How do you guys feel about private enterprise in finance? Why

>>1582699
I don't understand the question.
I thought you COULD open a personal portfolio managed by bots.

>>1582705
Is it profitable, compared to an index fund, for example? The common wisdom seems to be to invest in index funds, but do their economics scale down to personal portfolios?

>>1582712
Index funds are superior over any long period of time. They're bad in bear markets, but over a long period of time the market always goes up.

>>1582730
So they work with an individual portfolio too?

>>1582735
That is their purpose. You put your money in an index fund so it will grow.
What are you asking?

>>1582738
I'm asking whether the economics of an index fund effectively scale down to an individual portfolio, or is an individual portfolio more burdened by transaction costs or more vulnerable to market drops?

>>1582746
I really don't understand what you're asking.
They were made for individual portfolios.

>>1582748
>They were made for individual portfolios.
I thought they are a form of mutual fund. Sorry about this if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole point of mutual funds to pool money from more than one investor?

>>1582746
Index funds generally just have a small yearly fee, not a buy/sell fee, and is therefore generally better suited for "individual portfolios" than stocks.

Of course you could open your own bot-managed little portfolio, though I don't think you'll have enough money to overcome the commission fees at your broker easily.

>>1582753
Oh, I see what you're asking. You're asking if you should buy the stocks that an index fund buys.
The answer is no. You will get raped by trade fees and you probably won't have enough money to do it right anyway.
What you're supposed to do is buy ETFs like SPY.

>>1582756
Not really, I don't. I was wondering whether it's achievable for a middle class individual in general, but I guess not.
>>1582762
So it's not feasible after all.

>you probably won't have enough money to do it right anyway.
Fees aside, would this be because of diversification restrictions?
>SPY
SPDR S&P 500 ETF I assume?

>>1582770
>Fees aside, would this be because of diversification restrictions?
It's because blue chip stocks often cost hundreds of dollars per share. You would have to have to equal exposure to all of the stocks in an index and you would have to rebalance it periodically.

>SPDR S&P 500 ETF I assume?
Yes. That is an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index. Put your money in that and it will grow with the index over the long-term.

The reason we have index funds is so that you don't have to buy every stock in an index yourself.

>>1582777
Thanks for the details. I like the idea of mutual funds, but was wondering what options people have when they want to direct their investments towards particular markets and industries, if index funds don't reflect their personal investment preferences.