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Can the market be beaten?

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AUTHOR: Jonathan Clements on 4/12/2021
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alex scott
1 year ago

”a strange game. the only winning move is not to play.”

i am an orphan widower. i got what i wanted from the market and
sold off/out last month. no need for a legacy. the dog and i are
retiring with a large nest egg of cash and SS to 100 acres. will have more than enuf that inflation is not a concern and my remaining life span[ of a may fly] will see me thru. the dog and any $ left will be in good hands. enjoy your time and worries, you youngsters…

Cammer Michael
1 year ago

You can get lucky.

graphex
1 year ago

It is possible to beat the market over the long term (10 and 15 years.) You just have to find the right investments.

Mike Wyant
1 year ago
Reply to  graphex

Consistently? Very very unlikely.

graphex
1 year ago
Reply to  Mike Wyant

Agreed, very unlikely and some luck involved…10yr: 24.60% 15yr: 21.42%. (S&P500 10yr: 12.20% 15yr: 12.34%)

Kenneth Tobin
2 years ago

Of course not. Buffett doubled it over a long span. Are there any others over 40yrs. If so you would have heard of them. Bill Miller and Lynch did well over 15yr periods and then Miller’s fund imploded and Lynch retired and you don’t hear Magellan Fund ever mentioned

John Wood
1 year ago
Reply to  Kenneth Tobin

Just to give Buffett his full due, his average annual return from 1965 thru 2022 was 19.8% vs. 9.9% for the S&P 500 (per the 2022 Berkshire Hathaway annual report), which equated to a cumulative return over that period of 3,787,464% vs. 24,708% (a 153-fold difference). Now that is beating the market.

gregorit
2 years ago

Short-term? Absolutely. Long-term? Less likely. Main thing, of course, is to define your “market”. For me, I always compare my return against the S&P 500; I’m not going to even try to fight the volatility in more exotic indices.

kentlacey@sbcglobal.net

Interesting question, very clear – but I am not sure it makes any sense?
Some years the market can make a gain of 15%, or 3%, or lose -12%. So what does beating the market really mean? I think those who want to invest in anything that mimics the market is content with that, whatever it may be year to year. Others may be best served having a personal goal and no matter what the market is doing these traders/investors should only judge their performance against their own goal.
.
I am well into retirement, and my goal in trading/investing is to earn 2X more than my expenses. While expenses vary month to month, their average year to year varies very little.
.
Could I get aggressive and try or 3X or 5X? Yes, and I am sure I could do it many months, but when it goes wrong it will be a big wrong. Stay humble and just earn what you are comfortable with. It will reduce the strain you feel.

Roboticus Aquarius
3 years ago

Of course it can. Oh, you mean consistently and by a large enough margin to be meaningful to your portfolio? Not so much, no.

Lucky for most of us that it’s not necessary. Market returns are enough to build a solid retirement stash.

Philip Stein
3 years ago

Isn’t the appropriate question “Can the market be beaten often enough over the long-term to yield superior results?” Academic research on the net returns of both professional and individual investors appears to conclude that the answer is “highly unlikely.” Yes, there are outstanding individuals who have enviable long-term performance records. But they are rare and difficult to identify before the fact.

You can try to beat the market and succeed in some years. But over an investing lifetime, I suspect you will underperform after costs are considered.

Perhaps a more pertinent question is “Do you have to beat the market to reach your financial goals?” I believe the answer is a resounding NO.

Purple Rain
3 years ago

The “stock market” is a “market of stocks”. I win when my income exceeds my expenses.

John Wood
1 year ago
Reply to  Purple Rain

Well said, Purple Rain. I’d offer a related version: “I win when my investments beat inflation.”

Rick Connor
3 years ago

Yes, but not by me. I don’t try.

Marc Bisbal Arias
3 years ago

This is a question that could be answered in a very long way, but my simplified view is that yes, it can be beaten but with a caveat.

In the short term it is easier to do so. Over long periods of time, we have the issue that Mike Zaccardi brought up in a comment below: when you have millions of individuals trying to beat the market, you’d expect some to do. Which brings us to the point of luck vs. skill: were they successful because they’re good or because fortune favored them? It’s a tricky question.

I believe the market can be beaten over the long haul, but it’s no easy task. Even though I believe some people can do it due to superior ability, my guess is that it’s something only available to a minority of investors who try.

Richard Gore
3 years ago

For some people this question seems to take on religious fervor. I say yes, and I’m happy to try.

parkslope
3 years ago

If the market could be beaten I don’t think we would still be asking this question.

Richard Gore
3 years ago

Which market are we talking about? What is the appropriate benchmark for a portfolio manager with a go anywhere style?

johntlim
3 years ago

Yes, over the short term, but your odds (and your fund managers’ odds) fall precipitously over time. Probably less than a 10% chance of outperforming over a ten year span or longer. To put it another way, by investing in low cost total market index funds, you are likely to outperform 90% of other investors in the long run.

Mike Zaccardi
3 years ago

Of course it can. Deciphering luck from skill can be a challenge, however. But just look at folks like Buffett, Simmonds, Miller, Lynch – tremendous returns over along periods of time. Consider that there have been million of people who have attempted to ‘beat the market’, and these are the standouts. Could it be that they happen to lie on the far right tail of the distribution? Perhaps.

Regardless, individuals should stick to tried & true investing methods like putting money to work in the stock market via low-cost, diversified funds and use strategies like tax-advantaged accounts and rebalancing. Period investing that way will reap benefits over the decades. And you won’t pull your hair out trying to beat Mr. Market!

Joe Kesler
3 years ago

I wouldn’t recommend trying to beat it. We can beat the roulette wheel when the odds are only 48% in our favor when we get lucky for awhile. Eventually the odds stacked against us will catch up. In the same way, some beat the market for awhile through luck, although they may convince themselves it’s their keen insight into stock patterns or some other nonsense. But filtering out random luck, I don’t know anybody that can consistently beat owning the entire market through low cost index funds.

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