Every once in a while I get into a funk and start looking for good stocks. I have been following smartdividends, which is a pretty interesting read. BUT, this is a very time consuming thing to do. And as much as one should not look over the shoulder after buying a stock it is unavoidable.

So if you want a life, or if you have kids and a wife and want to spend time with them (mental time), I think that nothing can beat indexing or ETFs.
that is, if you want to do it yourself. And I do not think anyone is going to do a better job for you if they are investing in mutual funds. They will cost you more and pay you little attention. Even the “best” companies for money management that will invest solely in stocks usually charge in the 1.5% range and up, and they rarely will include this cost in their returns.

The one thing I cannot get out of my head is will a long term dividend index fund give you a leg up on the TSX or S$P500? Say something like the Calymore CDZ or CYH?
Smartdividends loves dividend companies and so does someone like Tom Connolly. But I really do not know what their long term (and I mean >20 yrs) results are like. And to keep track of 20-30 companies is too daunting

So it would seem that the best strategy is to index.
Still, every now and then I cannot help but buy what I think is a good deal, like as Teck at $5.

Love the blog. Keep it up. It keeps me on track.

Ranger

I’m subscribing to a couch-potato strategy secure in the belief that it is sure to outperform three-quarters to four-fifths of all other active strategies out there simply by reducing costs and sticking to the plan. Just because markets haven’t been kind in the past decade, I’m not about to abandon it. In fact, I’d like markets to be low in my asset accumulation years. That way, I get to buy into equities at cheap prices.

Is it possible that your October Strategy will be one of the small minority of strategies that out performs, whether by luck or skill over the truly long-term, i.e. over 20 years? Yes, it is possible. While I doubt that the odds are in your favour, it doesn’t bother me at all that you could out perform. I have no interest in abandoning a good plan in a constant and possibly futile search for a perfect plan, so let’s give it a rest.

@Michael: You can find the returns data here:

http://libra-investments.com/Total%20returns.xls