That’s right! A guy who actively buys and sells stocks is suggesting you should stick with Plain Jane index funds.

Why?

Because it’s too difficult for 99% (a completely unscientific statistic) of the general public to outperform the market over an extended period of time.

Every week, at least one person will ask me for a hot stock tip. Almost every single time, I tell them to buy a basic Vanguard S&P 500 index fund. If they keep up the pressure and want something more aggressive, I tell them to buy the Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund which passively invests in smaller, higher growth, but higher risk companies.

Now, before the pro-index fund, Boglehead crowd showers me with kudos and the pro-trader crowd throws flaming bags of dog crap on my porch, allow me a few moments to debunk the Get Rich Quick by Becoming an Active Trader myth.
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This is the third and final part of a three part series discussing life as an independent trader. In this final post, Matt offers some precautionary words if you’ve considered becoming an independent trader. If you haven’t been dissuaded after reading about A Typical Day in Life as an Independent Trader or the bevy of Tools of an Independent Trader, it would be wise if you took heed of his words of warning.

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This is part two of a three part series discussing life as an independent trader. This is the second post, covering the tools of an independent trader, written by an independent trader. You may want to first read A Typical Day in Life as an Independent Trader, the first part of this three part series.

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Last fall, Jim and I exchanged the introductory, get to know you, emails about the dangers of being an active trader.

More specifically, his semi-reluctant admission that he had day traded AIG for a quick profit caught my eye since the majority of personal finance bloggers consider active traders to be the blasphemers of the financial world. Thus began the (temporary) downward spiral of Jim’s blogging productivity after we exchanged multiple conversations about trading Yahoo, General Motors, and a few other stocks I suggested he should avoid.

Several days ago, Jim asked for a brief synopsis of what it’s like to be a fulltime trader. I hope you enjoy the post, but moreover, I hope that I convince you that becoming a professional trader is a horrible idea!

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