Anyone else invest?

[JH27N0B]

Very valuable article:

http://www.market watch.com/News/Story/lazy-portfolios-beat-benchmarks-again/story.aspx?guid=%7BDABA48D1%2D0DDA%2D43F7%2D8700%2D275FEF592BD1%7D

 (note: cut and paste this article in your browser, and take out the space between "market" and "watch" before you click enter, for some reason when I paste or type market watch as one word it gets changed to something called markethingych when I post here, which is some sort of hijack to a sales web site.  wth??)

[MJS73]

Boring, mediocre, I'm not willing to quibble over the difference (or if there is one).  But I think you made my point by calling the index fund returns "boring".  With so many better choices out there, index funds don't have any appeal to me. If you're going to take the risk of the market, you owe it to yourself to be in the best funds possible.  I just don't agree that a person should dump money into an index fund and watch.  A person should gobble up all of the education he/she can and invest wisely, with knowledge.  Otherwise, it's just speculating, which is something the beginning investor has no business doing.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying index funds are useless, just that there are better choices.

Mike

[back n black]

Was suckered in and sold stock as a youngster (22) and lost big.  That was hard to take.

I now prefer to handle all of my own business matters and I believe strongly in having control (29).  Here is a picture of my most recent blue chip investment.  If the prices fall out of Mopars, then I can still use it to commute to work.  That wouldn't be too bad to deal with. 

[Bearcuda]

Great advice everyone. Thanks. If and when I do try my hand in individual trading, I will be prepared. One of the great books I'm currently reading is How To Make Money In Stocks by William J. O'Neil. He shows you the common traits of all the past winning stocks and how to research companies thoroughly for the same trends before investing in that company. I definitely want to try my hand in stocks, but will also invest a lot in mutual funds and real estate. I'm lucky that I have a lot of time on my hands right now to study a lot. Can't wait to get back home and make things happen.