LitchLitch
129633
1709
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Never invest in anything but an S&P 500 index fund. Unless you are a congress person and can engage in insider trading legally. No, there is nothing we can do about it. Just remember this for when the time comes.
Imortaldraco
Do what they do, portfolio has looked great ever sense
maxdefault
That's why I prefer goldfish to make my own my investment choices for me
Titty5prinkles
Gar Gensler doesn't do his job, just blows corporate.
ALG0RIDDUM
why 3500?
SiangSpaceTraveler
Source?
1nAnimate0bjected
No one triggered by this? It's just accepted... there is always 1 comment setting people off. No when congress makes rules for their profit.
Silas007
I don't think politicians should have any stocks at all or have many millions to throw around. I also don't think stock markets should exist
KillingTlme
Their funds should be locked into a retirement plan where they have no control over how it is invested while they are in office.
IrishCoffeeChugger
Sounds like we need a Congress Tracking Fund
BlindGardener
Whole market funds often outperform the snp, It’s biggest weakness is it over invests in large companies and under invests in small ones
LeCoq1963
This really pisses me off
LANAAAAAAAAAA
S&P...salt and pepper?
KrondorMocker
Yep
KrondorMocker
Don't listen to anyone else, you are 100% correct
lilmookie
Standard and Poor Index of 500 stocks that broadly represent the stock market as a whole
Nuttburger
Okay but the s&p 500 has been artificially raised since March 2020 so it’s hard to beat fraud
bwav8
Of course, their Master's pay well
NoUseForMySoul
I get the argument, but this is still bad advice. International diversification should be considered mandatory everywhere.
CrispyNougat
Well they make the laws so they can trade before the laws are made and can sell off stuff before covid hits
poochyena
3 out of 3 of my stock market investments beat the S&P in 2021 and i'm interested in politics.
nocommennts
Soooo... Could we track their trades and follow them quickly? Would have the effect of their stock moves becoming highly visible, amplified
Silas007
Sounds like you are proposing a pump'n'dump scheme.
NSFWfrontpage2
35 out of 535 members. I mean some are just going to randomly do better right?
DonnaNobleInTheLibrary
Depending on who it is, there *might* be insider trading involved, but you can't really tell that just from the numbers.
wastingeveryonestime
Exactly. Sounds like the average congressperson underperformed the S&P500 in 2021 (already a cherry-picked year due to COVID market rebound)
ReasonablySorryButNotTooMuch
Thats why you want to look at the average of all congress. That OP doesnt give it should tell you all you need to know.
yepthatguy
Averages, outliers, and how the major markets are doing in comparison.
jasari
There are other things to invest in other than index funds, but managed funds are never worth it. My 401k is 100% in an s&p 500 index but>
jasari
My Roth IRA is diversified between mostly tech stocks, and that has crushed my 401k. Much more risk but if your young a bit of risk is ok.
SiangSpaceTraveler
I also hear being a contrarian pays when everyone thinks the same way
vash77
chefsoda
It might help to understand that hedge funds seek to hedge against ANY losses, not maximize gains. This is them performing properly
scifinovelist
Better than the index, with a load that further reduces returns vs. 0.1% index fund load? I beg to differ.
assortedletters
on an institutional level, hedge funds are basically insurance products so you can dump your equity allocation in passive with minimal
assortedletters
hedging costs and not lose your job on a negative year.
chefsoda
"Better" depends on your goal. A hedge fund is designed to never have a downturn, as those who use them live on the distributions. Investing
chefsoda
In an index is great, because only the average matters. 4 down months in a profitable year is fine. For hedge fund users, that 4 months with
chefsoda
no income & entirely unacceptable. Plus, with the scale of hedge funds, lower returns still being vast wealth
BobertDicto
Source? 3 of 3500 sounds really low even for random chance.
skincancerisfun
Hedge funds have to pay fund managers a commission, so they have to consistently beat the average just to come out neutral
Tarmaccian
Hedge funds try to protect against losses. They're not trying to pursue profit like most normal investors would. The post is misleading.
Tychodin
uh so why is neither number better than random chance?
LitchLitch
Because people can make predictions on trends they observe and invest their money accordingly.
nichfra
Because whoever made this doesn't understand what hedge funds are but wants to give investment advice.
cloel
The fact that Congress people are even allowed to invest is butt-fucking insane. The fact that drugs are illegal is a outright violation /
cloel
Of your rights. The fact that we printed 80% of all currency in a few years is downright ridiculous. The fact that prisons charge rent /
cloel
Is deliberately insidious. The idea that public office can be lucrative is straight up criminal. What in the fuck is going on? This /
cloel
Isn't one sided. This isn't red v blue. This isn't a matter of political affiliation. This is a matter of the powerful edging us out of /
cloel
Literally everything. We are getting fucked from every angle imaginable, and they keep finding more angles.
ArcadiaBerger
Members of Congress, Presidents, Cabinet members and Federal judges, including SCOTUS, should have to put their assets PERMANENTLY into a...
ArcadiaBerger
...single blind trust, and receive dividends from it in proportion to the value of the assets they put into it. Private citizens should...
ArcadiaBerger
...be able to buy shares in it, also. If you don't like the idea of permanently losing control over your assets, we'll just have to forgo...
ArcadiaBerger
...your services, and you'll just have to remain in the private sector. Also: no serving on corporate Boards or delivering paid lectures...
ArcadiaBerger
...after your public service ends, either. If you enter public service, you make a lifetime commitment. That's my idea, anyway.
trasneoir
I'm not sure about permanently, but a multi-year period of gardening leave seems appropriate.
