The phrase "beating the market" means earning an investment return that exceeds the performance of the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Commonly called the S&P 500, it's one of the most popular benchmarks of the overall U.S. stock market performance.
Everybody tries to beat it, but few succeed.
The Barriers
Investment fees are one major barrier to beating the market. If you take the popular advice to invest in an S&P 500 index fund rather than on individual stocks, your fund's performance should be identical to the performance of the S&P 500, for better or worse. But investment fees will be subtracted from those returns, so you won't quite match it, never mind beat it. Look for index funds with ultra-low fees of 0.05% to 0.2% a year, and you'll get close to equaling the market, though you won't beat it.
Taxes are another major barrier to beating the market. When you pay tax on your investment returns, you lose a significant percentage of your profit. The capital gains tax rate is 15% to 20%, unless your income is very low. And that's the tax on investments held for at least one year. Stocks held for a shorter-term are taxed as ordinary income.
Investor psychology presents a third barrier to beating the market. Perversely, most people have a tendency to buy high and sell low because they're inclined to buy when the market is performing well and sell out of fear when the market starts to drop. This one at least is within your control. Learn how to analyze a stock and consider the company's potential for future gains. It's not foolproof, but at least you'll be buying for sound reasons.
Risk Is Key
One way to try to beat the market is to take on more risk, but while greater risk can bring greater returns it can also bring greater losses.
You might also be able to outperform the market if you have superior information. There are few ways that an individual investor can possess superior information unless they are company insiders, and trading on nonpublic information is a serious crime called insider trading.
Defined more broadly, though, you may have superior information based on your expertise in an industry or a product. There's no crime in investing in what you know.
Some investors have made fortunes through what appear to be superior analytical skills. Household names like Peter Lynch and Warren Buffett achieved their successes by picking individual stocks. Many individuals you've never heard of have attempted similar strategies and failed. Even most professional mutual fund managers can't beat the market.
Sometimes It's Just Luck
Meaning no disrespect, Lynch and Buffett may have just been exceptionally lucky, even if they are financial whizzes. Highly regarded economists have shown that a portfolio of randomly chosen stocks can perform as well as a carefully assembled one.
Yes, you may be able to beat the market, but with investment fees, taxes, and human emotion working against you, you're more likely to do so through luck than skill. If you can merely match the S&P 500, minus a small fee, you'll be doing better than most investors.
FAQs
Yes, you may be able to beat the market, but with investment fees, taxes, and human emotion working against you, you're more likely to do so through luck than skill.
Is it actually possible to beat the market? ›
It is relatively common to beat the market for 1–3 years at a time. That can largely be explained by luck. But the data clearly shows that even professional fund managers are unable to beat the market consistently over a longer period of time, like 10–15 years.
What percentage of people can beat the market? ›
Over time, the odds of you beating the market only diminish. To prove this, let's look at an example: We saw from the data above that an investor has about a 75% chance of underperforming the market in any given year which means you have a 25% chance of beating the market in any given year.
Can anyone beat the S&P 500? ›
It's not easy to beat the S&P 500. In fact, most hedge funds and mutual funds underperform the S&P 500 over an extended period of time. That's because the S&P 500 selects from a large pool of stocks and continuously refreshes its holdings, dumping underperformers and replacing them with up-and-coming growth stocks.
Do Congress people beat the market? ›
For context, Congress filed around 11,000 financial transactions in 2023, costing over $1 billion. The report analyzed the public financial disclosure forms that members of Congress and their families must make any time they make a trade and out of 100 members, 33% beat the SPY, which itself was up 24% in 2023.
What percent of traders beat the market? ›
From 2010 through 2021, anywhere from 55 percent to 87 percent of actively managed funds that invest in S&P 500 stocks couldn't beat that benchmark in any given year. Compared with that, the results for 2022 were cause for celebration: About 51 percent of large-cap stock funds failed to beat the S&P 500.
Do most financial advisors beat the market? ›
But even the best financial advisors are at the whim of the market. Most professional investors who try to beat the market actually underperform it over a given time period. And those who do manage to outperform the market over one time period can rarely outperform it again over the subsequent time period.
What would it be worth if you invested $1000 in Netflix stock ten years ago? ›
So, if you had invested in Netflix ten years ago, you're likely feeling pretty good about your investment today. A $1000 investment made in March 2014 would be worth $9,728.72, or a gain of 872.87%, as of March 4, 2024, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.
Do 90% of people lose money in the stock market? ›
About 90% of investors lose money trading stocks. That's 9 out of every 10 people — both newbies and seasoned professionals — losing their hard earned dollars by trying to outsmart an unpredictable and extremely volatile machine.
Why is beating the market so hard? ›
High volatility: Stocks are inherently volatile assets, subject to fluctuation in market sentiment, economic conditions, and company-specific factors. This portfolio would be likely to experience significant price swings, which can lead to substantial losses during market downturns.
Less than 10% of active large-cap fund managers have outperformed the S&P 500 over the last 15 years. The biggest drag on investment returns is unavoidable, but you can minimize it if you're smart. Here's what to look for when choosing a simple investment that can beat the Wall Street pros.
Can the S&P 500 make you a millionaire? ›
The obvious one is that the S&P 500 might not deliver returns in the future as it has in the past. Even if this is the case, it's still possible to become a millionaire by investing in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF. You'd have to increase the amount invested, the number of years invested, or both.
Do day traders beat the market? ›
Day trading is a high-risk, high-reward strategy. If your decisions don't work out, you can lose money much more quickly than a regular investor, especially if you use leverage. A study of 1,600 day traders over the course of two years found that 97% of individuals who day traded for more than 300 days lost money.
Who has beaten the market consistently? ›
The Legendary Investors
Warren Buffett, for example, has produced a 20.9 percent annualized return over fifty-three years. Peter Lynch of Fidelity returned 29 percent over thirteen years. And Yale's David Swensen has returned 13.5 percent over thirty-three years.
Does anyone actually beat the market? ›
The phrase "beating the market" means earning an investment return that exceeds the performance of the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Commonly called the S&P 500, it's one of the most popular benchmarks of the overall U.S. stock market performance. Everybody tries to beat it, but few succeed.
Who controls the US market? ›
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) | USAGov.
Why is it impossible to beat the stock market? ›
High volatility: Stocks are inherently volatile assets, subject to fluctuation in market sentiment, economic conditions, and company-specific factors. This portfolio would be likely to experience significant price swings, which can lead to substantial losses during market downturns.
Is it possible to lose all your money in the stock market? ›
Someone holding a long position (owns the stock) is, of course, hoping the investment will appreciate. A drop in price to zero means the investor loses his or her entire investment: a return of -100%. To summarize, yes, a stock can lose its entire value.
Do hedge funds actually beat the market? ›
There are over 3,400 hedge funds in the U.S. It's a big business. But almost none of them consistently outperform the broader stock market. Investing in the S&P 500 is the most straightforward path to stock market riches.
