My dad spends almost every waking hour researching stocks. Technicals, fundamentals, the whole shebang. But I backtested his life and if he put a paltry amount into the SPY (or whatever they had in the 70s), he would be a multimillionaire. No research, no fuss. He’s doing well, but nowhere near what the S&P would’ve done. Yet he and no one else buys the SPY. If I would’ve invested in the SPY back when I got my first paycheck (2014), I would’ve been at $300,000 by now. And yet almost NO ONE does this despite it being proven to work over and over, spanning generations. Is it really just FOMO and greed that lure investors to options and dumb small caps? The only other investment that might be more reliable is CDs and real estate, but the ease of the S&P trumps both imo.
Why don’t more people do the VOO/SPY?
byu/stoic_suspicious inwallstreetbets
Posted by stoic_suspicious
45 Comments
What do you mean almost no one does this? Everybody who knows anything about investing does this outside of wsb 
I think you meant to post this in /r/investing. This is a casino
[Edit] seriously though, most people I know irl have the vast majority of their money in VOO or index funds. Sorry about your dad though
Because it’s boring. People think that they can outperform and get rich quickly, but for the most part they really can’t.
Mega-caps generally will outperform the S&P, but if you’re trying to trade penny stocks or shitcos then the S&P is better. The reason the S&P is better is because they rebalance the companies in the S&P every few months so failing companies get removed and successful ones get added, and even if one of the 500 companies in the S&P 500 goes to 0, it’s barely a dent in the index, making it a much safer play than single stocks. Investing in the spy is the right thing to do, but it’s “boring”
Buffet challenged people years ago that no matter the fund or stock they chose that net of fees they could not beat the S&P over a 10 year period. I believe The Fund of Funds made it 7 years before they threw the towel in?
This isn’t an investing sub.
>I backtested his life
*Listen here you little shit…*
-OP’s Dad, probably
Because nobody is trying to get rich slowly.
Multifold. People generally overestimate their skill and underestimate how competitive financial markets are. They don’t fully grasp what diversification is nor why it matters. Finally, they don’t understand their own true preferences under uncertainty. These lead to poor returns, high volatility, and regret, respectively.
I’m just Rycey and voo
I don’t think voo/spy were a big thing in the 70s. Online brokerages didn’t exist and regular people didn’t know shit about investing and the information wasn’t readily available. Index funds were a new and unproven concept. What is simple and obvious today wasn’t back then. You kids have it easy!
My personal Roth is 80% SPY and 20% BERK/B. I personally think you cannot go wrong with this 2 punch combo 🥊🥊
If I had put money into SPY instead of trading I’d prob be a couple hundred thousand ahead of where I am now. Not even joking
If you really think real estate is more reliable than SPY you belong here.
VTI and Chill
Weird as this is the advice I get from most reliable people I know who are good with money.
Technicals, fundamentals, and any type of “due diligence” is just a way to justify gambling addiction. The truth is and always has been that good investing is slow and boring, and that just doesn’t make the dopamine flow.
Serious long term investors do this for the most part.
But this is a casino…wsb I mean
Bruh this is a casino
At least five subs I belong to talk or ask about VOO ALL day long. Some people exclusively stack VOO.
20% of my IRA and taxable is VOO and I’m actively auto investing to increase this all the time.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJzu_xItNkY&t=97s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJzu_xItNkY&t=97s)
Sir, this is a casino with a funnel to the Wendy’s application page
Your dad belongs here, OP belongs to a proper investing sub
Cause 0DTE options are more fun 🚀
The s&p is the biggest companies is the USA. You are really just betting on the growth of the US financial markets. You on not picking a winner just growth over time of the country. So far it’s been a solid bet.
More people do than you realize. Most just buy and hold for the long term like retirement so what are you going to discuss about it on a daily basis?
Yeah but how can I take 10k and turn it into 500k by Friday..
>Is it really just FOMO and greed that lure investors to options
Gambling can trigger the release of dopamine in the brain, a neurotransmitter that’s linked to pleasure, satisfaction, and motivation. This can lead to feelings of excitement and euphoria that can drive people to keep gambling, even when they know they should stop.
(idk either so i asked chatGPT)
We do, we just don’t post loss/gain porn of it because it’s “boring.” It’s like talking about your 401K/Roth IRA and/or your Vanguard spread. It’s not exciting,
This is literally *the rule* for investment. Just put it in the index, and let it sit.
