Originally Posted by ecotourist
I've made a lot of money in the stock and bond market. I'm not smart enough to pick stocks that will go up in the short term. And I strictly avoid puts, calls, leverage or anything else that's complicated. They say you should stay within your circle of competence and mine is a small circle.
I buy dividend stocks when they're cheap and keep them forever. I buy broad market ETFs and low cost mutual funds and keep them forever. I've owned good performing low cost mutual funds for 40 years (that's not exactly forever but it is a long time). They say you can't time the market - the secret is
time in the market.
I sell very little, though I do sell mistakes. I've made a few mistakes and when I do, I get out as fast as possible.
I diversify. That is the only "free lunch" available. I own US stocks, Canadian stocks, international stocks, Canadian bonds, international bonds.
Costs matter and I've reduced my costs as much as possible. My average MER is around 0.5% overall.
And that's how I've done it.
I was going to post here but you just said everything I was going to say!