I agree with the OP. I learned at an early age that if you want to get ahead you can't be an employee. You must trade and manage your money full time. Can't half-ass it.
The latest "thing" is the government wants to take them (401Ks and pensions) over. The claim by the government is that it will be stable, whereas the 401K can go down in value and the pension can be "not funded." Here is the kicker...the government wants to "invest" the money in US Treasuries...gee, you get a retirement plan AND you get to fund a bloated government! BTW, you can search this out on the web... -gastropod
.................................................................................................. Actually ....this brings into focus some very meaningful points.... As one already knows....the actuarial values have basically been destroyed.....and so what is the game now ? The first thing that is happening is "bank repair".... How is this happening ? The banks borrow at 0% from the govt....and then loan back to the govt....at 2 to 3%..... They are getting full first .... What is their return ? At 10x....20x leverage which costs 0 ? Can an individual do this ? And the banks will milk this as long as it lasts.... GS went one step further and used the funds at the bottom of the market for all asset classes.....hence record profits..... The same story during the S&L crisis regarding banks..... .................................................................................... Lesson learned by individuals ????? Never trust any fund or any other individual other than yourself..... Direct access electronic trading needs to be even further simplified and made available to any human that has savings ...no matter the language..... What would make for a better marketplace....? Billions of individual accounts with various opinions....or a handful of similarly trained mangers that will seek the exit door at once.....???? ............................................................................... This is why the prop firm model is in its infancy.... The govt. has forced rates to 0%....and is asking retail managers to buy at current levels which will prove to be the exact wrong time to do so..... The individual gets nothing for their savings.....and all of the standard money managers have failed them..... There should be no account minimums and leverage should be 4:1 intraday or overnight....all asset classes.....all securities.... Information should be wiki based.....no dark pools....exchanges defragmented.....first come first served.....size participation restrictions for large accounts..... No short sell rules.....replaced by electronic tag on outstanding shares .....no finds required..... And no taxes of anykind on any securities class.... Done.... Then let prices do what they do....and individuals do what they do.....
libertad, why the hell do you use so many periods? i hardly ever post here but i always know to skip over your posts and i can tell just by the amount of periods. if everybody knew how to trade, most people would still lose money. the better investment is to put the money back into things like further education.
So, mom and pop investor are going to go up against some of the greatest minds in the financial world? They don't stand a chance. Most people are better off stuffing their money in their mattress. At the very least, it's kept out of the hands of parasitic fund managers.
I came off as rude in that. Really wasn't trying to be I am just wondering why so many periods! Maybe not an MBA. I don't know. Maybe a college savings fund for kids if you have them, or attending workshops, etc.