A.I.M. Users Bulletin Board

[bar1080]

"The core of my portfolio is now in low
cost index ETFs with just a few stocks and a
few funds that I've kept from many years ago."

My situation too. I've owned Vanguard S&P 500 index funds as my core holding for 30+ years. I had a relative, a phi beta kappa from a top business school, who couldn't understand why I'd "accept guaranteed mediocre performance" with an Index fund. Later on, I often heard him complain how he always bought the wrong stocks! Plus he always got his market timing wrong... and he never caught on to its counter-productivity. The usual story... buy high in greed, sell low in panic! And fad stocks.

I hold some old mutual funds from before I moved into index funds. They always lag the S&P 500... always. I keep them around because I'm too lazy to cash them in, and they serve to remind me how well index funds perform in good markets and bad.

I do own about 16 individual div-paying blue chips. Those have actually beaten the S&P in recent years, and they provide diversification.