26 Jun 2025 7:45 am
Generally speaking I sort of agree with you. Maybe I didn't make my point clear. The truth is there really are people who have figured out how to make millions making "bets" based on their analysis of one or several investments. These people are extremely bright. They are completely immersed in what they are doing. And, they work for themselves or a very select few investors. You won't know who they are, unless you just happen to personally know them. They're not famous, don't put on seminars and don't speak to large groups of investors - quite the opposite. They do everything they can to fly under the radar.Fuelman » 25 Jun 2025, 5:22 pm » wrote: ↑ I'd like to think it takes a bit of knowledge to get credentials for the field. I have no idea what the survival rate is as of course it relies on personal skills that have nothing to do with finances.
Those background "nobody's" have a track record within the large investment firms. Literally thousands of analysist doing the work so a guy can get a good night's sleep.
Here's the sales pitch from Jones, sounds reasonable to me.
Edward Jones generally expects long-term returns to range from 5.5% to 7.5% for diversified U.S. equities and 7% to 9% for diversified international equities, with fixed-income investments averaging 3% to 4.25%. The firm's Stock Focus List has historically shown an average annual total return of 9.6% since inception in 1993, compared to 9.5% for the S&P 500. However, individual investor returns can vary based on factors like investment choices, time horizon, and risk tolerance.
These people are bright enough to know that their money-making cow will only produce for so long, until industry conditions change (and they will change), and they are out to milk it for everything while they can. The really smart ones know when something is coming to an end and they choose not to fight it. They quietly wind down their investments and park their huge winnings until they uncover another opportunity. I knew one that made more money than he ever imagined. Rich and bored, yet still highly skilled, it took him years to put a group of investors together to crank up an unlikely investment beyond everyone's expectations and then cash out. Another successful CPA, essentially spent a lifetime looking for the big cash cow, finally found a juicy one that rather quickly made him wealthy.
What are your goals? To accumulate enough assets to where you don't have to worry about money any longer? Do you stop when you get there? Can you stop if/when you get there? If you have trained all your life to run a marathon, enter a 10K and do better than expected, would you stop there?Blah, blah, blah.
There is no right way or wrong way when it comes to investing as long as your goals are reached.