It's always interesting to read/hear about anonymous people who timed the market perfectly, or just happened to buy a stock like BRK-A - decades ago.

it’s seems everyone on this site is just way ahead of the average investor , I wish I was as smart as most on here today

I bought Berkshire, but I also bought Enron and WorldCom :doh:

Yes mostly old toothless lions rewriting their glory days. As sure as the sun rises in the east there will be hot air and bragging in retirement communities.

Not to brag, but I bought a boatload of Enron.......

All these bright individuals on this topic!

I feel like such a fool by buying low cost indexed funds and dollar cost averaging. Sure, it made me a millionaire but if I was as brilliant as the market timers here I would have more!

But probably vastly less and I'd still be working...

Technical analysis is not perfect but works well. Its emotionless. The market works on algos now. the bulk of trading is done by programs. Must adapt to new environment. My portfolio speaks for itself. No one cares how or why you made money. Its binary

Yep. The Quants - Wikipedia

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I sold a large part of my portfolio in Dec 2021. So, that was a little too early, but it seemed like the market was overdue for a big correction. You can't buy at the PERFECT low or sell at the PERFECT HIGH. I am satisfied to sell at a CLOSE to a high. And in the future, I will be satisfied if I can buy back close to a low.

The only people that always make $$$ are the advisors!
I’ve never used an advisor and the last 3 years before 2022, my lowest average year gains were over 30%. Vanguard index funds are the best along with Apple and energy funds.
I’ve never sold a share during the last 2 recessions/covid in 2020, but this year, I sold everything because this time, things are much different. You can’t time the market, but I got out when my funds were at their highest. We are far from rock bottom in the market, more pain to come.

My financial advisor has helped me achieve my goals through the working years and into retirement. No regrets.

What goes up comes down. It is all Monopoly Money, just paper, unless you sell, and monetize the loss. Interest rates are still cheap. If you need cash, borrow. Otherwise, hang on, this roller coaster is a long way from bottom.

Not so sure about that. Much of what is likely to happen is already factored into pricing. Till will tell.

"For example, 85.1 percent of actively-managed large-cap funds underperformed the S&P 500 last year, according to SPIVA data from S&P, which measures the performance gap between actively-managed and index funds. In 2021, some 79.6 percent of all domestic U.S. funds underperformed the S&P Composite 1500, the S&P equivalent of a total market index."

From: 'The democratization of investing': Index funds officially overtake active managers