It is very true what they said. In an ETF you get both bad stocks and good. You have no choice. If you diversify manually you can pick and choose only the crème de la creme But… people love to be lazy or just aren’t knowledgeable enough to pick their stocks themselves and thus it is safer for them to just stick to broad strokes of an index fund. For starters as basic portfolio, you could 1:1 an index fund but take out all the garbage from it and keep only the strong, bright future companies.

ETF are just noob introduction to the stock market and great one at that but to maximize returns you want to be more specific and intentional about your picks.

Where etfs are great even after you learn a lot, is exposure to whole sectors of the industry. That’s how I treat them: one - etf - an index of how a particular industry fares.

Source: I basically live solely from investments at 30

▲

andsoitis 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

If that were true, then one would expect a competitive fund that does just that and that give higher ROI than an S&P 500 index fund (or index ETF) when you consider expense ratio. What is a such a fund? Or, alternatively, can you point us to a comprehensive list of those companies you would exclude from the index to get superior returns?

▲

juleiie 6 hours ago | parent [-]

My returns are around 20 percent per year for years. I lack will and energy to list everything I owned but it’s basically a method of value investing + momentum trading so two opposites. You could say it’s a diversification of investing philosophies.

Honestly it’s a free for all game so no one has any interest to share their secrets and methods. When you lose money I make money. Better player wins.

▲

andsoitis 5 hours ago | parent [-]

> My returns are around 20 percent per year for years.

That's unbelievable! Even Warren Buffet only makes 19% - 20% compounded every year. That would make you one of the top investors ever.

	▲	cheinic6493 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> Even Warren Buffet only makes 19% - 20% compounded every year. That would make you one of the top investors ever. Not really. Plenty of hedge funds and HFT firms make 40-100% each year (before fees) over 30-40 years… Citadel’s “stock picking ability” is 40% annual returns since 1999 They just don’t advertise this because it’ll make retail traders and passive ETF investors really sad
	▲	amanaplanacanal 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Lots of people think they can do better than the index funds. Some do, for a while.

▲

pjc50 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Ah, the old trick: "I would simply pick the good stocks".