{{ Seigel also recommended staying invested, and resisting the urge to market-time. If you owned an S&P 500 index fund when the book was published [in 1994] and held on to it, that investment has grown exponentially, as the index has gone from just under 470 to about 5550 now, a gain of nearly 1,100%. Nvidia, meanwhile, has become the third-most-valuable company in the world, worth more than $3 trillion.
A passive approach to investing, which Siegel advocates, ensures that you will continue to own America’s most dominant companies in vibrant industries. Siegel, also a senior economist at the investment firm WisdomTree, said he remains a “strong believer in indexing,” adding that “it’s hard to beat an index portfolio no matter how you do it”—especially once you factor in fees for an actively managed fund. }}
Actually, a buy & hold investment in the S&P 500 has grown a lot more than 1,100% in the last 30 years – with dividends reinvested it’s 1,977% – almost 20-fold. You’re not going to do that with an i-bond
I’ve often wondered, if I had the knowledge of the “arithmetic of FIRE” at say age 16, how would it have changed my decision making up through say age 25?
Perhaps a job as an union electrician with overtime pay would have trumped Engineering?
I have a friend whose daughter went to college to study Mechanical Engineering. By Thanksgiving break she decided college wasn’t for her (no problems academically, her grades were excellent) and left for a Mechanic’s internship at a Subaru dealer. Within 12 months, she had passed all her ASE certifications and was making $80.000/year. After a couple of years at the dealership, she’s now decided to return to college to study Biotechnology.
