and time-tested investing principles that make sense.
It’s testament to what’s worked time and again — buying and holding the benchmark gauge, which is hovering near new highs. Left behind have been a litany of supposedly defensive measures that showed themselves to be something else amid 2023’s upward march: market timing in disguise.
If you want to give yourself a belated Christmas gift go and buy A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Read it from cover to cover and then do what it tells you to do. Make 2024 a different year for yourself and your loved ones.