1) The stock market is a total scam and anyone who enters into it is dumb.
2) You don't need professional advice because all brokers/advisors are crooks looking to charge you fees and you can do better by just investing with Vanguard (Or Fidelity or insert your favorite no-load, no advice mutual fund company here)
It always strikes me as amusing that people seem to have very little problem with a real estate agent or a car dealership making a commission on sales, but heaven forbid the guy or gal who has training and expertise in the securities industry be allowed to make any money at all.
It also amuses me that the people that fall into the #1 camp above are the same types who lament the dearth of pension plans. Sure, it sucks, but it is what it is. You either take measures to save for your later years or you don't.
The fact is, a portfolio well diversified across sectors, styles and regions will and has, OVER TIME returned an average of better than 8% a year. Unfortunately, this generation has been burned twice - the dot-com boom and bust and this most recent market difficulties. One of those posters put up a reply titled
"If you were invested in 2000, your annual return has been far less than 8% unless you got lucky."
Well, you don't really have to be lucky to do a bit of investigation, a little research, take time to understand your 401(k) options, etc. and invest accordingly.
I've owned American Finds, Growth Fund of America on and off for almost 40 years. That fund consistently beats the shit out of the S & P 500 over the long term. But I won't say that in a thread like the one you linked because I don't want to sound or look like I am promoting their funds. I'm not. I'm just speaking from experience.
People are either investors or savers. If you can't stand the idea of any risk at all, you have no business putting your money in anything more risky than CD's.
Unfortunately, threads like that bring out the folks that think they have it right, but don't know a Mutual Fund from a Mutual Admiration Club.
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