r/stocks
I spent 6 years trying to beat the market. Mostly I just learned how hard that is.
After 6 years of underperforming the S&P 500 with active stock picking, the author shifted most of their portfolio to index funds like VTI.
- Passive index investing provides a more efficient and less stressful way to capture long-term market returns.
- It frees up time and mental energy by eliminating the need to constantly trade individual stocks to beat the market.
- Active stock picking often underperforms the broader market after accounting for the time and effort invested.
- Trying to beat the index requires treating trading like a demanding second job with inconsistent results.
I tracked almost every trade for six years. Around 400 trades and mostly are individual stocks. I beat the S&P 500 in two of those years. The other four were either worse or close enough that the effort didn’t really justify it.
Once I looked at it that way, the whole thing felt kind of ridiculous. I wasn’t just underperforming an index fund and was spending a second part-time job trying to underperform it.
I still hold a few individual names I genuinely believe in long term. But most of my portfolio went into VTI and VXUS last year, and I’ve barely touched it.
The funny thing is I enjoy markets more now. I can read about companies or macro stuff without feeling like every opinion needs to become a stock trader. If I have a specific view on a specific event, I’d rather keep it small and separate there than pretend every market opinion belongs in my long-term portfolio.
Does anyone else make this shift? From trying to beat the market to just admitting the index is probably the main plan?