Economy

you have any kind of long-term savings, and what it is invested in that is so much better. Or do you have so much money that you won't have to withdraw any to live on in retirement? What is better than the stock market? What holds up better in the face of withdrawals and inflation? Bonds? CDs? Savings accounts? Money market? No, no, no, and no

We've been over this at least 3 times before
https://www.democraticunderground.com/111694222#post5

Just put it in a total U.S. stock market index fund or an S&P 500 index fund and forget about it. The vast majority of people who think they are smart and actively pick stocks don't have as good a return. Even professional managers of active funds don't on average.



I was too poor not to. Simulation after simulation by countless authors and organizations show one is more likely to exhaust their nest egg if it is all fixed income like bonds and CDs than if it is majority equity. I know I'd be in tenuous circumstances if I had not invested in equities, mostly broad-based mutual funds and ETFs. Instead, I can give to Democratic candidates and progressive organizations in the $thousands.



Or, perhaps, earnings drive the market? This from Peter Lynch in 2001:

Since World War II, despite nine recessions and many other economic setbacks, corporate earnings are up 63 fold and the stock market is up 71 fold. Corporate profits per share have grown over 9% annually despite the down years. Nine percent may not sound like a lot but consider that it means that profits mathematically double every 8 years, quadruple every 16, are up 16 fold every 32 years, and are up 64 fold every 48 years."

I hate to see my fellow progressives misled by anti-equity "progressive" propaganda and end up having to live a very financially constrained old age, not to mention having very little or nothing to give to Democratic candidates or progressive causes. And by default having to accept the minuscule interest that the banks dole out in savings and CDs and so on.