Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK.B)

[JLS]

Who is the average investor?

Only at iHub is it assumed that average investors are only invested in stocks.

I didn't know of anybody who invested in stocks till I was over 30. Everyone I knew was voluntarily investing in their home (paying down their mortgage), buying bonds, and/or CDs. They involuntarily invested in the Federally run Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare plans.

Their best investments turned out to be their homes and Social Security (and Medicare and Medicaid). As a comparison, receiving $20,000 annually from SS is equivalent to receiving 3% annually from $667,000 invested in CDs.

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Less than half, or 48%, of American adults have money in stocks, according to Bankrate's Money Pulse survey. Compared to that, about 61% of adults have at least a cup of coffee daily, according to the latest National Coffee Drinking Trends.

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According to a new survey by GoBankingRates.com, more than half of Americans have savings account balances below $1,000. Those people aren't buying stocks.

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There are lots of different ways to save for retirement, but (other than Social Security) none is more important to working Americans than a company's 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan. While just about anyone can open up an IRA, funds in IRAs only accounted for 26.5% of all retirement savings in 2010, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute.

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When American companies began switching from traditional pensions to self-directed 401(k)-like plans in the 1980s and 1990s, it was supposed to lead to a golden age of retirement security. No longer would workers be at the mercy of the company’s generosity or of Social Security’s solvency; workers themselves would be responsible for saving enough for a comfortable retirement.

Some 30 years later, the results are in: The median working-age couple has saved only $5,000 for their retirement, according to an analysis of the Federal Reserve’s 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances by economist Monique Morrissey of the Economic Policy Institute.

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From a link directed toward stock investors.

For many of us, investment management is inconvenient but necessary. We have money invested in the stock market and are counting on decent returns to meet our financial goals especially for retirement. We are what I define as the ‘average investor’. We’re not finance majors and we’re not spending our hours in the day trading stocks. The following are common traits of the average investor:

1) The average investor is relying on the stock market to help with retirement because he/she knows that saving money under a mattress isn’t enough to meet future needs.
2) The average investor doesn’t have time or inclination to research thousands of investment options.
3) The average investor uses simplistic devices like Morningstar ratings to make investment decisions.
4) The average investor would prefer to not pay financial advisers to manage their portfolio because of high fees.
At some point in time, the average investor has followed a stock tip from TV, a magazine or friend or relative and lost money.
5) The average investor does not make the advertised returns of a mutual fund.
6) The average investor has either a net loss or marginal gain in the stock market (compared to those on Wall Street).
7) The average investor prefers a ‘buy and hold’ stock strategy because he doesn’t have time to track and research the stock to determine when to sell.
8) The average investor is afraid to sell when the stock is up because of the fear or pulling out too early and missing more gains.
9) The average investor is afraid to sell when the stock is going down because it means acknowledging lost investment money.

https://therealmoneystory.wordpress.com/the-average-investor/