Picking stocks is hard. And when I say hard I don’t mean, “You gotta try at it for a while until you figure it out” hard, I mean “Good luck beating the casino” hard. There is OVERWHELMING evidence showing that even the experts are unable to consistently beat the market by picking stocks. Yet we always hear these “big fish” stories and see the claims of big wins on social media. I hear them constantly. But when I wonder (or ask) “but what are your total returns after a careful accounting of all wins/losses/cash drag/expenses/etc relative to a low cost index fund”. The answer is always somewhere between “I have no idea” and “I have dramatically underperformed the index”.

Picking stocks is hard. That’s the bad news. The GOOD news is there’s an even easier way. BUY ALL THE STOCKS. You can do it in one convenient package called an index fund. That way you’re guaranteed to own the next Nvidia, whatever it may be, along with all of the other amazing companies that make the world go round!

If you’re thinking to yourself right now “Ok this is great, but can you shout this at me while I’m in bumper to bumper traffic” HAVE I GOT GREAT NEWS FOR YOU!!!

TOMORROW! (Thursday 9/17)

We’re launching the brand new Personal Finance Club SHOW! It’s a podcast available everywhere (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Youtube, wherever you get your podcasts) and we’re going to have FUN talking about money and you might even learn something too! @jennmundia and I put together some FUN segments for the show tomorrow, including:

* Explain it like I’m 5
* Jeremy had time today
* Can I ask a dumb one?
* Scroll patrol!

Please check it out! And sure, it might suck, because most things do when they first launch, but we’re gonna stick with it and keep slamming out bangers every Thursday! If you want your question answered on the show, send it to podcast@personalfinanceclub.com.

As always, reminding you to build wealth by following the two PFC rules: 1.) Live below your means and 2.) Invest early and often.

-Jeremy