Investing 102

[ErikLS2]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

The average is about 11% a YEAR.... so to go up 10% in a month means you're going to get clubbed somewhere along the line. Trust me - it's REAL REAL hard to beat those "averages". There are pros on Wall Street that get paid millions per year to try to do that and most don't!

This is a very imporant point Greg and one I don't think has been brought up in here yet. I'm wondering if you regularly compare your portfolio to some sort of benchmark, be it the Dow, S&P, or other various indexes? I always think it's good to know if all the research one puts into buying individual stocks pays off over just buying an index ETF for a corresponding industry.