Buy low; Sell high

>Buy low; Sell high
>Be fearful when everyone is greedy; Be greedy when everyone is fearful

What happens when everyone in the world follows this advice and we reach perfect equilibrium?
Does no one ends up buying anything and economy stagnates?

>What happens when everyone in the world follows this advice and we reach perfect equilibrium?

That wont happen because the average person is emotional and rather unintelligent.

Even if everyone was taught this in school it wouldn't matter. We ALL know how to be fit, but why is 70% of the US population overweight with half of that being obese.

Besides, when you're skilled you don't fear competition.

Does a Chess grandmaster fear someone else "knowing" what he knows?

Does a top-tier boxer FEAR his opponent knowing his "tricks" when all his fights are on YouTube and well studied? Of course not.

Okay. You are saying it won't happen. Therefore you didn't answer my main question.
Please re-read my original post and try to formulate a relevant answer.

>Therefore you didn't answer my main question.
>Please re-read my original post and try to formulate a relevant answer.

It's a dumb question.

It's like asking: "What if everyone stops foolishly spending money on their wants and instead gets a basic to intermediate level of education in many fields via the use of the internet and then proceeds to spend their money intelligently and then quits their job and becomes an entrepreneur".

>It's a dumb question.
Its not a dumb question. The reason why Buffett's advice works is that passive investing is superior to active investing due to the efficiency of modern markets. Without opening a full debate on EMH, the undisputed reality is that any market inefficiencies today are too small and too fleeting to be profitably and reliably exploited.

However, as more and more people switch to passive strategies, the market inefficiencies will tend to get larger and last longer because there'll be less people chasing them down. Eventually, it may even be possible that active investing strategies will become more profitable than passive in this scenario.

The problem for everyone on this board is that we're a LONG ways away from that point. Currently, passive investments are about 18% of the market, maybe less. Economists are predicting that percentage will have to grow to something like 70% before active investing might catch up. That may not happen for many, many decades ... and maybe never.

Stupid advice from a typical boomer who wouldn't have shit if he was born a decade later

High and low is not the same for everybody, even then no one knows when something is high or low; a recession or boom could always be around the corner.

No such thing as perfect information bro.

>That may not happen for many, many decades ... and maybe never.

We know that active more often than not yields negative results, and that passive is currently often much better. Still, the market's mainly active. Why is this? Probably for the same reason people still bet the lotteries or go to casinos. So I guess it'll never change, it's a part of current human psychology.

(Or.. fund managers (who control most of the market(?)) tend to like risk, because on the offchance that they score it big gives them attention and a chance for an even better job?)

>Why is this?
I think one issue is that passive investing seems "too good to be true." Its easier to manage, has lower fees, is more tax efficient, and requires no specialized knowledge or expertise. People are cynical and just don't believe it, despite all the evidence.

But the bigger issue is that Boomers control the majority of financial assets today, and Boomers were not raised to index. To them, a stock broker is a respected professional and a necessity to invest in the markets. Back in the day, having a stock broker was a sign that you'd "made it." Boomers just can't grasp that you can be in the markets without a broker to hold your hand.

Gen X is the first generation that's adopting indexing in a big way. In part, its because Gen X is the first generation that has to manage their own retirement funds, as pensions are being quickly phased out in favor of 401ks and IRAs. Gen X has also seen that a stock broker won't protect them from the dot-com bubble or the 2008 crash. So they're figuring out how to do this on their own, and, fortunately, many of them are discovering indexing.

Loled so fucking hard at this.

The people who claim one this is to credit for a super successful person's success is just the most hilarious thing.