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December 7, 2024

ETFs Are Beating Wall Street Pros

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The world of investing has been transformed by passive investing through ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds), offering individual investors a smarter path to building wealth. Rather than attempting to time the market or pick winning stocks, this approach harnesses the power of consistency and market efficiency.

🎯 Understanding ETFs

Think of ETFs as carefully curated baskets of investments that mirror specific market indices. When you invest in an ETF like the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), you're essentially buying a slice of America's 500 largest companies. With the S&P 500's historical average annual return of around 10% over decades, the strategy of "owning the market" rather than trying to beat it becomes compelling.

📊 The Numbers Don't Lie

Recent data from the SPIVA Scorecard reveals a striking truth: more than 80% of active managers failed to outperform their benchmarks over 15-year periods through 2023. This means that by simply taking a passive approach, you could potentially outperform the majority of professional investors.

🧪 The Scientific Foundation

Academic research, including the influential work of Barber and Odean, demonstrates that excessive trading and emotional decision-making typically lead to underperformance. The Efficient Market Hypothesis further supports passive investing by suggesting that market prices quickly reflect all available information, making consistent outperformance through active trading extremely challenging.

💰 The Cost Advantage

One of the most powerful benefits of ETF investing lies in its cost efficiency. While active funds often charge 1% or more in annual fees, many ETFs charge less than 0.1%. For perspective, Vanguard's Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) charges just 0.03% annually. Over three decades, this difference in fees can translate into substantial additional returns in your portfolio.

⏳ Building Lasting Wealth

At Quantlake, we champion systematic, long-term investment strategies. ETFs provide the perfect vehicle for this approach, helping investors maintain discipline through market volatility. By avoiding emotional trading and embracing the power of time and compounding, you can work toward your financial goals more effectively.

We're committed to guiding you on your journey toward financial success through smarter, more efficient investing strategies.

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Happy Long-Term Investing from the Quantlake Team! 🚀

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