Introduction
Ever pick up one of the countless "Do It Yourself" investing books off the shelf and come across an intro similar to this?
Here's a fact. The average fund underperforms "buy and hold". The average professional trader does no better than "buy and hold".
Source: Buy and Wait: how to outperform, trade, and invest in the U.S. stock market.
You may be fueled with confidence at this point, "Well, if the professionals can only achieve average returns, certainly I can do much better! Why pay hefty management and incentive fees for subpar results?"
But