Author Topic: Consistently beating the pants off of the S and P 500 index for 34 years  (Read 21193 times)

hodedofome

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Re: Consistently beating the pants off of the S and P 500 index for 34 years
« Reply #50 on: January 12, 2015, 12:05:23 PM »
Thanks for all your input.

I'm the OP.  My original question was   "do you have a better method or newsletter for beating the S and P consistently?  I would love to hear it."

Still listening but what I'm hearing from most of you is "no."

I have what works for me. Unfortunately what most people are looking for is the holy grail. The holy grail is some method that's just practically guaranteed to print money. But the holy grail doesn't exist. Instead, there are a lot of methods out there that people have used to make money in the market, but it only works if it matches your personality. You will never do well by using someone else's method. People will never enjoy hearing that but it's the truth. You will only do well by putting in the time and practice and learning what works for you. Buffett made his money from being a good investor. He started out as a Graham type of value investor but then added in growth and quality type factors and is not what you would call a classic Graham style of investor anymore. He does what works for him.

Joel Greenblatt made his money initially from special situation investing (Buffett did some of this in his early days), but is now making money from systematic value investing.

Soros made his money from understanding macro trends and incorporating technical analysis into it.

Bill Dunn made his money as a 'dumb' systematic trend follower.

William O'Neil made his money by incorporating fundamental growth stocks with basic technical analysis.

Peter Brandt made his money as a 100% chart-pattern trader.

Read the Market Wizards books by Jack Schwager. Everyone in there made a ton of money but no 2 guys' methods are exactly the same. They all found what worked for them and then became experts at that one area. If you want a method that outdoes the S&P, you'll have to find out what that means for you. There are no shortcuts.

innerscorecard

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Re: Consistently beating the pants off of the S and P 500 index for 34 years
« Reply #51 on: January 13, 2015, 02:31:13 AM »
Thanks for all your input.

I'm the OP.  My original question was   "do you have a better method or newsletter for beating the S and P consistently?  I would love to hear it."

Still listening but what I'm hearing from most of you is "no."

I have what works for me. Unfortunately what most people are looking for is the holy grail. The holy grail is some method that's just practically guaranteed to print money. But the holy grail doesn't exist. Instead, there are a lot of methods out there that people have used to make money in the market, but it only works if it matches your personality. You will never do well by using someone else's method. People will never enjoy hearing that but it's the truth. You will only do well by putting in the time and practice and learning what works for you. Buffett made his money from being a good investor. He started out as a Graham type of value investor but then added in growth and quality type factors and is not what you would call a classic Graham style of investor anymore. He does what works for him.

Joel Greenblatt made his money initially from special situation investing (Buffett did some of this in his early days), but is now making money from systematic value investing.

Soros made his money from understanding macro trends and incorporating technical analysis into it.

Bill Dunn made his money as a 'dumb' systematic trend follower.

William O'Neil made his money by incorporating fundamental growth stocks with basic technical analysis.

Peter Brandt made his money as a 100% chart-pattern trader.

Read the Market Wizards books by Jack Schwager. Everyone in there made a ton of money but no 2 guys' methods are exactly the same. They all found what worked for them and then became experts at that one area. If you want a method that outdoes the S&P, you'll have to find out what that means for you. There are no shortcuts.

Amen. That's my view as well. I don't take the narrow-minded view, espoused by some, that "all intelligent investing is value investing" or some other such nonsense. The investing world is a big ecosystem, and in different times and different niches, different types of strategies and tactics have thrived and then busted out. Some tend to be more persistent than others.

Really enjoy your posts on investing on this board in general, in fact. Do you currently post on any other investing forums? I see that you used to post on StockTwits (when it didn't completely suck).
« Last Edit: January 13, 2015, 02:33:14 AM by innerscorecard »

hodedofome

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Re: Consistently beating the pants off of the S and P 500 index for 34 years
« Reply #52 on: January 13, 2015, 06:03:03 AM »
I don't post anywhere else publicly, I don't have the time or the inclination right now. I am part of a private group of traders on Facebook run by Steve Burns who runs newtraderu.com. I post on there sometimes, but really I just want to keep the noise out as much as possible so I don't frequent many social investing sites.

Bob W

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Re: Consistently beating the pants off of the S and P 500 index for 34 years
« Reply #53 on: January 13, 2015, 09:19:28 AM »
Thanks for all your input.