ArcadiaBerger
Given the outrageous corruption in Washington, and on some of our state houses, I think it needs to be permanent, and we need to offer...
ArcadiaBerger
...generous compensation to public servants to make up for lost earning potential.
WhatUpDog3000
in 2021 I beat it probably 350 times
TheLastGreatAudit
Rookie numbers
FNOldGuys
High fives prostate
derekjohn
I'm surprised you can still read this post.
HeadJamistan
WGG25
each day, right?
Rem1976
At least
nyarlathotep777
Is that Standard or Poor?
shredordead
Chafed
Lakeylake
DarthGoodguy
Kennisibueno
You skipped 6 days?
Vesane
I think you meant 15, though that's still potentially below average
yomahnn
Slow month?
TK421isAFK
I dunno, 2021 was a great year for hook-up apps and FWB's, so I'd think my beat-it number was at an all-time low.
TiredOfTheBS
Some of us took Covid seriously
TK421isAFK
I was vaccinated by March, 2021. I was one of the first qualified categories (teaching). It's possible to take covid seriously and still 1/2
TK421isAFK
see friends and fuck-buddies. 2/2
scifinovelist
Dow index is OK too. But there is something we can do, we can run for congress!
Duskz
You'd have to be a fool to think everyone could just up and run for congress. You know how much money it requires to run a campaign????
FellaWithUmbrella
Dow is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation
ThomasThundersword
dow is such a market indicator a lot of work is put into forcing it to recover quickly. which makes indexes linked to it benefit from these>
ThomasThundersword
recovery / consumer confidence efforts. Warren buffet says Invest in the dow.
ohthechestpain
I do not understand any of this.
jaguar5hark
The SP500 in this context is an unmanaged fund that tracks the top 500 companies and thus its growth is unguided by human intervention. 1/2
jaguar5hark
It's used as a growth benchmark. So when congressmen are beating that growth rate personally, it shows some funny business is likely in play
anotherdeadaquarian
I didn't either but it's just saying Congress is corrupt
ohthechestpain
ReasonablySorryButNotTooMuch
OP argues 35 senators performed incredibly unlikely well on the market compared to professional investors, and that that means corruption./1
ReasonablySorryButNotTooMuch
In truth you'd expect a small percentage of individuals to beat the average, and the hedge funds do not aim for consistent S&P500 profits./2
ReasonablySorryButNotTooMuch
tl;dr OP is making misleading claims by cherry picking data and ommitting relevant facts for political propaganda purposes. /3
Tarmaccian
It's misleading at best. The S&P 500 is a list of the 500 biggest companies. Lots of people invest in those companies, and they profit 1/4
Tarmaccian
when their investments' values go up. A hedge fund plays the opposite game: they invest so they profit when values fall. 2021 was a 2/4
Tarmaccian
great year for the stock market, so traditional investors (including politicians) made profit, but hedge funds didn't. @OP is implying 3/4
Tarmaccian
that politicians are doing something illegal (or at least unethical) in their trades, but this is actually how it's _supposed_ to work. 4/4
Eikre
A hedge fund is not exclusively composed of shorted positions. Of course they aim to make money if the market is rising, too.
Tarmaccian
But they don’t aim to make as much as an index fund. They just have to beat inflation.
LitchLitch
The S&P 500 is just a list of the 500 biggest stocks on the NY Stock exchange. Because these are the biggest corporations in the US they 1/
LitchLitch
have a high consistent growth. A hedge fund is a special investment fund that rich people buy into and some guy decides where to invest 2/
ohthechestpain
Ah, thank you for explaining!
LitchLitch
their money. They take risks and invest in things besides stocks, they are usually run by smart guys with lots of information. They 3/
LitchLitch
can rarely increase their investment a much as if they just put the money in the S&P 500. But a significant number of congress people who 4/
LitchLitch
are supposed to be focused on the countries needs can outperform the specialists with the most information. Because they are cheating. 5/5
MidoryMoon
https://unusualwhales.com/i_am_the_senate/full
dcostanza1
Nah tubberville seems like a financial genius who does detailed and novel fundamental analysis /s
binaryspike
Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Utah, Texas, California, North Carolina, West Virginia, Vermont, Michigan
justmovealong
Graphs without axis labels hurt the discourse. They could have beaten the index by 10x or a tenth of a percent based on this.
bourbonandbaddecisions
Now do their significant others.
Micro2112
Certain senator who's husband who happens to chairman of NYSE
DeakVanNyke
spy ?
ThomasThundersword
S&P 500’s ticker
ript11
Wow good job democrats. Both guilty and deserve jail
thies46
Seriously how is this okay in the US?
JayEnfield
Both parties agree that their leaders getting rich as fuck is good. Both parties agree that no other parties should be allowed to exist.
badatediting
The ones who breaks the law are the one who makes the law
Zulljin4
They aren't even breaking the laws because they made it legal.
LitchLitch
Thats why we can't do anything about it. The people who would need to change the law are the people benefitting from it.
MoonPieTown
We still have the option of electing leaders that swear to uphold certain standards and not re-electing them if they fail...but that
LitchLitch
Not really, sure in Theory that could happen, but in practice our politicians select their voters. 98% of incumbants are re-elected.
MoonPieTown
requires a level of focus and involvement in politics that most citizens sadly aren't willing to put in. I blame us as voters the most.
LitchLitch
There are rich people paying a lot of money to keep so many citizens unwilling to invest in running our government. It's deliberate.