Yes, that’s me.
I am the person who thinks ETFs are boring.
Yesterday, I posted an article saying high-dividend FIRE is the best, and the next day I’m contradicting it. I’m terrified of my own emotionally abusive nature.
But, though I might get stones thrown at me by everyone who loves index investing, I just can’t find them interesting.
To avoid any misunderstanding, it’s not that I dislike ETFs.
In fact, I am very grateful for them.
Of the stock assets I hold, nearly 30% are managed through ETFs.
Mainly US high-dividend ETFs.
They are truly helpful assets that deposit dividends regularly.
However, there is nothing to do. When the dividend announcement season arrives, I check the information as soon as possible, and that’s it.
After that, I just leave them alone.
On the other hand, what about individual Japanese stocks? Especially from October to November, many companies have their earnings announcements.
Corporate performance, new management strategies, share buybacks, changes in shareholder perks, and dividend increases or decreases. For an investor, it’s a bit of a festival.
During this time, I’m clicking away at my computer, checking company information.
No one asked me to do it.
But, this is fun.
It’s certainly satisfying when I see a company’s product more often and it links up with my own intuition.
It makes me happy.
I get excited when I see food, restaurant chains, or convenient gadgets around me and then check the company information.
If there’s a company I’m interested in, I’ll look up their sales, profit margins, number of employees, and sales per employee.
I also check sales per employee and the latest employment information.
If I’m interested in a company, I’ll buy it!
Of course, I carefully determine the right time to buy.
And while I wouldn’t go so far as to say they are as precious as my own children, I do develop an attachment to the stocks that grow.
What about ETFs? Trump said something. US economic indicators were released. There was big news somewhere in the world.
The Dow Jones or S&P 500 goes up or down.
Oh, it went up!
Oh, it went down!
That’s all.
Of course, there are different types of ETFs, and if you look into their constituent stocks and management policies, there is a deep world to explore. However, I don’t really get the same sense of excitement that I do when researching individual companies.
In the first place, I hold them to broadly capture the growth of the entire economy, so that is fine.
My intuition is not needed for investing.
In fact, sometimes doing nothing leads to better results.
I understand that in my head. I understand it, but…
It’s boring.
I’ve done almost nothing since buying high-dividend ETFs.
I bought my US high-dividend ETFs about a year before I retired from my company. It was during the period when stock prices had plummeted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I bought them in bulk back then, and I’ve hardly added to them since.
Compared to when I bought them, the stock prices have risen quite a bit. Maybe around 150%.
Furthermore, since the exchange rate was in the 110 yen per dollar range at the time, the increase in valuation due to the current weak yen is also significant.
However, the recent price movements have been rather dull.
Since I hold high-dividend ETFs, I didn’t buy them expecting huge price gains in the first place.
I wanted to hold them leisurely while receiving dividends steadily.
This is the goal.
In fact, regular dividend income is very welcome in my FIRE life.
Money gets deposited into my account without me doing anything.
Receiving money without working. Isn’t that wonderful?
In the end, boring investing might just be the right answer.
I understand that in my head. Steadily accumulating widely diversified index funds or ETFs over a long period.
Holding assets linked to the market average, avoiding unnecessary trading, and letting time work in your favor.
People who continue to accumulate assets honestly are truly amazing.
They don’t flirt with other ideas like ‘that company looks interesting’ or ‘I want to buy that stock too,’ like I do. They just accumulate in a straight line.
If you only consider the goal of asset formation, that approach often leads to better results.
I myself have seen the proportion of individual stocks increase, so I thought I wanted to shift to ETFs,
but
I was just staring blankly at the cloudy autumn sky, thinking, ‘Man, it’s boring.’
The end.