Originally Posted by
TED74
I don't think much about the market. Don't day trade. Have a brokerage account but don't use it. I dollar cost average my money into my 401k, max out the 415c limits / personal limits, have two kids' college half-funded through Post-9/11 GI Bill (plus some 529 money) and have one rental house that generates minimal income (principal still being paid down). I'll also have a little mil retirement at 60 and an even smaller civil service retirement at 62.
Anyone care to quantify what I'm missing by not diving into all this stuff you folks are discussing here? I like to learn new hobbies and new skill sets, but this sounds like a time-suck I'd rather not take on. Am I in for major regrets when I retire in 15 or 20 years, or beyond? The very basic retirement calculators tell me I'm "ahead" when mapping current retirement savings vs age (even without considering any pension funds), and my finance guy says he's happy with my trajectory toward "work optional." What do y'all money home-brewers say?
The things I've said on this thread are nothing more than the result of a couple decades of tinkering with investing. Seeing what sticks and what doesn't. Ultimately, what I've come full circle to realize is that what you're doing is the way to go. That is, keep throwing money onto the pile and max all those tax advantaged accounts out. If you want to index in those accounts, go for it! I choose individual equities to juice my returns, but I essentially do the same thing as you and dollar cost average into my favorite companies. It's worked out excellently.
While the vehicles within our accounts are different, we have the same approach; ignore talking heads and their ratios, average in, rinse and repeat, ignore noise etc. So, no. You're not doing anything wrong!
The time suck can come in when you are researching individual companies to invest in. I can get lost on The Motley Fool for hours (it's great reading material to download for a long flight though). I do lots of reading and research about these companies, I don't crunch many numbers. It's a hobby of mine. So if you want to learn basket weaving and have some skin in the "game", keep doing what you're doing!