Found in 2 comments on Hacker News
jmeyer2k · 2020-02-11
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Investing in an index fund consistently gives returns of about 5-10% a year. This turns out to be a LOT of money in the long run (1.1 ^ 30 = 20x).
Trying to time the market is a bad idea. Picking individual stocks is a bad idea.
This is assuming your main goal is returns on your investment. Picking individual stocks or even 30 stocks is basically gambling.
Really recommend reading "A Random Walk Down Wall Street": https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...
> b. One-Week
> c. One-Month
Yikes! I know it's fun, but you're never going to make money investing this way. Your daily/hourly buys and sells on scottrade will never beat the institutional investors.
Here's the obligatory mention of A Random Walk Down Wall Street [0] if you want to learn why.
TL;DR: Put your money in an index and keep it there _forever_. You'll make more money and retire sooner than your day-trader friends.
[0] https://www.amazon.com/Random-Walk-Down-Wall-Street/dp/03933...