A very warm welcome to the early retirement show, the show dedicated to helping you navigate the nuances

of an early retirement, a non-traditional retirement. Now let's get right into the episode so we can

learn how to retire early. Welcome back to the early retirement show. Today we have a fun one.

We are talking about the S&P 500. Well, to be honest, I think they're all fun episodes and I hope they are for you. What we are talking about today is the S&P 500 and the reason that I'm excited to talk about it is because it is a question that I am often asked. And it's one of those things that sometimes people read an article and just say, hey, are shouldn't I just be invested in the S&P 500? Isn't that just easier? Or you know what? Sometimes I'll get it on the other side where it's, Ari, I heard the S&P 500 just doesn't diversify my portfolio enough. What should I be invested in? So that's what we're going to be talking about today. Now, before we get into it, what I have to say is I'm truly honored. And what I mean by that is I received so many messages when it comes to my health because last week I did not feel the best. I was recording the podcast because I love doing it every week and I wanted to be consistent. So you guys always know, hey, every Monday you know an episode is being released. And if you get to it on Thursday or Friday or Saturday or whenever you get to it, whether it's through a commute or you say, hey, while I'm working out, and if you can digest this while you're working out, then kudos to you. But what I mean to say is really, I'm touched. So thank you for all the messages from listeners who have gone to my website, early retirement podcast.com. And they let me know, they submitted a question just saying, hey, hope you're feeling better and keep up the good work. And just kind words. So thank you for that and also receive that from clients. So really appreciate all of you who I know are listening to this as well. So let's hop right into the S&P 500 and how you should start thinking about this in relation to the overall portfolio. So where I always like to start, as you guys know, is take that step back. Some people say, okay, immediately, what should I be invested in? And we have to take a step back or else we're just not doing proper planning, which is, what is the goal? Is the goal to invest in the S&P 500 to grow your money so you can buy a home?

Is the goal, hey, I just want to make sure I never run out of money. So is that the best type of investment? Is the goal, hey, eventually I want to buy real estate. So is this a good place to park my money in the meantime? I don't like what cash is right now because of what I'm getting. So should I do I bought so there's so much to this that it quickly becomes overwhelming and so I want to

de-overwhelming. because of what I'm getting. So should I do I bought? So there's so much to this that it quickly

becomes overwhelming. And so I want to de-o overwhelm. I don't even know if that's a word, to be

honest with you, but the reason I am saying that is because I want you to think about this very

simply. And to understand it, we have to go back to some statistics. So the statistics I like to show, I'm very, very specific,

I'll say on the specifics I like to share because sometimes I feel people will get too deep into the

numbers and then we lose the whole point of why we're looking into this. So what I want to share

is when it comes to the S&P 500, there was a study done.

And since 2000, dimensional fund advisors

found that of all of the stock funds

that were actively managed,

and all that means actively managed

is someone, a manager, is saying,

hey, I'm gonna pick this stock

and I hope they outperform,

and they are, there's someone actively managing that fund.

Well, of those, 41% of them stayed in business and 59% of them are no longer in business.

Only 17% of the funds that stayed in business outperformed the benchmark.

...