You’re apparently just frequenting WSB, and other stonk forums… And you’re right, those people don’t do it because they’re greedy, and suffering from FOMO, etc.
FWIW though, once you develop a strategy and goals, you can leave portions of your funds in different indexes, then take speculative chunks and look for gains, and as you get older, put larger and larger portions into safe (non volatile) investments like bonds, or dividend stocks. That’s basic portfolio management.
You must be fun at parties
Bro said “no one”. Maybe not in this community, but when you’re an actual investor and not trader, you know the market is solid
Many people get to financial freedom by buying single stocks. Probably a lot of research mixed with luck. There is also many people that outperform the market. Most people however should invest in ETF that’s for sure.
Everyone thinks they’re going to do better then this happens
https://preview.redd.it/81090j61eeqd1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cceac6e8c6b7854308e954360f5a8c9baa6939ee
I fell into this trap long ago with the Motley Fool. Went down the rabbit hole with only one big win and that was a high risk play on BAC. After a few options losses I found the bogleheads and I was sold. Joined the ranks about 10 years ago and developed more fun hobbies in the mean time. Granted you do have a shot of big returns but to me the investment in time isn’t worth it.
😯
You’re in a bubble. Most people, especially those with some sort of knowledge or education in the equity market, are invested in indexes like the S&P 500 or global index fund.
You’re gravely, gravely mistaken if you think everyone is doing what the people in this sub and the vocal communities on social media do. It’s just a lot easier to be vocal and produce regular content if you go “I bought this stock!” “This stock is about to blow up!” “Have you heard about this insane stock?” rather than “I put another 500 bucks into SPY. Just like I do every month. Neat.”
As for why some people go for stocks over the index – because they’re greedy, because they think highly of themselves and because they think if they can just get that 100-bagger, their life will change immediately – which it would, of course, but they keep chasing and missing it time and time again. Eventually they reach a point where just going with the index would have put them ahead and then some stay in stocks because they feel like they have to play catch-up rather than concede that their approach was suboptimal.
For 95-99% of retail investors, being heavily into VOO/VTI/VT is the right thing to do. You can do other stuff besides that (as do I), but the majority of your money should realistically be in these ETFs if you want an optimal (realistic) gain.
If you live for the gamble and the adrenaline, so be it.
Because it’s boring and most people ignore the facts to try and make some mega gain overnight.
I thought of this as well, the one conclusion I could draw up is ETFs didn’t really pick up traction / attention until post 2008.
Im also doing mainly stocks (not trading, but trying to find undervalued stocks with different models). Thats because i studied economics and I’m overall really interested in the topic myself. Therefore its more of a competition for me, but to summarize:
a) For some its a hobby and just fun and exciting to find some gems and compare yourself with the market.
b) A lot of people overestimate themselves and think they can easily beat the market, but they cant.
c) Especially as a small investor you have a higher chance of beating the market, because compared to the big investors you are not limited to the amount of companies you can invest in, therefore its easier to achieve a higher RoI (always remember b!)
VOO sounds like voodoo….too spooky!
I buy SPY once every week and reinvest all dividends. Been doing that for ten years now. Stacking pay-PERRRRR.
It’s boring as shit and during bear markets you realize just how impatient and not wired for investing our reptilian brain really is. Can you get average returns and do well? Yes. Is it fun. No. Do you wake up after years of investing just to see a small profit or loss? Yes. It works and that’s why most of my investments are just VOO. But there’s that small part of me that thinks I can do better, hubris maybe, avarice definitely, pride in a mysterious way, why can’t I just slightly outperform the average Joe? How is it possible that the harder I work, the less money I have? What is this some sort of sick cosmic mockery?
QQQ and VOO are like 70% of my portfolio, and dividend ETFs are most of the rest. YOLOing should be done sparingly. It’s legitimate to say you can very quickly 10x your money on options, so why should I go all in with fat stacks instead of just throwing down $1k?
It’s because people are listening to “professionals” who want you to buy their services which generally underperform the market and cost money in fees. Or even worse people hear the professionals and think they can do better or match their performance without the fees but in reality they just turn into an uninformed noise trader. You’re right the best thing for me and you is to buy a low cost index and take what the market is giving us.