I'm the OP.  My original question was   "do you have a better method or newsletter for beating the S and P consistently?  I would love to hear it."

Still listening but what I'm hearing from most of you is "no."

I have what works for me. Unfortunately what most people are looking for is the holy grail. The holy grail is some method that's just practically guaranteed to print money. But the holy grail doesn't exist. Instead, there are a lot of methods out there that people have used to make money in the market, but it only works if it matches your personality. You will never do well by using someone else's method. People will never enjoy hearing that but it's the truth. You will only do well by putting in the time and practice and learning what works for you. Buffett made his money from being a good investor. He started out as a Graham type of value investor but then added in growth and quality type factors and is not what you would call a classic Graham style of investor anymore. He does what works for him.

Joel Greenblatt made his money initially from special situation investing (Buffett did some of this in his early days), but is now making money from systematic value investing.

Soros made his money from understanding macro trends and incorporating technical analysis into it.

Bill Dunn made his money as a 'dumb' systematic trend follower.

William O'Neil made his money by incorporating fundamental growth stocks with basic technical analysis.

Peter Brandt made his money as a 100% chart-pattern trader.

Read the Market Wizards books by Jack Schwager. Everyone in there made a ton of money but no 2 guys' methods are exactly the same. They all found what worked for them and then became experts at that one area. If you want a method that outdoes the S&P, you'll have to find out what that means for you. There are no shortcuts.

Thanks for that!   I think becoming an expert in one particular methodology and then sticking to my knitting will be where it is at for me. 

RapmasterD

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Re: Consistently beating the pants off of the S and P 500 index for 34 years
« Reply #54 on: January 13, 2015, 03:37:59 PM »
Thanks for all your input.

I'm the OP.  My original question was   "do you have a better method or newsletter for beating the S and P consistently?  I would love to hear it."

Still listening but what I'm hearing from most of you is "no."

I have what works for me. Unfortunately what most people are looking for is the holy grail. The holy grail is some method that's just practically guaranteed to print money. But the holy grail doesn't exist. Instead, there are a lot of methods out there that people have used to make money in the market, but it only works if it matches your personality. You will never do well by using someone else's method. People will never enjoy hearing that but it's the truth. You will only do well by putting in the time and practice and learning what works for you. Buffett made his money from being a good investor. He started out as a Graham type of value investor but then added in growth and quality type factors and is not what you would call a classic Graham style of investor anymore. He does what works for him.

Joel Greenblatt made his money initially from special situation investing (Buffett did some of this in his early days), but is now making money from systematic value investing.

Soros made his money from understanding macro trends and incorporating technical analysis into it.

Bill Dunn made his money as a 'dumb' systematic trend follower.

William O'Neil made his money by incorporating fundamental growth stocks with basic technical analysis.

Peter Brandt made his money as a 100% chart-pattern trader.

Read the Market Wizards books by Jack Schwager. Everyone in there made a ton of money but no 2 guys' methods are exactly the same. They all found what worked for them and then became experts at that one area. If you want a method that outdoes the S&P, you'll have to find out what that means for you. There are no shortcuts.

In a typically emotional and non-MMM gesture I just bought that book -- the Kindle version to boot. Great wisdom from you, BTW. Thank you.

dragoncar

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Re: Consistently beating the pants off of the S and P 500 index for 34 years
« Reply #55 on: January 15, 2015, 03:19:00 PM »
Thanks for all your input.

I'm the OP.  My original question was   "do you have a better method or newsletter for beating the S and P consistently?  I would love to hear it."

Still listening but what I'm hearing from most of you is "no."

Better method for beating the S&P consistently?  Apply leverage.

scottish

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Re: Consistently beating the pants off of the S and P 500 index for 34 years
« Reply #56 on: January 17, 2015, 05:38:25 PM »
I'd suggest reading the book 'Fooled by Randomness' by Nassim Taleb.     

http://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Chance-Markets/dp/B003JHKLIW/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421541443&sr=1-2&keywords=fooled+by+randomness

His thesis is that the vast majority of people who beat the market do so by chance.    It's a fun read loaded with amusing anecdotes from when he worked for an investment bank.

The core of our investments are in blue chip stocks that pay dividends and are on the major US and CDN indices.    This doesn't beat the market, but it does approximate it reasonably well.    It's more work, but I'm happier having a dividend stream coming from most of our investments.    We also have a relatively low allocation to bonds (purchased OTC), the Russell 2000 index and the Hong Kong stock market through ishares ETFs.