Four Bad Bear Markets — so how does our current market compare? Pretty bad.
The Financial Reaper: “Sometimes I hate my job.”
![General Motors: 50 Years of Flatline [Article]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/8o52Jg11sap4d7honWIayl9o_500.jpg)
General Motors: 50 Years of Flatline [Article]
This morning FORTUNE spilled the beans on a “friendly” $1,000,000 wager between investing maven Warren Buffett and hedge fund middlemen Protégé Partners, in which the Oracle contends that he can best the returns of his opponent’s funds-of-funds portfolio with nothing more than an S&P500 index fund [Vanguard’s VFIAX, to be exact]. The bet — which concludes on December 31, 2017 — is being managed by LongBets.com, with all of the proceeds going to charity.
Warren Buffett, a lifelong disciple of value investor Benjamin Graham (as is John Bogle, Vanguard’s founder), has often stated that the long-term investor is best served by low-cost, diversified index funds rather than expensive self-proclaimed experts:
A number of smart people are involved in running hedge funds. But to a great extent their efforts are self-neutralizing, and their IQ will not overcome the costs they impose on investors. Investors, on average and over time, will do better with a low-cost index fund than with a group of funds of funds.
My money is with Buffett on this one… quite literally. You only have to dig into the article’s cost analysis, or pick up a copy of Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor, to see why.
I do stuff. Most of said stuff occurs at the intersection of entertainment and technology, with a marketing and strategy twist. This is where I think aloud, look upon the future, and rant about all things interesting and ridiculous. You can reach me at mgriswold[at]gmail.com
![Stock Market: The Ride! [via radard :: mudwerks]](http://30.media.tumblr.com/RIbpmjo0Hesp0c00xxQkisJeo1_500.jpg)
