That’s what I was trying to clarify. Someone who randomly picks stocks and sits on them would more than likely beat doing nothing.
Once you start getting into day trading now you have to beat transaction and tax friction and you don’t get the benefit of the market raising all boats because you aren’t holding it long enough to matter.
I totally believe a dart board would outperform the average individual investor. As would just holding diversified positions and not touching them.
Which I think is what the average investor does, to be fair. I think we mean “active” investor and/or day-trader here.
That’s what I was trying to clarify. Someone who randomly picks stocks and sits on them would more than likely beat doing nothing.
Once you start getting into day trading now you have to beat transaction and tax friction and you don’t get the benefit of the market raising all boats because you aren’t holding it long enough to matter.