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One Broad Index Fund For Twenty Years Beats Your Clever Five Fund Portfolio And It Is Not Close
One number worth sitting with. Over several decades, holding a plain S&P 500 index fund and tuning out the noise has beaten the majority of individual stocks and most actively managed funds over the same stretch. That is not a secret. It is just boring enough that people refuse to act on it. So if you asked me to hold one broad market fund for twenty years, I would say yes, and I would add that most of the rest of your portfolio is closer to a hobby than a strategy. The five fund spreadsheet feels like work. It is work, and it usually costs you. The spicy part is this. Most people do not lose to the market because they picked badly. They lose because they could not sit still. Tell me I am wrong. Better, tell me what your last clever tilt actually earned you.5