Perhaps not a terrible time to become an index investor in (anything)

Bonds? TLT is pretty low.

US stocks? Russell 2000 and RSP (Equal weight SP500) are around the same level as the lowest points of 2022, and adjusting for inflation, are even lower I think.

World stocks? European and UK small companies indices are at or near the lowest points of 2022. Adjusted for inflation, they’re even better. And the pound and euro are relatively cheap too.

Japan’s small companies index measured in USD, is also down a solid 10% or so from earlier in the year, and slightly more if you adjust for USD inflation. The japanese market has been flying, but the yen is at 20 year lows I think.

Even if you’re into wild, crazy things like NFTs, well they are selling second-hand jpegs for 99% off right now.

This market is so crazy in recent years that I can’t really justify stock-picking any more. Crap flies and quality dumps. Nothing makes sense. Even in the last day or two, Verizon reports a better than expected profit, jumps 10%, Google reports a better than expected profit, dumps 10%. What can you do with this kind of market behaviour?

Personally, I’ve just bought a bunch of ETFs today given the decent pricing on offer. Some income, some inflation protection, zero hassle, almost zero fees, no more market insanity. Too risky staying in cash for too long. Doubt this is the bottom, but I think I don’t care any more.

Good enough.

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Agreed! I am 95% ETFs now and have no real desire to change this any time soon. Spread the risk and minimize the stress and work.

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I am now almost all ETFs with a few long-term stock positions such as Marriott (good to me) and Nvidia (berry, berry good to me).

DB2

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BTW if anyone is looking for ideas for cheap indexes, here’s a useful link.

1 year performance of various ETFs:

Note that this is being measured relative to the low point of last year.

So grey colour is ‘still low’, red is ‘got even cheaper’.

RSP, value ETFs, banking, TLT, healthcare stand out.

On the world map, 1 year:

Canada, Brazil and India stand out, UK a bit too.

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I do not have the most reliable detailed figures. I have seen batted around the market at the height of 2021 was $17 b. Now with a lot more players and artists in the game, the market with all of that low-priced stuff is $15 b.

Don’t be surprised if these are the earliest days of a new bull market in Ethereum.